Volker Hinz (1947–2019)

This october the ‘star’ photographer Volker Hinz sadly passed away after a serious illness. For his pictures of celebrities, he received awards such as the World Press Photo Award. Early in his career he became known for his political reportage and travel stories, later his portraits of artists, authors, fashion designers, sports men and politicians were better known.

In 2017 Volker Hinz was one of three prominent German photographers that were showed together with a selection of extraordinary shoes in the exhibition HIGH HEELS, Die hohe Kunst der Schuhe at Schloss Lichtenwalde in Germany.

Photo curator Brigitte Woischnik selected his fantastic black & white photographs; backstage footage of the Parisian fashion scene during the fashion shows in the late 70’s to the 90’s that showed the sensitive perception of fashion designers and their muses.

Volker Hinz was born in Hamburg in 1947 and started his career there. As a 20-year-old he sold his pictures to newspapers and magazines. In 1971 he took over the management of Picture Agency from Sven Simon in Bonn, photographed German politicians, accompanied Foreign Minister Walter Scheel on his first trip to China and became known as a photojournalist. In 1974 Stern Magazine hired him and in 1978 he went to New York as a correspondent for the magazine. Being in the field of sports, politics, art and fashion made him one the most prominent portrait photographer for the German press.

Stern Magazine: ‘For nearly three decades, the photographer Volker Hinz works for Stern. His reports from around the world, his pictorial stories and especially his black and white portraits of international personalities establish his superior rank as a photographer and have strongly influenced the look of the magazine.’

Volker Hinz created an extensive oeuvre and his pictures have been shown in numerous single and group exhibitions. He was one of the outstanding German photographers and was internationally recognized. Hinz’s photographs have been published in many international journals (GEO, Life, Look, New York Magazine, Vanity Fair, New Yorkers, Photo, Paris Match, Amica, etc.) He received many awards, including World Press, Lead Awards and the Art Directors Club Germany and his work has been published in many books.