Fashion loses a true artist

Craig Owen and Grace Owen. Photo / Bradley Ambrose

New Zealand's fashion community is in mourning after the death of one of the country's top photographers.

Craig Owen was a renowned fashion and advertising photographer who worked with the likes of Elle Macpherson and Miranda Kerr.

He is survived by wife Grace.

Owen's photography regularly featured in New Zealand magazines such as Fashion Quarterly and Black, as well as overseas publications including Vogue Australia.

Fashion Quarterly editor Fiona Hawtin said Owen, who was aged in his mid-40s, was the magazine's main photographer for more than a decade.

"We're going to miss him so much on a personal level and also professionally. He's really done so much in fashion. We're devastated.

"He was very, very good technically. But he also had that real artist's eye ... He was very rare in that he had both."

She said that while advertising jobs were Owen's "bread and butter", his real passion was for fashion editorials.

"If we ever wanted a job done and done really well, we'd always call on Craig ... He was very proud of his work."