- SHANGHAI EXPONENTIAL - In 1994 I read some statistical data about the transformation that was underway in Shanghai; 30,000 construction sites were active there, 20 percent of the world’s construction cranes were in Shanghai, millions of rural farmers were migrating to the city for work, and the cost of rebuilding the city would top billions of dollars. I learned that there was not one accredited foreign photographer residing in Shanghai, and due to China’s tight control of the media, none were expected to be arriving anytime soon. I sold everything and moved there on a one-month tourist visa, confident that I would sort out a longer-term arrangement. I stayed as a resident photojournalist for 13 years.
The first few years I spent a lot of time climbing around those construction projects, photographing for western magazines, illustrating themes of development, growth and the shifting global economy. I’d get phone calls from editors in New York or London asking, "Have you ever heard of Pudong? Is there anything to see there?". It was a dream to be alone with a camera in a city of millions. One fall morning in 1997, Businessweek magazine called with an assignment to photograph migrant workers. I knew just where to go. A short taxi ride took me to the construction site office of the Jin Mao Tower in the Pudong New Area. I walked in and asked if I could go to the top of the 88 floor steel skeleton and photograph the workers. With little hesitation, Manager Wang handed me a badge and hardhat, and simply said, “Be careful”. Access was as simple as that. The trade off was good propaganda. One photo made the covers of both Businessweek in the U.S.A., and The Independent in the U.K., and it was then published many times again around the world. That day was perfection and a good example why I moved to Shanghai (image number five is another image made that afternoon).
As Shanghai sweeps up and dusts itself off for the World Expo, here are a few unpublished pictures from my archive that document the exponential growth that has brought mega stature to my favorite city. - Fritz Hoffmann
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See Fritz Hoffmann's photography of Shanghai in the March, 2010 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Magazine.
Fritz Hoffmann (American) is recognized for his photographic work documenting change in China as a resident photojournalist based in Shanghai from 1995-2008. His pictures have been widely published and exhibited. He is a frequent contributor to National Geographic magazine. Hoffmann’s work has made an important contribution to world understanding of modern China. He was the first foreign photographer since 1949 to receive accreditation from China’s Foreign Ministry to reside outside Beijing, the political capital. He studied Mandarin at East China University of Science and Technology and at Shanghai University Academy of Fine Art. He has photographed in each of China’s provinces and municipalities several times. China continues to be the primary focus of his work.
Prior to his move to China, Fritz established his place as a respected international photojournalist while working with JB Pictures in New York. Under the JB banner, he moved his base of operations to Nashville, Tennessee just before the first term of US President Bill Clinton, which increased interest in the American South. After JB closed, he opened the Network Photographers (UK), Shanghai bureau in 1997 as photo-correspondent. In 2002 Fritz co-founded the online picture library, documentCHINA.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Fritz was raised in a large family with a history of craftsmen. He began photography as a kid hitchhiking across the Pacific Northwest and then printing his pictures in the home darkroom. He honed his photography skills while slinging king crab in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Fritz supported his early travel and photography with work as a carpenter. Travel experiences steered him to pursue social documentary photography and reportage. He spent 5 years working at newspapers in Seattle, Charleston, West Virginia and Knoxville, Tennessee before entering magazine work.
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You can license Fritz Hoffmann's pictures through the archive section of this website and also at www.CORBIS.com
FRITZ IS PRESENTLY IN THE U.S.A.
Email:------contactATfritzarchive.com
Telephone:------China: ++86.138.0166.1396------U.S.A. ++917.482.4860