Katsuo Hanzawa

Born 1945 in Fukushima, Japan.

In 1963, Hanzawa moved to Tokyo, where he worked various jobs before deciding to venture into the world of photography,which was prompted by a conversation with Makoto Kashiwabara, who was a well-regarded professional photographer.
He started in a processing lab, then worked at Art Center Studio. In 1968, he became Kashiwabara’s assistant.
To master the art of photography, he traveled throughout India between 1971 and 1972, taking a vast number of portraits.

In 1974, Hanzawa became a freelance photographer. New Music Magazine published a 10-page spread of his photos taken in India, which led to commissions to shoot live-stage performances of rock musicians for New Music Magazine, Player, ONGAKU SENKA, among other music magazines.
Hanzawa’s activities continued to expand, branching into fashion photography, commercial film shooting, promotional video shooting, and directing video shoots. His photographs include the Rolling Stones, Yoko Ono, Y.M.O., Southern All Stars,and many other famous musicians and artists. A compendium of his life works contains unique, liberating scenes of nature and travel pictures. He has published numerous photography books, and received many awards.