Fan Ho – The Great Master of Lights and Shadows

Hello everyone! Today I would like to talk about a photographer who is said to be one of one of the Most Influential Asian Photographers, who won over 300 awards over a span of only 20 years. His award-winning prints were a permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. Let's talk abou Fan Ho.

Born in Shanghai in 1931, Fan Ho began photographing at the age of 14, and just like Cartier Bresson he started with Brownie. Later on, he mostly used Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera he got as a gift from his father. His photos are mostly centered around street photography and urban life such as slums, markets, and streets. He and his family Emigrated to Hong Kong in 1949 so he had a chance to capture the transformation of the city into major metropolitan center during 50s and 60s.

One of his most famous photos,  Approaching Shadow, was taken in 1954. He asked his cousin to pose for him by the wall at Queen’s College in Causeway Bay. This is actually typical for his photography. He was not scared of directing his subjects so they worked well in his composition. His cousin in the picture has a great contrast and the whole picture is split with a diagonal shadow. I personally love his use of geometry here. He said the shadow symbolizes her destiny as her youth will fade away. That print sold for  almost 50,000 USD by the way.

So he started to photograph Hong Kong at the age of 18, and already there we can see his incredible skill of using so many photography techniques, or maybe at that time his feel for photography since he was mostly self-taught.

He prefered to take B&W photographs because, like he said, black and white offered some distance from the scene, from real life. Unlike Cartier-Bresson and many street photographers, he enjoyed cropping. He said it feels like making a movie and actually enjoyed the editing process. When he was young he was actually using his family bathtub to develop his images.

As you can see in his photography, he loved to utilise rhythm. 

 What I really like about his style is how he uses scale when framing his subjects. 

His work has a lot of high and low key photographs that help to achieve, I would say, a certain mood for each particular picture. By pushing the exposure, the attention actually shifts to important elements even though some details might be lost. His high contrast images have just the right amount of details. He was such a brilliant  photographer of contrast.

What's also really interesting about this technique is how you can adjust composition by your editing style. Usually when you edit your pictures you set some kind of mood or age of the photographaph. By adjusting exposure some parts of the picture will actually disappear. 

I also like his use of subframing. where the subject is carefully composed into the environment. I like how sometimes he used people only as subjects for his composition and still was able to create some kind of feeling from the photograph … and sometimes when he was shooting closer he focused on expressions.

His use of some basic photography techniques such as leading lines is also brilliant. But where his photography really shines is the use of light and shadows.

Later he used his experience in film making as a director but also as an actor. He made over 20 films in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Three of his films were in the official selection of the international film festival of Cannes Berlin and San Francisco.

In 1995 he emigrated to the United States, and during his retirement started to organize his collection. Some of his photographs were part of a permanent collection in the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco.

So over all I would say Fan Ho was a brilliant photographer, often overlooked here in Europe and over all the western world. His photos are not only enjoyable to watch but we can also learn a lot from his work. I hope you guys liked this video. If you did, make sure to subscribe for more content, or like this video. Let me know in the comments what is your favorite picture of Fan Ho. You can check more videos like this in this playlist and I will see you next time!

If you're interested in learning more, check out this book: "Fan Ho Selected Works": This collection showcases a selection of Fan Ho's most celebrated photographs, highlighting his distinctive visual style and his ability to capture the essence of Hong Kong's streets and people. The images in this book span Ho's entire career, offering readers a comprehensive look at the evolution of his work and his enduring impact on the world of photography.