Hiroshi Watanabe (photographer)

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Hiroshi Watanabe (渡邉 博史, Watanabe Hiroshi^?) is a California-based Japanese photographer.

Born in Sapporo, Watanabe graduated from Nihon University in photography in 1975 and moved to Los Angeles, where he worked producing television commercials. He obtained an MBA from UCLA in 1993, but two years later his earlier interest in photography revived; from 2000 he has worked full time at photography.

After five self-published books, Watanabe's first to be published conventionally was I See Angels Every Day, monochrome portraits of the patients and other scenes within San Lázaro psychiatric hospital in Quito, Ecuador. This won the 2007 Photo City Sagamihara award for Japanese professional photographers.^[1]

Watanabe won a "Critical Mass" award from Photolucida that allowed publication of his monograph Findings.

Watanabe's works are in the permanent collections of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, George Eastman House, and Santa Barbara Museum of Art.^[2]

[edit] Books by Watanabe

• Veiled Observations and Reflections. West Hollywood, Calif.: Hiroshi Watanabe, 2002.
• Faces. West Hollywood, Calif.: Hiroshi Watanabe, 2002–2005.
  • 1. San Lazaro Psychiatric Hospital. 2003.
  • 2. Kabuki Players. 2003.
  • 3. Ena Bunraku. 2005.
  • 4. Noh Masks of Naito Clan. 2005.
• Watakushi wa mainichi, tenshi o mite iru (私は毎日、天使を見ている。) / I See Angels Every Day. Tokyo: Mado-sha, 2007. ISBN 978-4-89625-085-5
• Findings. Portland, Ore.: Photolucida, 2007. ISBN 978-1-934334-00-3.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Kokunai puro no bu: Sagamihara shashinshō" (国内プロの部：さがみはら写真賞), in Sagamihara Sōgō Shashinsai Fotoshiti Sagamihara 2007 kōshiki gaidobukku (相模原市総合写真祭 フォトシティさがみはら2007 公式ガイドブック), pp. 5–10. This booklet is the official guidebook to Photo City Sagamihara 2007.
2. ^ Houston, Eastman, Santa Barbara: according to the biography in the Photo City Sagamihara 2007 booklet.

[edit] External links

• Watanabe's site
• Garcia-Guzman, Miguel. "Hiroshi Watanabe". [EV+/-] Exposure Compensation, October 2007. An essay on Watanabe's work, generously illustrated with photographs.
• Records, Shawn. "Hiroshi Watanabe's Findings". 40 Watt. A review of Findings, generously illustrated with photographs.
• Watanabe preserves life in portraits, observations, Fotophile.com review of Watanabe's exhibition in Austin, Texas.