romain jacquet-lagrèze captures hong kong’s rooftops in new photo series

romain jacquet-lagrèze’snew photo series is a collection of four years worth of capturing various moments on hong kong’s rooftops. what started out by chance, developed into a diverse assemblage of scenes that portrays moments of the city’s elevated life.

collecting laundry, hong kong, 2017 – a lady is collecting laundry that has dried up during the long sunny day

romain jacquet-lagrèze took on the role of an urban observer, waiting to capture interesting scenes of action rather than focusing on people or identifiable locations. the first photo was taken in 2014 by chance while scouting for another project. ‘a patch of rooftop nearby was suddenly bathed in light, and something on it moved,’ the photographer explains, ‘I realized it was someone mending an aerial, as though spotlighted by the sun – I quickly snapped the scene, entranced by the magic of the moment.’ it was not until a few weeks later, after capturing another incident on a rooftop of a school girl taking photos of a street protest, that jacquet-lagrèze decided to portray the city’s rooftop life through his series ‘concrete stories’. most photos are snaps of communal rooftops, which the photographer refers to as ‘courtyards in the sky.’

laundry gossip, hong kong, 2018 – two ladies are sitting and chatting on the rooftop after setting up their laundry to dry

bamboo weavers, hong kong, 2017 – workers are setting up the bamboo scaffolding that will be used for the building’s facade restoration

bonsai master, hong kong, 2017 – a man is watering bonsai trees on the rooftop of his building

carjacking, hong kong, 2017 – a man and his son are playing on a rooftop with a red toy car

concrete canyon, hong kong, 2018 – a lady is collecting her laundry at sunset above the bustle of the street

life in pink and grey, hong kong, 2017 – two little girls are playing with skipping rope on the rooftop

living on the edge, hong kong, 2017 – a lady is collecting her dried laundry near the edge of the rooftop

morning fix, hong kong, 2014 – a man is fixing up the rooftop’s antenna at dawn

pushing up, Hong Kong, 2016 – a man is doing some physical exercise on the rooftop

sky walking, hong kong, 2016 – after checking on an antenna, a man is walking slowly on the roof at sunset

sun-dried, hong kong, 2017 – a lady is checking on the meat drying on the rooftop

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: sofia lekka angelopoulou | designboom