Hugh Stewart Beyond the Lens

INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR

HUGH STEWART DISCUSSES THE ART OF PORTRAITURE AND HIS FRUITFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH BAZ LUHRMANN AND CATHERINE MARTIN

Hugh Stewart has photographed many of the greatest actors and characters of the past 50 years. His story is one of an ambitious, bold, and somewhat dissatisfied youth with a definitive goal: to work for British Vogue – and a naturally relaxed ability to follow his nose on the way there.

From a small farm in South Auckland, New Zealand, to London, New York, and Sydney, Hugh has collaborated with luminaries like Vogue and i-D magazines, Chanel, and Academy Award winning director Baz Luhrmann throughout his career.

In 1981 Hugh completed his printing apprenticeship and moved to London, finding himself living in a squat behind Houston Station, Saint Pancreas, with an array of creatives including photographers working for music magazines. “With one of them we built a dark room, and then I had a camera and started shooting over there, I didn’t work but I started taking pictures and I started to really love it,” says Hugh.

Following London came a year in New York and an expired visa which forced him home, but with no interest in farming Hugh quickly moved to Sydney, Australia. “I had all these photographs, so I made a portfolio. I was young enough, cocky enough, and overconfident enough to just think I should start at the top – so I did, I went to see Vogue and they actually gave me a job.”