Ho Fan Interview: On the ‘Decisive Moment’

While much of the Hong Kong of the 1950s and 1960s captured by Ho Fan no longer exists, it can still be experienced through his photographs of the time. Said Ho Fan: ‘Photographing in black and white offers me a sense of distance: a distance from real life. I think this kind of distance is important.’ Ho Fan (American, b. China, 1931–2016) was a photographer, film director, and actor. He spent his early years in Shanghai, where he began taking photographs after receiving his first camera at the age of fourteen. He moved to Hong Kong in 1949, and from the 1950s onwards gained considerable attention for his striking photographs of everyday life in Hong Kong. Closed captions are available in the player. View transcript: 影片謄本: 视频文稿: Read more about Ho Fan on the M Magazine: