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This is waxed duck, a Chinese delicacy that is normally sold only before the Chinese New Year.

The duck is preserved naturally, soaked in salt water, spices etc and then air-dried during the autumn and winter. There are no chemical preservatives and, despite the name, apparently no wax either, just that it has a waxy appearance.

But I really don’t know a great deal about waxed duck. The Internet did not throw up much information, just plenty of comments about how delicious it is – simply steamed or thrown into the rice cooker while cooking rice. Someone even commented that it is “more delicious than KFC.”

The first time I went to Chinatown to shoot these ducks was in 2006. I was experimenting with black and white film at that time and shot more than a roll of ducks, experimenting with both my 75-300 telephoto zoom and my 24mm wide angle – until one of the vendors scolded me because, while using the wide angle, I did not realise I had gone so close that my lens was almost touching the ducks.

On that one-plus roll of film, however, practically only one image was usable. The rest suffered from camera shake and other problems.

This year, 2009, I was in Chinatown again, shooting with two photography buddies. This time, I took just ONE shot – and was happy with it.

In the The theory of Color Theory photo essay.