Look back in wonder

By contrast, New Zealander Brian Brake was a member of the elite Magnum photo agency and responsible for high-profile works like Time Life Books' The Great Cities: Hong Kong. Based in Hong Kong from 1962 to 1976, he captured the city with great perceptiveness.

"By the time he was working in Hong Kong, Brian Brake was a globally known photographer with more Life cover stories than anyone else," notes Stokes. "Like Hedda Morrison, Brake had a very empathetic attitude toward regular people, and hence could get close to them and take these great photos."

Hong Kong has Stokes to thank for bringing the precious photos by Morrison and Lee to light. The curator stumbled upon Morrison's Hong Kong photographs in 1995 while perusing a vintage government document: the 1946 Annual Report. Stokes went on to locate Morrison's Hong Kong negatives - which her own husband had lost track of - at Harvard University.

Lee's work was never recognized in his lifetime, but a chance encounter on the Peak in 2010 brought him and fellow photographer Stokes together. Already in his 80s when a project to compile his photos in a book was launched, Lee didn't live long enough to see its publication in 2015, but was thrilled to know the preservation of his legacy was assured.