Quick Facts
Biography
Kenro Izu (井津 建郎, Izu Kenrō, born 1949) is a Japanese-born photographer based in the United States.
Izu attended Nihon University College of Art in Tokyo from 1969-1972. After moving to the United States in 1972, he spent two years working as a photo assistant in New York City and subsequently established his own studio, specializing in still life photography. Since 1979, in addition to his well established commercial work, Kenro began his serious professional commitment to his fine art photography, traveling the world to capture the sacred ancient stone monuments in their natural settings. He traveled and documented Egypt, Syria, Jordan, England, Scotland, Mexico, France and Easter Island (Chile).
He has also focused on Buddhism and Hindu monuments in South East Asia: Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam and India. Through them, he captures profound beauty with natural states of decay. Izu founded Friends Without a Border, an organization devoted to raising funds for children’s hospitals in Cambodia. Profits from select prints sales and his book, Light Over Ancient Angkor, are donated to this cause. Izu is the recipient of the 2007 Lucie Awards’ Visionary Photographer award, and was published by En Foco's photographic journal Nueva Luz.
Publications
- Nueva Luz photographic journal, Volumes 12#2 (2007), and 1#1 (1984)