Every month I come back to photographers who’ve inspired me. High up on that list is the legendary 何藩, or Han Fo as those in the West knew him as.

If you’ve never heard of him before, well you are in for a surprise. He was a master of shadows and composition.

Born in Shanghai but growing up in Hong Kong, he showcased a period of growth and change in Hong Kong.

Now he predominately shot B&W, although towards the end of his life he did play with colour but it didńt agree with him and I can relate, colour is very hard to get right for me

What inspired me, and indeed still does, is how it’s clear he waited for a long time for all the elements of a shot to come into the frame. Yes, this is street photography but it’s not quick/point/shoot, anything but

his work over two decades in Hong Kong showed the power of patience. Something i think we miss today in the hustle and bustle and always publish mindset.

I’ve studied many of his images and his patience, use of light and perspective (in this shot, he is crouching or sitting)

Gives the viewer a different perspective. Here’s another using the same perspective. He does draw your eye in using framing, the placement of the figure and geometry is just beautiful and his composition has inspired me so much.

He has an organic quality in the way he approaches his composition. There’s also an element of heavy manipulation in the darkroom, sure you loose non-essential elements of the composition but he presents you with the key parts he wants you to see.

I’ve never been a huge fan of street photography, as I felt most was intrusive and just shoot and pray. Gary Winograd smashed this as did Fan ho, and this is the quintessential decisive moment.

Another image that for me just blows me away. This scene has everything you’d want, movement composition mystique (where are they going?), and I can imagine him scoping this out, waiting for the right time of day and just waiting....

Waiting patiently

So it should be clear by now why I think Fan Ho was possibly one of the greatest social documentary photographers that ever walked this planet of ours.

https://readcereal.com/fan-ho/ 

#photography

Talking about perspective, there are many greats to learn from and indeed understanding how you can use perspective to push a mood is important in photography and indeed filmmaking.

Take the utter legend of single-point perspective: Mr Stanley Kubrick

He composed and framed every single damn scene using one.

Now sure, this is a master we are talking about and to really see how he did this, head over to https://vimeo.com/48425421 

But to give you an idea of how you could adopt perspective, imagine taking photographs of kids. Do you shoot looking down to them or at their level?

Both convey different things, looking down on a subject can portray superiority in the eyes of the viewer or weakness inferiority of the subject.

Now I did mention that he also shot colour and it’s not like it was bad at all but for me, it shows the difference that B&W brings.

Same stairs but this time in colour (I think, Ektachrome)

The images for me aren’t as impactful as their B&W cousins. Sure, the light is still

Amazing but I don’t have the shadows grabbing me as I want them to.

Colour can, however, really hit home when you combine all the elements. The red draws you in, the smoke and golden sun rays entering the dark staircase, I think here it wins over B&W