Having majored in economics at Bard College in the early 1970s, Ritts worked for several years in his family’s furniture business. His casual interest in photography became a professional career in the early 1980s, when his portraits of up-and-coming stars like Richard Gere attracted the attention of national magazines.

He won rapid success as a fashion photographer working for such magazines as Harpers Bazaar, Vogue and Elle, and his portraits appeared regularly in Andy Warhol’s Interview and Vanity Fair.

Ritts’ photographs are bold and immediate. His style derives its formal clarity from his intuitive understanding of forms, silhouettes and lines that are strong and classically inspired. Ritts also had a lively imagination that created whimsical and sometimes surreal images.

Herb Ritts died in Los Angeles in 2002.