JN 134: Herb Ritts

Herb Ritts was born on Aug. 15th, 1952 in Los Angeles, CA. His father Herb Ritts Sr., r was an entrepreneur, owning his own furniture business. Herb studied economics and art history at Bard College on the East Coast, before returning to help his father’s furniture business. Along the way, Ritts found his interest in photography, which would lead to an amazing career and change the scope of photography forever.

His photos gained recognition around the early ‘80s. He was known for his black and white style of photography and how he shapes people like greek sculptures. Ritts became good friends with Richard Gere and decided to take some practice photos of him in front of an old school Chrysler in an auto shop. This photos blew up, sending Richard to do “American Gigolo” and gaining Herb notoriety for his photos in the Fashion business.

He is said to have revolutionized fashion photography, pave the way for tasteful nude photos, and the “maker of sex symbols”. His provocative photography started what we see today, in the fashion business, as pushing the edge.He one of the first photographers who was very open to the idea of photographing gay men and pioneered the photos of two men.

Ritts was great for getting actors and actress to pose for him, which fueled his career in commercial photography, but ultimately, helped their career. Having Herb Ritts shoot for you was like a self-made resume book for these hungry stars.

As I did my research, Herb Ritts, almost exclusively, photographed Cindy Crawford. He was the guy who put her on the map and he used her in many different portraits. They had a unique photographer-to-model connection.

Ritts worked for many magazines, such as “Interview, Esquire, Mademoiselle, Glamour, GQ, Newsweek, Harper's Bazaar, Rolling Stone, Time, Vogue, Allure, Vanity Fair, Details, and Elle” according to his website.

According to Wikipedia, Ritts has photographed “Diana Ross, Christopher Reeve, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears,Madonna, Mariah Carey, Michael Jordan, Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Francesco Clemente, George Clooney, Cher, Mel Gibson, Elizabeth Taylor, Brad Pitt, Ronald Reagan, Julia Roberts,Steven Hawking, Nicole Kidman Edward Norton, Tom Cruise, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dizzy Gillespie, Elton John, Annette Benning, Antonio Banderas, Richard Gere, Jack Nicholson, Cindy Crawford, and many other”.

Herb Ritts was HIV positive and died December 26, 2002 of what some people say was HIV-related, but close friends say was of pneumonia.

Ritts changed the perception on nude photos,
saying they aren't all pornographic. 

Claim to Fame:
Richard Gere