When Ho Fan took up street photography in the 1950s, Central was still a poor neighbourhood with shabby houses and dirty alleys.
The streets, filled with vendors, coolies and rickshaw drivers, fascinated Ho, who arrived from Shanghai in 1949. Taking pictures in a studio was the norm then, but the teenager was more interested in random, candid shots of strangers.
His targets, however, did not always smile into the lens of his Rolleiflex. There were both intimidating encounters and unwanted attention, the 83-year-old recalled in an interview from his home in the United States.
"With a knife in his hand, a pig butcher said he would chop me. He wanted his spirit back," Ho recalled, explaining that superstition had it that a person would have his spirit captured by the camera.
In contrast, he remembered the enthusiasm of girls who did not have the chance to have photographs taken in studios.
Advertisement
"Catching me in action, some girls combed their hair and asked me to take their photos again," he said.
