Born 1930 as Yasuhiro Wakabayashi in Shanghai to Japanese parents, Hiro is known for his fashion and still-life photography from the mid-1960s onward.
Hiro's family returned to Japan from China at the end of the Second World War. When he arrived in America from Japan in 1954 he brought with him his memories of a childhood in China and Japan which have a place in the genesis of his work. For a brief period in the fifties he worked with Richard Avedon, who then sent him to the legendary art director, Alexey Brodovitch. He lived up to Brodovitch's dictum, “If you look in your camera and see something you've seen before, don't click the shutter.”
Hiro was also the most technically advanced photographer of his time, adept at layering imagery in a single frame long before the arrival of the computer. His distinguished career as an exquisite fashion, still-life, and portrait photographer began in New York at Harper's Bazaar. He is greatly admired by other photographers and art directors, is one of the most influential figures in postwar American photography, with an extraordinary sensibility that has no precedent yet he is little known by the public.
In January 1982, American Photographer magazine devoted an entire issue to Hiro and asked, “Is this Man America's Greatest Photographer?”
Here below is a stunning photo collection that shows part of his work in the 1960s.
Hiro's family returned to Japan from China at the end of the Second World War. When he arrived in America from Japan in 1954 he brought with him his memories of a childhood in China and Japan which have a place in the genesis of his work. For a brief period in the fifties he worked with Richard Avedon, who then sent him to the legendary art director, Alexey Brodovitch. He lived up to Brodovitch's dictum, “If you look in your camera and see something you've seen before, don't click the shutter.”
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| Models photographed by Hiro in the 1960s |
Hiro was also the most technically advanced photographer of his time, adept at layering imagery in a single frame long before the arrival of the computer. His distinguished career as an exquisite fashion, still-life, and portrait photographer began in New York at Harper's Bazaar. He is greatly admired by other photographers and art directors, is one of the most influential figures in postwar American photography, with an extraordinary sensibility that has no precedent yet he is little known by the public.
In January 1982, American Photographer magazine devoted an entire issue to Hiro and asked, “Is this Man America's Greatest Photographer?”
Here below is a stunning photo collection that shows part of his work in the 1960s.
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| Iris Bianchi in polka-dot dress, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, June 1961 |
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| Iris Bianchi, Yves Saint Laurent, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, June 1962 |
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| Kouka holds Jean Schlumberger's 'Dauphin' (dolphin) clip between her teeth, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, Dec. 1962 |
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| Rhinestone necklace on tattooed back, photo by Hiro, Tokyo, Japan, 1962 |
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| Tilly Tizzani, photo by Hiro at the New York World's Fair construction site, Harper's Bazaar, Feb. 1962 |
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| Veronica Hamel, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, June 1962 |
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| Victoire in perfectly constructed cream-colored silk shantung suit, Yves Saint Laurent Spring-Summer Collection, photo by Hiro, 1962 |
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| 'Black Evening Dress in Flight' , gown by Sarmi, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, Oct. 1963 |
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| Model is wearing Jean Schlumberger's 'Jasmine' necklace, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, July 1963 |
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| Tilly Tizzani with blue scarf, photo by Hiro for Harper's Bazaar, May 1963 |
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| Tilly Tizzani in evening dress by Patou, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, March 1964 |
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| Akiko photographed by Hiro in Hawaii, Harper's Bazaar, May 1965 |
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| Akiko, dress by Junior Sophisticates, photo by Hiro, Hawaii, Harpers Bazaar, June 1965 |
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| Akiko, photo by Hiro, Hawaii, February 10, 1965 |
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| Model is wearing oversized faux pearls in pink, mulberry and fuchsia by Evelyne Desbruéres for Jean Patou, photo by Hiro, Vogue UK, November 1965 |
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| Agneta Darin in a catchy catcher's cap of wool jersey by Emme, enamel earrings by Marvella, wool jersey gloves by Viola Weinberger, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, Aug. 1966 |
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| Akiko in fashion by Rudi Gernreich, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, January 1966 |
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| Pam Barkentin in design by Donald Brooks, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, April 1966 |
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| Pam Barkentin, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, April 1966 |
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| Tilly Tizzani is wearing sun-visor by Optico, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, Feb. 1966 |
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| Agneta Darin and Marola Witt, fashion by Geoffrey Beene, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, February 1967 |
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| Agneta Darin and Marola Witt, silk prints by Donald Brooks, photo by Hiro, February 1967 |
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| Alberta Tiburzi in Balenciaga's cocktail dress of black silk gazar with rhinestone and faux pearl brooch, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, September 1967 |
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| Alberta Tiburzi in silk pajamas by Geoffrey Beene, photo by Hiro for Harper's Bazaar, Feb. 1967 |
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| Alberta Tiburzi, photo by Hiro, 1967 |
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| Cathee Dahmen, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, April 1968 |
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| Donna Mitchell is wearing one of a series of floral necklaces with detachable jewel and enamel beetle brooches by Donald Claflin, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, Oct. 1968 |
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| Berkeley Johnson in a jewelled helmet of Swarovski crystals by Emme, photo by Hiro, Harper's Bazaar, Dec. 1969 |
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| Donna Mitchell, photo by Hiro for Harper's Bazaar July, 1969 |
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| Donna Mitchell, photo by Hiro for Harper's Bazaar July, 1969 |
