It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything photography related, but I knew I had stumbled onto something special after seeing this photographer’s work by chance on my twitter feed.

Fan Ho (Chinese: 何藩; 1931-2016) was a Chinese photographer, film director, and actor. From 1956, he won over 280 awards from international exhibitions and competitions worldwide for his photography.

As seen below, Fan Ho’s pictures of Hong Kong during the 1950s are utterly spellbinding, capturing vividly the visual zeitgeist and bustling humanity of the city, stunning sights that are now consigned to history.

Looking at these photographs, it is somewhat strange that I am feeling nostalgia for an era that I wasn’t even born in, although these Hong Kong streets do resemble Singapore’s Chinatown and the squatter settlements around the Singapore river that still existed until the early 1980s, when I was very young, and I can certainly feel a vague affinity based on my limited memories.

These images also bring to mind the cinematic work of Chinese/HK director Wong Kar Wai, in particular his films In The Mood For Love & 2046, both of which are based around this time period, and taking place in both Hong Kong & Singapore.

After discovering Fan Ho’s photography work, I was immediately keen to find out if there are any good publications of his work, and it seems there are, but most of them are either out of print or priced above my budget. I hope a cheaper edition will be released in the near future and I would be more than happy to pick one up. I’ve listed some of the available ones below –

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