Walter Chin stands out among the world's best fashion photographers
March 24, 2022
Had it not been for two defining moments, the world would not have had the opportunity to experience renowned fashion and celebrity photographer Walter Chin creative and artistic brilliance.
After finishing high school in Jamaica, he assembled a sound system and played music at parties in Montego Bay.
Tee Chin and Wong Sue Chin, however, had higher expectations for their son who graduated from Cornwall College.
They sent him to Toronto in 1975 to pursue higher education.
“I had an aunt who sponsored me and I pretty much felt like an alien when I got here,” he recounted.
With an interest in photography, Chin took a visual art class while completing Grade 13 at Overlea Secondary School (renamed Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute in 1987).
“I liked painting, but I just thought you had to put so much into it,” he pointed out. “You could spend three months doing one and not necessarily getting the response you are looking for at the end. With photography, you take the picture and can get a feel for it almost right away.”
Introduced to photography at Overlea, the first photo Chin took was of a young girl who would become his wife. He did the shoot at Centre Island using a Canon camera borrowed from a cousin.
World renowned photographer Walter Chin (Photo submitted)
They met at a law firm where he was a mail clerk and she was doing accounting during the summer.
After a few months at York University, Chin transferred to Ryerson Polytechnic Institute (now Ryerson University) and graduated with a degree in Photographic Arts.
In his third year, he secured his first job after showcasing some of his content to advertising agencies.
“It was for a Toronto Blue Jays campaign and was done out of a friend’s studio that I pretended was mine,” he recalled. “After that, I started to work for all the top clients in the city and was really doing well.”
Or so Chin thought.
“One day, my wife said, ‘I think you are enjoying your status as a big fish in a small pond’," he recounted. “In the early 1980s, the fashion industry in Canada was quite limited. She said if I wanted to prove to myself how good I am, I should go to Paris.”
Paris, New York, London and Milan are considered the world’s fashion capitals.
Chin didn’t take his wife’s suggestion seriously at first.
“My response was, ‘I don’t think so, I love Toronto’,” he said. “She insisted I try something new. Her reasoning was that we were young and we should go and explore what is on the other side of the ocean. I loved the magazines coming out of France like Elle and Vogue France and I thought I might be able to work for them. At least, why not try?”
It took Chin two years before landing his first job in France’s most populous city.
“I was naïve and I thought something would happen,” he said. “I was not going to give up.”
Still life of a Bottega Veneta suitcase with shirts spilling out from Christian Dior, Hathaway and Bill Robinson along with Clairborne, Givenchy and Polo Ties (Photo by Walter Chin)
Chin met Egyptian-born Fouli Elia who was a fashion photographer and artistic director for Elle.
“I studied Art History and the History of Photography, so I had a background apart from just taking pictures,” he said. “I was able to interact with Elia who was like a mentor. One day, he told me to go to a studio and do a shoot. He said everything was set up for me and all I had to do was just shoot.”
It turned out that Elia had called in sick and Chin was his substitute.
His career took off from there.
Despite enjoying success in Paris as a commercial photographer, Chin relocated after five years in 1990 to New York.
“It made sense at the time to come back to North America because I was always in New York,” he said. “Clients, including Vogue and GQ flew me and my family over frequently on the Concorde. They furnished an apartment with toys and books for the kids. If I was spending so much time in one place, I thought it would be best for us to just reside there.”
While fashion photography is often considered glamorous and lucrative, there’s a lot more to taking great pictures.
‘There is a lot of pre and post-production work involved, “said Chin. “You have to come up with concepts and then edit film after everyone goes home. Back in the day before digital, you had to print. The hardest part of the process is post-production because clients are very fussy and you could spend days with them discussing changes. That can be quite daunting. Digital, however, has made things a lot easier. You can manipulate images, which, for me is a different form of photography. I prefer the analog approach because the aesthetics are much more precise. You create everything there on set with the photograph rather than after the fact.”
One of his best known images is of Brazilian-born model Gisele Bundchen – the wife of National Football League (NFL) quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady – on horseback that was published in Vanity Fair in 1999 and featured nine years later at London’s National Portraits Gallery dedicated to Vanity Fair portraits.
Gisele Bundchen on horseback (Photo by Walter Chin)
The shoot was done with a Hasselblad film camera.
“I brought the horse into the studio because it was winter,” he said. “At the time, Gisele wasn’t as famous as she is now, but I thought a nude of her would be very impactful. I just liked the fact she was so regal on the horse and her body followed the form of the animal. I worked with her prior to that shoot and she is a very professional model who takes directions easily.”
In addition to Elle, Vogue and GQ, Chin’s work has been published in Vanity Fair, Allure and Sports Illustrated.
In fact, his most memorable photo shoot was done for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue during a safari in Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya that is renowned for its exceptional wildlife.
“They had always shot on beaches, but I wanted to go somewhere else with the bathing suits,” he said. “I love savannahs. It was all golden fields with clouds on top of you. It was so breathtaking. I have taken many clients there over the years to shoot because the territory is so amazing.”
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the way photographers created, forcing many to pivot to make a living.
Adapting was challenging at times for Chin.
“I worked remotely by Zoom,” he said. “It was crazy because I couldn’t be there to set the lights. I had to be telling the person to move over to the left or closer to the window. I had no control that is something I need when I am working.”
With the world slowly re-opening after the harsh two-year lockdown, Chin’s work schedule is picking up.
He recently completed the Neiman Marcus fashion book and is shooting mostly editorials for Vogue Hong Kong, China and Japan. A few weeks ago, he was in Pier59 studios in Manhattan photographing Mark Ingram’s bridal line.
“I have been doing a lot of bridal stuff recently which is not considered exciting,” he said. “But, I make it into something. I come up with concepts and make it fun, young and a little different from what the traditional bridal campaign would be like. I would have a bride wear a pair of Converse sneakers instead of high heel shoes. For the Mark Ingram shoot, I requested a girl with a big Afro just to make it a bit more interesting and modern.”
Naomi Campbell (Photo by Walter Chin)
Chin is on Cloud Nine after receiving some good news at the start of the New Year.
He will be honoured with a Vice-Chancellor Award at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Toronto 13th annual Benefit Gala on June 25 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The university’s largest event in Canada provides critical financial support for Caribbean students pursuing higher education.
In the last 12 years, nearly $3 million has been raised and 650 students have received scholarships through the Scotiabank-sponsored gala.
Back in Jamaica, Chin didn’t consider attending UWI because most of the programs at the time were focussed on medicine, humanities & education and law.
The honour, he points out, is the highlight of his remarkable career.
“It is a quintessential moment for me,” said Chin who was the recipient of the Fashion Design Council of Canada ‘Canadian Art & Fashion Award’ in 2002. “It is an acknowledgment of my body of work over the years. I feel so blessed.”
In 1994, he was listed as one of the most important people in current photography by a panel of curators, dealers, editors and industry insiders for ‘American Photo’ magazine. His inclusion on the list cited his modernism, use of colour, graphic form and tight image cropping and the way in which his sitters appeared to constantly be in motion, drawing parallels with David Bailey and Martin Munkácsi.
Though Chin has made it to the top in his profession, he never forgets his humble beginnings and how that shaped his life.
“I grew up in a house that had a zinc roof and the toilet was outdoors,” he said. “That didn’t prevent me from focussing and wanting to do well in life. If I can do it, anyone can and it’s for that reason that I would dedicate the Vice-Chancellor Award to underprivileged children in Jamaica and globally. You just have to believe in yourself.”
The bedrock lessons provided by his late parents also served Chin well.
Tee Chin died in January 2021 at age 90 and his wife predeceased him in November 2015. They resided in the Greater Toronto Area.
“My dad, who didn’t attend college and ran a tiny little shop, never spent a penny on himself,” said Chin. “He saved all his earnings to send me and my older brother – Earle Chin is a chemical engineer in Canada – to get higher education. That was his priority. I am a hard worker who never complain, even when clients get very demanding. My father taught me that.”
As for mom, her son remembers her as extremely kind and loving.
“She was such a positive person with a smile always,” he said. “My friends loved to be in her presence, enjoying her personality and the Jamaican-Chinese food she cooked. She was so amazing. I really miss my parents.”
Walter Chin is set to receive a UWI Toronto Gala Vice-Chancellor Award (Photo submitted)
Chin and his wife of 43 years, Jill, have three children.
Stepping off the plane in Toronto 47 years ago into a sea of white -- it was snowing and most of the airport workers were White – was intimidating for Chin coming from a tropical island where the majority of citizens are Black.
Colour stood out to him back then and still is as it is a powerful tool for fashion photography, a genre in which he is among the best in the world.
