Fan Ho

Submitted by Blue Lotus Gallery.

Fan Ho, nicknamed “the great master,” earned his fame as one Asia’s most beloved street photographers capturing Hong Kong in the 1950s and ’60s.

Fan Ho’s photographic career started in Shanghai at the early age of 14 when given his first twin lens Rolleiflex for his birthday from his father. Within the first year, he won his first award. In 1949, at the age of 18, Fan Ho’s parents moved to Hong Kong where the young Ho Fan continued pursuing his love for photography.

Dubbed the “Cartier-Bresson of the East,” Ho Fan had the patience to wait for “the decisive moment”; very often, a collision of the unexpected, framed against a very clever composed background of geometrical construction and texture. He also liked to create drama and atmosphere with backlit effects or through the combination of smoke and light. His favorite locations were the streets, alleys and markets around dusk when the sun would cast long shades or life on the sea.

What made his work so intensely human is his love for the common Hong Kong people; coolies, vendors, hawkers selling fruits and vegetables, kids playing in the street or doing their homework, people crossing the street. As Mr. Ho once said, “I love Hong Kong and I love Hong Kong people.’’ He never intended to create a historic record of the city’s buildings and monuments; rather, he aimed to capture the soul of Hong Kong; the hardship and resilience of its citizens.