Daily Inspiration Quote by Herb Ritts

There is a sly humility baked into Herb Ritts's "Actually" - a small word that works like a curtain-pull. It tells you he's correcting a myth in real time: the fantasy that artists arrive pre-formed, already branded, already ordained. Instead, Ritts drops us into the unglamorous prequel of a career that would come to define late-20th-century image-making: he was selling for his parents, and photography was something he was "dabbling" in, almost incidental.

The intent is disarmingly practical. Ritts isn't performing genius; he's describing a side door. "Dabbling" signals play, curiosity, low stakes - the opposite of destiny. "Salesman" is the key subtext. Selling teaches you how to read desire, how to package a story, how to anticipate what someone wants before they can articulate it. That's basically the job description of fashion and celebrity photography, where the product is not just clothes or a face, but a controlled aura.

Context matters: Ritts emerged out of Southern California's glossy engine of bodies, beach light, and fame logistics, then helped shape the minimalist, sculptural look of the 1980s and '90s. By foregrounding his ordinary job, he also hints at the class and access realities behind creative success - family work, proximity, timing, the gradual pivot from commerce to art. The line reframes his ascent as something learned and negotiated, not inherited from the muses: the eye develops alongside the hustle.