Wing Shya: photographer to Wong Kar-wai on working with the great and good of Hong Kong cinema

I WAS BORN in Hong Kong in 1964. My parents came from Shandong province, in mainland China, arriving illegally, later legalised – a common story for that generation. I went to the all-boys Salesian School, in Chai Wan, and was not a good student. I spent all my time messing around with friends. Then, at 17 or 18, I watched a film called Boat People (1982) and there was a character holding a camera who looked cool. Something happened in me. “I want to be that,” I thought. Not the actor – the photographer. I saved every dollar I made from part-time jobs until I could buy a camera, then I started to photograph everything: friends, family, the street, skateboarders. I didn’t really have a plan. I just liked looking through that little window.