Actually, when I first started dabbling in photography, I was still working for my parents as a salesman. (Herb Ritts)
And what excites me most is the type of public, the fact that the Parisian people have a broader cultural understanding than many Americans do. (Herb Ritts)
Generally, the French highly promote culture and the arts, and photography is in their blood. (Herb Ritts)
When you start out, you're not really aware. I didn't have a sense of photographic history. (Herb Ritts)
I'd go down to the end of my street, to a garage that had a certain feeling about it, or a particular light; I'd take a picture of a friend who needed a head shot. That's how I learned, instead of having school assignments and learning camera techniques. (Herb Ritts)
I think knowing people by first names, not by what they do sexually, is really what it's about. Not being afraid. Fear is the enemy. I've always been comfortable with being gay. (Herb Ritts)
What I particularly liked was that, coming from California and not being involved in the New York scene, I developed my personal way, in my own way, at my own pace. (Herb Ritts)
Regardless of whether you speak the language or are familiar with a culture, the picture should hold up. (Herb Ritts)
Many people who excel are self-taught. (Herb Ritts)
I'm pretty selective. I generally edit the contact sheets and then do work prints. Because I have my own lab and printers, I can afford the luxury of going through the contact sheets for black-and-white, making up work prints, seeing them big, and honing them down. (Herb Ritts)
I like form and shape and strength in pictures. (Herb Ritts)
That's why I felt so at home when I went to Africa. It didn't matter that I was halfway around the world in a foreign country, because all those elements are universal. And I think that's one thing about my work: It's universal. (Herb Ritts)
Coming from California and growing up where I did, I've always had a fondness for and innate sensitivity to light, texture, and warmth. (Herb Ritts)
I was an economics major, which I enjoyed because I had a good business sense. (Herb Ritts)
I abstract it in my photographs I like large planes and spaces, areas of texture and light, like deserts or oceans or monumental places. (Herb Ritts)