吉姆 JIM HOFMAN | Photography Faces & places in China

Analog | The Village - Fall 2023
Analog | Ningbo & Yangjiang
Analog | Hong Kong
Analog | Hot Hong Kong - with Covid
Analog | Village in the Summer
Analog | Ningbo in the Heat
Analog | Yangjiang in the Summer
Analog | Hong Kong after Covid
Analog | The Village after Covid
Analog | Returning to the Village
Analog | Yangjiang
Analog | Ningbo | Returning During Zero Covid
Analog | Leaving China after 14 Months
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 | Ningbo after Covid
Analog | Ningbo after Covid

I spent a month back in Ningbo after the big Covid wave of December 2022. It was great to see China back to normal.

Analog | Back to Shanghai
Analog | Back to Shanghai

After getting shut out of China for almost a year and a half, I was finally able to travel to Shanghai for some street photography and vintage camera shopping with my Ningbo friend Barry.

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 | Winter Travel & Ningbo
Analog | Winter Travel & Ningbo

Some assorted photos using assorted cameras and assorted film stocks. These are the final photos taken in 2020.