吉姆 JIM HOFMAN | Photography Faces & places in China

Really great shots
Analog | The Village – Fall 2023
Analog | The Village - Fall 2023

Back at the village to visit friends, take photos – and watch the rice get harvested. All photos were shot on a Leica M7 with a Voigtlander 28mm Ultron V2 lens. The film stock was either Kodak Portra 400, Kodak Gold 200, or Fujifilm Superia 400. Processing & scans were done in Hong Kong / […]

Analog | Ningbo & Yangjiang
Analog | Ningbo & Yangjiang

These two cities are my homes away from home and I bounced back and forth between them during most trips to China.

Analog | Hong Kong
Analog | Hong Kong

I took a few trips in and out of Hong Kong in the fall of 2023. As always – it was a very photogenic city, both in the day and the night.

Analog | Hot Hong Kong – with Covid
Analog | Hot Hong Kong - with Covid

I was in Hong Kong three times on my summer 2023 trip. The last time on vacation with Covid. That kinda sucked. The photos below were all taken with either a Zeiss Ikon ZM, Bessa R2 or a Hasselblad Xpan (panoramic images) on Portra 400 or Cinestill 800T film.

Analog | Village in the Summer
Analog | Village in the Summer

I took the Hasselblad Xpan to the village for some pano images. It’s usually a challenge to compose a panoramic photo in a small area like a village, but I’ve started using a wide 28mm Nikon lens on the Xpan which has made it easier.

Analog | Ningbo in the Heat
Analog | Ningbo in the Heat

Wow – it was stupid hot in China during the summer of 2023. I had a choice of weather conditions – extreme heat + humidity or heavy rain. Neither was very conducive for street photography.

Analog | Yangjiang in the Summer
Analog | Yangjiang in the Summer

Hot, Hot, and more hot. Maybe some rain too. All photos were taken with a Zeiss Ikon ZM on Portra 400 film. Thanks to Anne for being my guide on a couple of photo outings.

Analog | Hong Kong after Covid
Analog | Hong Kong after Covid

Well, that was a long 3 years… All Photos were shot on 35mm film using three different cameras (Leica M6, Bessa R2, Zeiss Ikon ZM).

Analog | The Village after Covid
Analog | The Village after Covid

I was relieved to see all of my village friends survived the December of 2022 Covid wave that swept through China.

Analog | Returning to the Village
Analog | Returning to the Village

It took me over 15 months before I was able to return to China to continue my documentation of the final years of this 400-year-old village.

Analog | Yangjiang
Analog | Yangjiang

It’s been over two years since I was last in Yangjiang and it was nice to spend some time there.

Analog | Ningbo | Returning During Zero Covid
Analog | Ningbo | Returning During Zero Covid

After enjoying the relative safety of China’s Zero Covid policy during 2020 and 2021 I returned after a 15-month absence. Unfortunately, I returned to a very different China.

Analog | Leaving China after 14 Months
Analog | Leaving China after 14 Months

Well… that was a long business trip. Really long and really amazing. I essentially sat out the pandemic in China – which was one of the safest Covid bubbles on the planet. It was really tough packing up my apartment at the end of my odyssey. I had accumulated a lot of stuff over 14 […]

Analog | One Year in China
Analog | One Year in China

This week is the one-year anniversary of coming to China in March of 2020. I came to Ningbo with the plan to stay for 6 weeks for a business trip. A few days after I arrived China closed the borders (still not reopened a year later) and the Covid cases in the US spiked.

Analog | January 2021 – 10 YEARS!
Analog | January 2021 - 10 YEARS!

This post marks the 10 year anniversary of this photoblog. It also coincides with the publication of Volume 2 of my village series.

Analog | Village Fall Harvest
Analog | Village Fall Harvest

It’s harvest time in the village and there were lots of photo opportunities. Harvesting rice, potatos, soy beans, peas, sweet potatos and more rice.

Analog | Vintage Panflex Camera
Analog | Vintage Panflex Camera

The Shanghai Camera Mall got more of my money. I was in the mood for something COMPLETELY different than my other analog cameras, so I started investigating panoramic cameras.

Analog | Shaoxing Opera at the Village
Analog | Shaoxing Opera at the Village

I was walking through the village in the middle of October and saw a large tent erected in one of the parking lots. After asking around I found out there was a touring company performing Shaoxing Operas for 3 nights.

Analog | Black & White Film
Analog | Black & White Film

Because the local photo lab is getting slow and expensive I decided to start developing and scanning my own black and white film. I already do that in the US, but it requires some gear and chemicals to get it done here in China. After I was here for about 6 months I decided to set up a film processing lab in my AirBnB kitchen – which I never use.

Analog | New 4″x5″ Camera
Analog | New 4"x5" Camera

After jumping into analog photography about a year and a half ago I’ve slowly acquired cameras with larger and larger resolution (negative size). Over the summer I took the ultimate step into large format photography when I purchased a ShenHao 4×5 camera in Shanghai.

Analog – Summer 2020
Analog - Summer 2020

My six-week trip turned into an “indefinite” length trip because of COVID-19 related issues (closed borders, lack of flights, lockdowns, etc.). I had plenty of opportunities to work on my photo project in the village and travel around China to capture analog photos on my Mamiya 6 and Hasselblad 500 C/M. Most of these photos were taken using Portra 400 film.

Analog | Ningbo Village 5.20
Analog | Ningbo Village 5.20

More street portraits from the village in Ningbo. I’ve entered a new stage in this project because in early May I printed a photo book with all of the images I had shot and distributed the book to everyone in the village who had allowed me to take their portrait. This created an incentive for […]

Book Release Day in the Village 5.11.20
Book Release Day in the Village 5.11.20

I self-published my first book of analog photographs in early May of 2020 and distributed free copies to everyone in the small village outside of Ningbo where I took the portraits. It was quite the event in the village. Smiles, bewilderment, and a few tears. No one knew I was publishing a book. I would […]

Analog | Ningbo Village 4.20
Analog | Ningbo Village 4.20

I’m back at the village after my 2 weeks in prison (Covid-19 quarantine). The weather is gorgeous in Ningbo and my friends in the village missed me.