Famous Romanians: Dan Lecca, the king of catwalk photos

A Romanian was behind the camera for many of the pictures in today's fashion magazines . . Romanian-born photographer Dan Lecca has become the king of catwalk shots, shooting fashion pictures for major fashion designers and for the big glossy magazines names. Lecca, who was born in Romania and emigrated to the US almost in the 70s, has worked with Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, The New York Times Magazine, on the publishing side, and the likes of Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, just to name some of them. The 66-year old who has been nicknamed 'The King of the Catwalk' left Romania in 1970, together with his wife Corina, who is Italian. Before leaving communist Romania, he was a rock singer, part of a band called Choral. Later on, he said he had left a wonderful career in Romania. Dan Lecca and his wife initially went to her parents in Italy, and after nine months moved to the US. Lecca arrived in America speaking no English and worked as a cook in his early 20s. He had trained for years as a graphic artist, but none of his work made it to the US, as the trunk containing his drawings was lost. In 1980, back when taking pictures involved film cameras and dark rooms, he started taking fashion pictures, and has stayed in the business. He started taking pictures for the Dallas Morning News, then in late 80s approached The New York Times magazine, which hired him for all the fashion shows. That proved to be a railroad to success. Next came Vogue and a series of other fashion magazines and designers. In an interview published by lookonline.com, Lecca says he charged different rates for different clients, asking young fashion designers only a couple of hundred dollars per show, which sometimes didn't even cover the film charge, but did so as a way of investing in them. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Mercedes Benz)