Self-portrait

A native of Kaiping of Guangdong Province, Lo So-man (1910-1992) was born in Hong Kong and has been a photographer since 1941. His first solo photography album was published in 1963. Lo has been an inspiring mentor to many photographers through his Lo So-man Photography Institute, which he founded in 1966. Lo’s art and techniques in photography (in particular portrait lighting and darkroom film painting technique) are exemplified by his portraitures of renowned artists like Li Tiefu, Gu Zhefu and Chao Shao-an, the individuality and aesthetic appeal of which have won him the accolade as “Karsh of the Orient”. A tour of Huangshan, Anhui Province in China, in 1978 started a new passion for creativity, resulting in the publication of two photography collections, Impressions of Huangshan (1980) and Mount Huangshan (1987). The works of these two collections have been exhibited in Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing. Lo So-man’s portrait photographs reveal the subjects’ most characteristic facial expression or posture by using strong and contrasting lighting techniques. Combining with simple and crisp compositions, Lo’s photos are virtually with dramatic and cinematic effects which even make the subject stand out.