吉姆 JIM HOFMAN | Photography Faces & places in China
Author Archive
Analog | Hong Kong & Shanghai
I traveled to Hong Kong and Shanghai several times in the last half of 2024. These are the analog film photos from those trips.
Drone Photos | China, Japan, Hong Kong
This year I started working on a new project that became an extended video requiring drone video footage. More on that later. I decided to practice flying the drone while I traveled to other cities, which required drone licenses in three countries.
Analog | Beijing
My brother visited me in September and we toured a few cities in China other than Ningbo. This included my fifth trip to Beijing (and the fifth time I’ve hiked the Great Wall!).
Analog | Tokyo 2X
After an awful first trip to Tokyo with my son in 2023 (Covid!) I returned twice in 2024 and had amazing trips both times. It was crazy-hot during my August trip, but the weather during the October trip was perfect.
Analog | China Travels
My son joined me during my first 3 months in China and we traveled a little during his visit. We went to Shanghai for a weekend and also had a good time in Hong Kong (until I got the flu).
Analog | Ningbo – Around Town
I moved to Ningbo in March of 2024 to open a sourcing office for my company. It has always been a dream of mine to live in a foreign country and when the opportunity presented itself last year I lept at it. Ningbo is a “small city” of 9.4 million people. When I first started […]
Analog | Beijing
To celebrate my son Ethan’s 19th birthday we traveled up to Beijing for a long weekend. On the first day, we hired a driver and went to the Great Wall. The second day didn’t exactly go to plan because I didn’t research ticket sales enough, but it was still a nice time. All photos were […]
Analog | Village – The First 3 Months
I moved to China (permanently) in early March of 2024, set up my film lab in my new kitchen and immediately began shooting the 400 rolls of film I brought from the US. My first stop was the village. All of these were taken on a Leica M7 using either a Voightlander or Leica 28mm […]
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
