"Generation grandmaster"! In the Chinese photography circle, he is known as the "Eastern Bresson", and the photos taken are so beautiful that He Fan's shots are full of the indomitable and optimistic nature of ordinary people facing life, and these human touches are touching. With only one camera, He Fan recorded the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime in the streets and alleys. He died on June 19, 2016, at the age of 84, of a hospital in San Jose, California, due to worsening pneumonia.

He Fan is a famous Chinese photographer.

There is a saying in the photography circle: "There is no master in the Chinese photography circle, only one named He Fan." ”

He Fan (1931-2016)

He Fan, born in Shanghai in 1931, is a member of the Royal Photographic Society and the Royal Society of Art, an honorary member of the Multinational Photographic Society, and has taught photography at multinational universities, and his works have been widely collected at home and abroad.

Beginning in the 1950s, Ho Fan's black-and-white photography has won the title of World Photography Top 10 for eight consecutive years organized by the Photographic Society of America. The "Grandmaster of a Generation" who pioneered street photography in Hong Kong.

In the 1950s and 1970s, he won 267 consecutive awards in international photography competitions, and his photographs were exhibited in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world, making him very popular and influential. Published three photo albums.

You must be familiar with this photo.

This work, taken in 1954, sold for a whopping 375,000 Hong Kong dollars. Its author is a representative figure of the Chinese photography circle, known as the "Oriental Bresson" - He Fan.

There is a saying in the photography circle, "There is no master in the Chinese photography circle, only one named He Fan." "His ultimate grasp of light and moments is breathtaking.

<h2 toutiao-origin="h2" > 📸 has a soft spot for geometric lines</h2>

From the age of 14, when he received a Kodak Brownie camera from his father, He Fan became fascinated by the art of photography. At the age of 18, Ho moved with his family to Hong Kong and bought a Rolleiflex dual-lens camera.

Since then, he has begun to "sink" into the streets and alleys of this city, ramps and stairs, tram tracks, Chinese courtyards, Western-style architecture and other photographic elements, these original images are truly imprinted in his lens.

With his sensitivity to light and shadow from an early age, He Fan's photography often breaks the stereotypes. He is good at capturing the geometric figures and lines formed by natural light to present the sense of picture and drama.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Ho Won won more than 280 awards in different photography competitions around the world, and his photographic works were famous all over the world. In his works, both light and shadow, composition and the subject matter itself are impeccable.

<h2 toutiao-origin="h2" > 📸 likes smoke and waits for light and shadow</h2>

Analyzing He Fan's works, it is not difficult to find that in addition to being similar to the French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson and having a special love for geometric lines, He Fan also especially likes light and shadow and smoke. Especially the foggy picture under the backlight.

"I pay a lot of attention to light, I think photography is the art of light, I want light to meet my heart, don't talk about right or wrong, I want to wait for light." When I felt it, I expressed my state of mind at the time, or a feeling I had. ”

In order to get a "decisive" moment, He Fan may crouch in the same place for several days in a row. Just wait for the right light. When the subject of photography appears in the best position, press the shutter and do it in one go.

This shooting method is very similar to the "decisive moment" of the master photographer Bresson, from which the reputation of "Eastern Bresson" comes from.

The French master of photography, Henri Cartier Bresson, is famous for his self-created theory of the "decisive moment".

<h2 toutiao-origin="h2" > 📸 photograph a long chinese painting</h2>

Another feature of He Fan's photography is the strong traditional Chinese painting.

The composition is exquisite, the picture is concise, and the blank space of traditional ink painting is used well.

<h2 toutiao-origin="h2" > 📸 capture people's tenacity in the face of life</h2>

Most of He Fan's photographic works express the social customs and market conditions of the 1950s and 1960s.

His photographs have the eyes of ordinary citizens — trams on cobblestone streets, pick-up vendors, alley owners and children, and the dazzling sign buildings that fill the streets, all of which are the materials for his usual street sweeping creations.

These scenes from the daily life of the people, like a documentary, are casual and real, and the life that is not shocking is always given by him a part of the transcendent poetry.

Writer Cai Lan commented on He Fan

"Every time He Fan saw someone, his face was full of sunny smiles, and he talked about the subject matter with him, his expression was immediately serious, he frowned his eyebrows, and he drew with his hands, like a series of compositions and pictures have appeared in his mind, which is very interesting."

He Fan's love for people's livelihood makes his photographic works full of humanistic atmosphere. In his photographs we can see coolies, vendors, hawkers selling along the streets, children playing in the streets, and so on. What he strives to capture is the tenacity of ordinary people facing life.

Through each work of the photographic poet He Fan, we can see the world of life seen in the eyes of the author. He likes to use photos to record the cultural landscape of the city where he is located. His shots are filled with a fascination with the life of street vendors:

"I love the grassroots spirit of gritting my teeth and striving to get upstream in the little people, so I record them in a lot of photos." He Fan said.

< h1 toutiao-origin="h1" > He Fan's shots are full of ordinary people's indomitable and optimistic face to life, and these human touches are touching. </h1>

Director Wu Yusen commented on He Fan

"People in the past are very nostalgic, people care for each other, help others and help themselves; compassion is mostly there, in times of suffering, in the society is immersed in an atmosphere of heavy love and righteousness; in the cultural desert, young people pursue literature, and various industries seek change and innovation in chaos. I feel that He Fan's works can be said to be part of history, so that people can't help but look at themselves and the current high-tech world, as if we are missing something... That had to be chased back from his photographs. ”

<h2 toutiao-origin="h2" > 📸 like black and white and do not reject color</h2>

He Fan undoubtedly loves black and white photography for ten minutes.

"In fact, I prefer black and white, black and white give me a distance, what kind of distance?" A distance from real life, I think this distance is very important, real life is colorful, black and white seem to be withdrawn a little, more able to make the audience, the viewer, have a kind of thinking, a kind of contemplation and meditation space and depth, with me, everyone. ”

But at the same time, he is not completely rejecting color photography: "What is the secret to engaging in the art of photography?" That is: try, try, keep trying. "I keep experimenting with black and white photography in various styles, and I don't refuse to try color photography.

The following are the bright 50s and 60s that he has preserved for us, and these photos seem to be very precious today.

<h1 toutiao-origin="h1" > with only one camera, He Fan recorded the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime in the streets and alleys. </h1>

<h1 toutiao-origin="h1" > died of pneumonia at the age of 84 on June 19, 2016, at a hospital in San Jose, California, USA. </h1>

"Really good photos are not in the camera,

It's in you,

It's in your eyes,

In your heart,

It's not about cold machines. "

- He Fan

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WeChat Editor: Liu Yu

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