吉姆 JIM HOFMAN | Photography Faces & places in China
Really great shots
Qingxi – Blasting a Flash at Night
I tried a new twist on street photography and went out at night using a flash. Usually I’m less-than-obvious when I take photos out on the streets, but last night I turned on the flash and blasted people. It’s a little riskier than shooting from the hip, but I didn’t have any problems. The lighting effect is pretty stark and gritty.
RT Mall on Mothers Day
It’s been raining like crazy for the last 3 days, including a pretty serious thunderstorm last night. Not so great for street photography, so I had to take my little project indoors again.
Hong Kong Streets
I was able to get in a few hours of photos in Hong Kong (Kowloon) before heading to the airport to fly home. It was a gorgeous afternoon and I ran around like a crazy man getting shots in the narrow streets of Tsim Sha Tsui.
Qingxi Streets
Yet another weekend layover in Qingxi gave me some time at the central market for street photos. A very photogenic place if you can handle the smells.
Yangjiang Streets V1
I’m making two passes through Yangjiang on this trip. These are photos from pass number one.
Shanghai & Ningbo in February
I only had one day to cruise around Pudong and grab a few shots. It was nice to hit the streets after a particularly brutal Minnesota winter. Just walking around the city was a treat after hibernating for the last 3 months.
On the streets
This hasn’t been a great trip for street photos because of the weather and a busy schedule. I got out for a few hours in Yangjiang to take these shots.
Arrivals – New T3 Terminal at Shenzhen Airport
I flew into the new (1 week old) T3 terminal yesterday and took some photos before the building becomes too dog-eared. It’s a beautiful structure with some unique repeating patterns. I watched this terminal being built over the last few years and was pretty excited about getting inside to see the results. I wasn’t disappointed.
Photo Dim Sum
Dim sum refers to a style of Cantonese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. This is photo dim sum. The menu today is a handful of semi-unrelated bite-sized portions.
Extreme Fashion in China
“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”
Oscar Wilde
Night Light
Photography is all about capturing light. At night most modern cameras struggle because digital sensors don’t perform well in low light conditions. My current Nikon D7000 does a great job during the day and in the studio – where there’s light. Not so much at night.
China Tech
I’m amazed at how technology is taking over people’s lives in China, much in the same way it has in the US. The boys in China are glued to smart phones and computer screens just like in the US. Their faces are illuminated by the dim glow from games.
Shopping in Yangjiang
I arrived in Yangjiang a couple days ago and needed to do some grocery shopping. I decided to take some camera gear to the grocery store to document the local flavor. Some indoor street photography on a hot Sunday afternoon…
Yangjiang Street Photos
Everytime I come to Yangjiang I take a very long walk through the city. The same path each time. Each time I see totally different sites and people. It’s never the same twice.
Made in China
I take a lot of factory tours in China. That’s my job. I do it for many reasons, including learning about how things are manufactured so I can become a better designer. I also take photos…
Hong Kong at 5AM
Jet lag can be a wonderful thing if your plan is to get some VERY early pre-sunrise street photos. It was a steamy morning wandering around the edge of the harbor observing and photographing the world waking up (and sleeping).
Stop – Thief!
I’ve decided that being a street photographer is like being a thief. Most of my subjects don’t realize I’m taking their photograph, and before they know it – I’ve stolen a moment of their life. Approximately 1/200th of a second of their life is captured on a sensor about the size of my thumb.
Hazy Hong Kong
Holy crap, there was a ton of smog on this trip. There was a dense cloud hanging over my stops in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. While I was in China the pollution in Beijing was off the charts.
Yangjiang Kite Festival – Kites
This was my first kite festival so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My only assumption was there were going to be lots of kites. I was right about that.
Yangjiang Kite Festival – People
I estimate there were probably 5,000 people at the annual Yangjiang Kite Festival and after walking around the place for three hours I concluded I was the only non-Chinese person there. This made me a bit of a freak that earned me a 10 minute photo session with half of the Chinese school girls attending.
Temple Parade
Sometimes you have to go out and find great shots and sometimes the great shots find you. We were driving back to a factory after lunch and a few blocks from our destination we got jammed-up by a parade on the way to the village temple.
Art in the Chaos
Street photography is like a scavenger hunt. Sometimes you’re rewarded with the gift of an amazing image. A small slice of the temporal continuum is captured by a few million pixels. Someone’s ordinary life frozen in time for others to see. They may not consider that particular moment precious, but when removed from the context of their everyday existence it can become special. Perhaps art?
Shanghai I
Shanghai is huge. REALLY huge (23 million people). It’s ten times the size of Chicago. And this week is was hot. REALLY hot. There were lots of umbrellas on the streets to make-your-own-shade.
