Fan Ho is self-taught photographer & had a lifelong fascination with urban life, slums, dark alleys, streets, and markets, as well as street vendors and kids. He was born in Shanghai in 1931 but moved to Hong Kong early in his life. And that is where lies his largest body of street photography work.
Rather than focusing on Fan Ho’s styles and forms of photography, I am going to present some of his work that inspires me even today to go out into the streets with my camera. I have grouped them in their unique styles where possible.
Hong Kong street photography style of Fan Ho – shooting against the sun
For someone born & brought up in India, Fan Ho’s images are very related to everyday life in a city that is the home of the riches as well as the poorest in the continent. Railway lines, urban markets with vendors going about their businesses, young kids running in the alleyways, narrow lonely alleys and old shop signs, things that are commonplace in countries with long history of humanity & culture.
Hong Kong street photography style of Fan Ho – lines & directions
Fan Ho captured the quintessential cultural flux & the turning point of Hong Kong of the 1960s, the city-state, right before its economic boom and the artist was able to capture all this chaos before Hong Kong changed into a major metropolis.
Fan Ho would take his pictures first thing in the morning or very late in the evening. This is usually when the sun is extremely low on the horizon that it creates long shadows of objects. Most of his images are clear evidence of using the sun, the direction of light and the shadows extremely arrogantly, mostly shooting against the sun for some of his most popular images.
Hong Kong street photography style of Fan Ho – one directional light in alleys
Images are sourced from websites of Blue Lotus Gallery, Sothebys, Fan Ho Trust and Estate & other online applications for illustrative purposes only. Images are displayed for reference only. For availability, please contact the Fan Ho Trust or their agents.
Hong Kong street photography style of Fan Ho – horizontal panoramas
Fan Ho books. Fan Ho has a long career in street photography, journalism & film. His collection of books cover his photographs from all his professional as well as freelance work in his fields.
Hong Kong Yesterday – Hong Kong Yesterday presents a singular vision of this enigmatic city by award winning photographer, Fan Ho. Black and white images capturing life in mid-century Hong Kong range from quiet voyeuristic tableaus to chaotic crowds, most focusing on the city’s inhabitants. Businessmen, families, dockworkers, alleys, markets and street scenes are all rendered in a style that is simultaneously abstract and humanistic.
Hong Kong street photography style of Fan Ho – vertical panoramas
The Living Theatre – this collection continues the story Fan Ho began in his first book, Hong Kong Yesterday. Focusing on the people of Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s this book takes a closer look at his beloved city. This is a unique series of images with no image duplication between the other two books, Hong Kong Yesterday and Hong Kong Memoir. Fan Ho gracefully captures the crowds of a busy market place, waterways and the alleyways of each city, beautifully telling the story of the lives of the individuals and the spaces in which their stories are staged. Each image is accompanied by a caption, utilising both the visual and written language to create a poetic and wondrous depiction of an era through his eyes.
In 2015 Fan Ho’s last dream started to materialise. Fan Ho selected about 500 old negatives from his own collection which he cropped in his signature style. After the very unfortunate event of his passing, it took another year for the project to be completed with the help of his family and Sarah Greene.
Hong Kong street photography style of Fan Ho – framing
A Hong Kong Memoir – this book completes the trilogy Fan Ho began with Hong Kong Yesterday and The Living Theatre. In his previous monographs, viewers were introduced to Hong Kong during the 1950s and 1960s. Through his brilliant eye for light, composition, and his patience for the ‘decisive moment,’ Fan Ho created striking images that continue to resonate through the decades. Fan Ho: A Hong Kong Memoir revisits this lost era with a combination of never before seen images and introduces new montaged photographs.
Portrait of Hong Kong – this is a selection of this new body of work that feels more natural and closer to documentary compared to his previous highly stylised approach on street photography. In his own manifesto “Thoughts on Street Photography” which he wrote at the age of 28, and of which carefully selected quotes can be found throughout the book, he mentions: ‘My realistic street photos are rarely selected. Pictorial aesthetics and images with a sense of humour are still the key for salon photos but I expect changes to happen soon. In the meantime, I will just keep trying.”
Hong Kong street photography style of Fan Ho – immensity of scale
Photography. My Passion. My Life – this book contains a selection of 138 photos by Fan Ho, intertwining his internationally renowned works with those that have yet to be released. The book contains an essay “My Quest” written by Fan Ho himself in the 70’s, explaining his own practice and his stylistic journey as he was influenced by different movements in photography occurring at that time. Through his essay, we learn about his interpretations of aesthetics, poetics, philosophy and synergy, as seen in his photographs.
Other places online on Fan Ho: