Hisashi Itoh

Born in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. I was born and raised in a home of craftsmen; I had the chance to experience and learn many different things since I was little. I went to a design institute and I discovered the world of photography accidentally. I was working at the design of a poster, as my first project, but I wasn’t satisfied with the photos taken by somebody else for this project, so I began to study the art of photography so that I could take better pictures by myself. Once I discovered photography, I became completely captured by this art. I continued to work and study the art of photography day and night. And when my tremendous passion connected me with what became my second love, music, I made the most important decision of my life: to become a professional photographer. Ever since, from the love for these two arts, many photographs of artists and musicians have been born. In 1986 I set up a studio in Meguro, Tokyo where I've been building my own experience by photographing many Japanese and foreign artists and taking many other kinds of pictures. I also took pictures for CD jackets, music and fashion magazines, advertising, and many others. I was lecturer at many photography schools, camera manufacturers, TV documentaries and programs. As part of my lifework, I put a lot of effort in monochrome artistic photography and so in 2004 I held a photo exhibition in Firenze, Italy (Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Strozzi) with such artworks. Currently he is actively performing presentations of Japanese culture in many countries of the world.