Uploaded October 2010 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Kazu Okutomi, native of Tokyo, Japan, came to the USA when he was 30 years old. He studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in California, then went to New York and Chicago to look for work.
Desperate, he found a job in Detroit, just in time to satisfy the INS and avoid having to return to Japan. Detroit, taunted his friends, was an unlikely place for a photographer to find work. Trained by the owners of Boulevard Studios, the largest automotive photography studio in the world, Kazu learned good business sense, and he mastered studio lighting. Now he's put together five images inspired by his favorite image, "First Flight," a photograph of Wilbur and Orville Wright's first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 12, 1903.
His five photographs will be in display in a show to open soon at Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Look for the announcement soon.
Kazu Okutomi, native of Tokyo, Japan, came to the USA when he was 30 years old. He studied photography at the Art Center College of Design in California, then went to New York and Chicago to look for work.
Desperate, he found a job in Detroit, just in time to satisfy the INS and avoid having to return to Japan. Detroit, taunted his friends, was an unlikely place for a photographer to find work. Trained by the owners of Boulevard Studios, the largest automotive photography studio in the world, Kazu learned good business sense, and he mastered studio lighting. Now he's put together five images inspired by his favorite image, "First Flight," a photograph of Wilbur and Orville Wright's first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 12, 1903.
His five photographs will be in display in a show to open soon at Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Look for the announcement soon.
