Ho Fan, celebrated 1950s Hong Kong street photographer, dies in California
84-year-old, who also acted in and directed Shaw Brothers films over a 30-year movie career, was known for his powerful use of light and shadow in black and white photographs of the city
Celebrated Hong Kong photographer Ho Fan, best known for his street photography in the 1950s and ’60s, has died at the age of 84. Ho, who also directed films, succumbed to pneumonia at a hospital in San Jose, California, on June 19 with his family at his side.
Born in Shanghai in 1931, Ho took up photography at the age of 14 when he received a Rolleiflex twin-lens camera from his father. He moved to Hong Kong in 1949 and began photographing the streets and alleys of old Central.
His black and white images often play with shadow and light. One of his classic photos, Approaching Shadow, taken at Queen’s College in Causeway Bay, sold for a record HK$375,000 last year.
