Welcome to Gwulo

Here you'll find over 50,000 pages about old Hong Kong to explore, including over 30,000 photos. The content is added by a friendly community of people who enjoy sharing what we know about Hong Kong's history, and you are very welcome to join us.

Kind regards, David

P.S. To receive more old Hong Kong photos and stories, please sign up for our free weekly newsletter.

1909 Panorama of Kowloon, Victoria Harbour, and the north shore of Hong Kong Island

Submitted by David on Tue, 11/19/2024 - 00:00

This week’s video explores the second of the two 1909 panoramas I received recently. The photos that make up the panorama are sharp enough that we can see details as far away as Lai Chi Kok, even though the photographer took the photos from mid-levels on Hong Kong island.

New on Gwulo: 2024, week 45

Submitted by David on Mon, 11/11/2024 - 03:00

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:
 

General


 

Organisations & People

1909 Panorama of Hong Kong Island from the harbour

Submitted by David on Sat, 11/02/2024 - 20:00

I've scanned in the pieces of the panorama that I carefully softened and unrolled in the previous video, and reassembled them in Photoshop. The original photos are sharp, so the panorama enlarges well:

1909 panorama and enlargement

In this week's video I show the finished result, introduce a surprise bonus, then explore the panorama’s details. The final image is over 500 megapixels in size, so there’s lots to see!

(If the new video isn't shown above, please click here to view it on Youtube.)

If you'd like to see more photos or information about the places I mention in the video, please use these links:

New on Gwulo: 2024, week 43

Submitted by David on Sun, 10/27/2024 - 03:00

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:
 

General


 

Organisations & People

How to safely unroll brittle old photos, demonstrated with Hong Kong panoramas taken in 1909

Submitted by David on Sun, 10/20/2024 - 01:00

Old photo paper often becomes hard and brittle, and I recently received a pair of 1909 panorama photos with exactly that problem. As they’d been kept tightly rolled, if I tried to unroll them I’d likely crack the paper. In this video I’ll show how I first softened the photos’ paper and restored its flexibility, then was able to safely unroll the photos. The whole process took several days, but the results are worth it.

(Please click here to watch the video on Youtube if it isn't shown above.)