It is said that photography is the art of light and shadow. On the use of light, on light and shadow, we have to talk about a generation of masters in the Chinese photography industry - He Fan.
Mr. Ho was born in Shanghai in 1931 and moved to Hong Kong in 1949. He is the first person in Chinese photography and a window for the world to understand Chinese photography.
Ho Fan's most well-known works are all based on Hong Kong, mostly depicting the streets of old Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s, recording the lives of the People of Hong Kong. The control of composition and light and shadow in the work is a classic.
1954, Close to the Shadows
This is the most famous of Ho Fan's works, taken at The Emperor's College in Causeway Bay.
White walls, shadows, women in corners. The picture has only three compositional elements, but the visual effect is very strong.
1954, "The Night Is Coming"
Taken in the Western District of Hong Kong, this work is one of Mr. Ho Fan's favorites in all his works.
Twilight is far away, what is the world?
The man pushes the trolley, slowly deviates from the bustling city, and walks in the direction of home, the sunset reflects on the façade of the building facing the sea, but the man hides in the shadows. He was a member of the city, and he was nothing.
1959, Afternoon Small Talk
The staircase that appears in the picture is where Mr. Ho Fan is most often spent in Central, Hong Kong. He really enjoys photographing the people and stories on this staircase between 3:45 p.m. and 4 p.m.
The warm afternoon sun passed through the dust and laid down a pillar of light. The stairs were bustling with people, and the three women walked toward the stairs, talking eloquently, their shadows dragged long and long.
The work named Ho Fan one of the 2012 iPA's "30 Most Influential Asian Photographers".
1960, Back Alley
Mr. He Fan's expression of light and shadow is full of drama, and the light used in his works is more used to cultivate an emotion and set off an atmosphere, as if telling an old story about time.