Albert Watson

Albert Watson – Photographer

Albert Watson (b. 1942, Edinburgh, Scotland) is one of the most acclaimed fashion and portrait photographers of the last fifty years. His career bridges commercial commissions, fine art, and personal projects, producing an instantly recognisable style that combines technical mastery with striking visual drama.

Blind in one eye since birth, Watson has described how this shaped his sense of light, shadow, and composition. His work is defined by precision, elegance, and a sculptural approach to form. He often uses controlled studio lighting to create images that are at once timeless and cinematic.

Watson first made his mark in the 1970s, shooting for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and later creating over 100 covers for Vogue worldwide. He is also responsible for some of the most iconic images in popular culture, including portraits of Alfred Hitchcock holding a plucked goose (1973), Steve Jobs (2006), and Kate Moss (taken on her 19th birthday in 1993). Beyond fashion, Watson has photographed landscapes, travel, and still life with the same meticulous eye.

His fine art prints are held in major collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Smithsonian, and the National Portrait Gallery (London). He has also published numerous monographs, including Cyclops (1994), Kaos (2017), and UFO (2010), which highlight the breadth of his work across genres.

Recognised with an OBE for services to photography (2015), Watson continues to inspire with his ability to transform subjects—whether people, objects, or places—into iconic, almost mythic images.