His blog: http://www.alexhoffordphotography.com/
Alex Hofford is a photojournalist who is based in Hong Kong, he has lived there for over a decade now. He uses the city as a base to cover stories in Greater China. He is also a regional representative for the European Press-photo Agency (EPA). He is British and has now a young family .
Since he arrived in Hong Kong, he has carried out over a hundred editorial assignments across the region as well as having worked in Asia but also in Middle East and Africa.
His works focuses on Environmental issues, he has done many assignments in the Pacific Ocean with Greenpeace, covering the problems of Marine Pollution, shark fining and over-fishing. His work is currently focusing on toxic e-waste, air pollution and solar power problems in China.
My opinion: His project on Air pollution relates to my idea of photographing the stages of pollution using a mouth and nose mask and a gas mask. I like that he focuses on very real issues which are affecting the real world in present time. Not many photographers focus on the environment but rather people instead which i think is boring after a while but nothing changes. People in undeveloped countries will always go through the same cycle of being born, getting ill from bacteria then dying. No amount of images will change the cycle and charities don’t seem to do much anymore. Whereas Alex Hofford photographs issues which the whole population of China and the world can change with simple changes such as walking and taking public transport instead of driving 5 minutes to the shop. The images he creates are different every time, they capture the eye as some are shocking to look at such as the Gas Mask images he created in collaboration with Clean Air Network.
Clean Air Network Website: http://www.hongkongcan.org/hk/
i want to change the world, i want the trees to grow again and the planet return to it’s full health but every government and rich boy is working against every person who wants to make a difference due to money. They ignore the warning signs because their is opportunity to earn 15 million in the next building project. Earthquakes caused by quarry explosions get blamed on tectonic plates when they aren’t even close to that country. Acid rain get’s blamed on air pressure and the increase in volcano explosions, tsunami’s, tornadoes, and hurricanes also get blamed on simply air pressure but what is causing this ‘air pressure’? Well this is due to the constant increase in Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen, the increase of global warming and the increased amount of oil accidentally spilling into the sea with the government not carrying and talking blankly to the media saying they are doing everything they can. They then return to their 5 million pound home and get waited on hand and food whilst those who care and walking in oil and rescuing animals covered in oil. They wouldn’t dare dirty their handmade suits.
His Images:
Alex Hofford created this image with a student to protest against the road side pollution caused mainly by buses. This image is really well constructed as the main point of the image is complete focus and the second point which is the bus has motion blur which i think it really effective at drawing our attention towards the student with the gas mask. In china, they do not actually where gas masks, they were mouth and nose masks instead but at the rate the pollution is increasing, within a decade they may have to wear gas masks to protect themselves against carbon dioxide poisoning. The composition of the image is not very good quality, however it is meant to be messy and not perfect like a sunset photo because it is portraying a serious message. That if we do not control our pollution, our future, our children’s futures will be spent in gas masks. However, i think how the sky has been darkened to make the student, bus and buildings more prominent in the photo works really well as it draws our attention into the centre of the photo. Also the outline of the bus acts as a frame for the students head which makes the viewers eyes drawn to her. Another aspect of the image which is quite interesting, is that we cannot see her eyes very clearly and i think that works in Hofford’s favour as it adds tension to the image as we can not see her facial expression which keaves us guessing to what it is. Without any context, you can understand what this image is about but it also leaves many things up to the viewer’s imagination such as who the girl is, why she is standing next to a bus and why the photo is in black and white. This image relates to the Realism Art movement in the 1850s in which realists rejected Romanticisim which dominated French literature. They were against the exotic subject matter and exaggerated emotionalism. Realism’s purpose was to “portray real and typical comtemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy”. Alex Hofford wanted to portray the truth of students protesting against road side pollution with the use of gas masks. He did not set up this image, he wanted only there to capture what was happening in that moment.
This is a similar photo to the one above taken by Alex Hofford. This photo is of a student activist who is protesting against the high levels of pollution in Hong Kong by wearing a gas mask. She is a symbol of the environmental group Greenpeace. She is standing most likely on a boat in front of Hong Kong who’s sky is thick with smog. The composition of this image is interesting because the background is very dull and boring but she is wearing a bright blue t-shirt and you can tell a flash was used as her face is brighter than it should be when there is no sun in the picture. I think this draws our attention towards her face and the gas mask which is the most crucial part of the image. The only problem with this image is that the skyline is slanted and i think if it was straight the photo would look much more symmetrical. I think the contrast in colour is meant to represent the stand that many Chinese people are taking to try and make people aware of the dangers of smog and the high levels of pollution in the city. The blue of the shirt may represent the colour the water should be but it is grey instead and it represents that the sky should be blue not grey and full of cloud every single day. Hofford attempted to use the rule of three as she is almost in the center but i think the flash on only her face partly ruins the consistency of the image. This image again relates to Realism which is the art movement of rejecting Romanticism which dramatized and over exaggerates emotions in paintings. Realism shows the raw truth of events and use the camera as a tool to portray it. They rarely manipulated images or used Tableaux photography to portray emotion. I think this is Alex Hofford has done, he has captured an image of an activist protesting against the high levels of pollution in Hong Kong and the only manipulation of the image is the flash. However, it has to be used due to the amount of smog making the daytime seem more like late evening.