Fan Ho

[Dustin McAmera]

'The Cartier-Bresson of the East', it says here:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2022/dec/09/the-cartier-bresson-of-the-east-fan-hos-hong-kong-in-pictures

 

..and not long ago the Guardian had some other Cartier-Bresson too:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/21/henri-cartier-bresson-photographe-new-edition-french-photographer

For today, I'll take the Fan Ho; maybe in part because I didn't know about him at all. I'm not convinced HCB* is the comparison I'd make: quite a bit more dramatic. He's keen on shooting against the light, and he uses the effect of big light on little people, a bit like Salgado (I have mixed feelings about Salgado).  I think he must have spotted the potential for an effect-of-light photograph, and staked out some of his locations. I think he uses an accutance developer, and he burns and dodges quite a lot, which you don't notice with HCB. He crops his pictures, so you can't tell what format he was using (well I can't; I like to know that stuff).
I was peeved to find I couldn't get any of his stuff from my usual booksellers, but it looks like I could order from Hong Kong. Not sure what the shipping will be like. It might have to wait until I get a new job.

*My sister insists that HCB is the correct abbreviation for hot cross bun, not Henri Cartier-Bresson.

 

[httpwww.photo.netbarry]

Thanks for the hook-up Dustin. HCB? Maybe but more dramatic, use of light and scale.  I like these as much if not more.  It's as if HCB merged with Ralph Gibson?? kinda 

Edited December 17, 2022 by httpwww.photo.netbarry

[rodeo_joe1]

Choose a location based on light and background, then wait for the moment (or maybe persuade a passer-by to stand in the right place). 

Interesting approach. I might give it a try.

[Ricochetrider]

Well ... thanks for posting.

Fan Ho's work, I knew some already; his name not so much. Very cool and evocative imagery tho. Inspirational even. A nice treat  on a Monday morning. 

 

Edit: Is it human nature to automatically compare anyone who comea after to the one who was first? I seriously dislike it when people tag one artist's work to someone else's work; whether the intent is complimentary or not is beside the point. It is my view that such comparisons discredit the talent  of one person and assign it to the other. Perhaps Mr Ho can be compared to Monsieur Cartier-Bresson, however vaguely- but the work of Fan Ho is strong enough in its own right that however many decades later, he is having articles written about him, and his work is on display in a new opening.  I'm perfectly content to let the work of each of these great photographers just be their own, without comparison. 

Edited December 19, 2022 by Ricochetrider

[machts gut]

Me too thinks he has a totally different approach than HCB, but from todays point of view they might look familiar (both people, b&w, roughly the same time and fashion of clothing), I like both! As for technique, I think Fan Ho used mainly a Rolleiflex.

[Allen Herbert]

Fan Ho

I look at his photography.

And feel inferior as a street photographer. But then he inspires be to be so much better.

Methinks, he would have taken this photo.

 

[Allen Herbert]

1 minute ago, Allen Herbert said:

Fan Ho

I look at his photography.

And feel inferior as a street photographer. But then he inspires me to be so much better.

Methinks, he would have taken this photo.

 

 

[Allen Herbert]

To my mind a HCB on another level.

[httpwww.photo.netbarry]

On 12/17/2022 at 4:51 AM, rodeo_joe1 said:

Choose a location based on light and background, then wait for the moment (or maybe persuade a passer-by to stand in the right place). 

Interesting approach. I might give it a try.

A standard street technique. It can get you some interesting shots.

[samstevens]

On 12/17/2022 at 4:51 AM, rodeo_joe1 said:

Choose a location based on light and background, then wait for the moment (or maybe persuade a passer-by to stand in the right place). 

Interesting approach. I might give it a try.

My guess is that any of us who "give this a try" will discover it's not as simple or simplistic as we might want to make it seem. It's more than strange to hear a photographer reducing such work to such inadequate description.

[je ne regrette rien]

On 12/17/2022 at 1:51 PM, rodeo_joe1 said:

Choose a location based on light and background, then wait for the moment (or maybe persuade a passer-by to stand in the right place). 

Interesting approach. I might give it a try.

Not that straightforward, also considering that Fan Ho staged and analogically manipulated some of his photos. This one certainly is.

I find his style quite different from the one of Cartier-Bresson.

[Dustin McAmera]

As for 'giving it a try', how is saying that, or doing it, disrespectful to another photographer? Photographers of all people will use summary language to discuss photographic techniques. Describing those techniques in efficient language doesn't automatically imply a contempt for the techniques or the people who use them. Or are the 'great' photographers above having their technique discussed by us unpublishables?

I sometimes stake out street corners in my own town. Either places where I have seen interesting things happen before, or where I think the arrangement of the street itself is somewhat interesting, but needs something going on to complete the scene. It's perfect for digital; I have wasted trips to those street corners where I stood watching the world go by for as long as I wanted, and came home with no photos worth keeping. The longer I do it, the more I think I need a new city: bad workman blaming tools, on a grand scale.

Staging an ostensible street scene is a different matter. I don't have a lot of time for that. The one picture linked above might be staged; I'd be disappointed if the ones in the Guardian set, on what look like railway station staircases, were staged.

[je ne regrette rien]

3 hours ago, je ne regrette rien said:

staged

Some. Some are certainly not.

3 hours ago, je ne regrette rien said:

analogically manipulated

The diagonal.

[httpwww.photo.netbarry]

13 hours ago, Dustin McAmera said:

As for 'giving it a try', how is saying that, or doing it, disrespectful to another photographer? 

 

 

Beats me. I didn't read the remark as other than contemplating a technique, one many have used, that doesn't diminish the photographer's intent or the depth of their work.

[samstevens]

20 hours ago, Dustin McAmera said:

As for 'giving it a try', how is saying that, or doing it, disrespectful to another photographer?

I didn’t say it was disrespectful. I said it was reductive.

/s I suppose Lange was just lucky to work for the FSA and find herself in the midst of migrants ripe for photographing and Adams has Yosemite, its cloud formations and weather conditions to thank (y’all really got to go to Yosemite and just wait for the fog to roll in) and Arbus was sharp enough to visit group homes and Brassai owes much to French prostitutes and mirrored cafes. Mirrored cafes, I’m telling you, try it. Hey, maybe friends and strangers we show our pictures to are right when they compliment us by telling us we must have a good camera. /s

I look at Ho’s photos with an eye to the story they tell of Hong Kong urban life, and with an eye to line, composition, perspective, layering, and especially scale (which you mentioned in your more perceptive intro) as well as the more proactive darkroom work involved. The coherence and consistency of Ho’s themes suggest a grander vision than staking claim to a corner and waiting for something interesting to happen. It wasn’t about just such a tried-and-true method. It was about the strength and humanity of the images he produced whatever the method was. For every thousand or more photographers who adopt HCB’s methodology and philosophy of shooting, you get about one Fan Ho. Why do you suppose that is? Those who want to be inspired by or even emulate Fan Ho (different from mimicking him) might look deeper into what he accomplished than choosing settings and waiting for something interesting to happen. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by samstevens

[inoneeye]

Fan Ho works in bw or color are stand out. His eye for light and shadow and composition is distinctive. The flavor of humanity is also uniquely told often with scale but also a quick steady eye for storytelling . I am nearly always aware of his use of geometric compositions that draws me to the human narrative while keeping me at a contemplative distance. His observations and captures from street level are grand on a scale not often seen by others that leads me to think of him as a significant composer…

Edited January 16, 2023 by inoneeye

[httpwww.photo.netbarry]

On 1/14/2023 at 12:08 PM, Allen Herbert said:

Fan Ho

I look at his photography.

And feel inferior as a street photographer. But then he inspires be to be so much better.

Methinks, he would have taken this photo.

 

 thin he might have enjoyed something like thi. What do you think Allen?

[samstevens]

I think he’d be looking for luminosity and stratification, dramatic interactivity with environment using scale, and a sense of active and layered storytelling. 

[mjferron]

I’d like to just appreciate an artist for what they are without comparing them to other photographers. I’m music it was the next Bob Dylan or they are the next Bruce Springsteen. No they are just the next new artist. 

[Allen Herbert]

Another level

I feel so much inferior to this master of street photography. 

An inspiration for all photographers..

[c_watson1]

On 1/15/2023 at 12:24 PM, je ne regrette rien said:

Not that straightforward, also considering that Fan Ho staged and analogically manipulated some of his photos. This one certainly is.

I find his style quite different from the one of Cartier-Bresson.

Hardly. That exception is overshadowed by dozens that plainly weren't staged. Think you need to look at more of his work.