Book Talk: Hong Kong - Mikko Takkunen

Join Finnish photographer and New York Times photo editor Mikko Takkunen for a discussion of his debut photobook, Hong Kong. In the aftermath of political protests and on the brink of a pandemic, faced with the impending relocation of his family overseas, Takkunen felt an urgent need to document the city while he still could. The book presents Hong Kong in a new light, exploring hidden perspectives and moods.

Takkunen will discuss the book in conversation with David Friend, editor at Vanity Fair, who reviewed Hong Kong in the magazine.

Bios 

Mikko Takkunen (@mikkotakkunen) is a photo editor at The New York Times Foreign desk. He served in Hong Kong  from 2016–2021 as the desk’s Asia photo editor. He began taking these photographs in early 2020 at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and continued until the summer of 2021 when he left Hong Kong.

David Friend is Vanity Fair’s editor of creative development and was the director of photography at LIFE. He is the author of “The Naughty Nineties” and “Watching the World Change: The Stories Behind the Images of 9/11.” Friend has edited 13 Vanity Fair books, and won Emmy and Peabody awards for producing documentary films. He was the founding editor of Life.com and VanityFair.com. 

Host or Publisher Bronx Documentary Center