Los Angeles, Apr 3 (IANS): Hollywood superstar Richard Gere has paid a touching tribute to late photographer Herb Ritts who died from pneumonia in 2002.

Gere shared his memories before the launch of "Herb Ritts: LA Style", a collection of his work in Los Angeles.

He called the artist "one of the warmest human beings" he had ever met, and admitted he still cries when chatting about Ritts, who captured iconic images of stars like Madonna, Mel Gibson and Cindy Crawford, reports contactmusic.com.

"I was 26 or so when I met Herb Ritts. Somehow he was in this group of actors. He was the one who was really nice to be around, unlike a lot of people in that group who weren't, including me," he told hollywoodreporter.com.

"There's a very real reason why Herb was on top of everyone's list of still photographers. He captured something in his subjects - an essential quality. We recognise ourselves. He had a warmth in his photographs that everyone liked," he said.

"He's one of the warmest human beings I've ever known. Something that I don't think everyone realises about Herb is that he was an artist. He did fashion photography as a job but had the soul of an artist, and he wanted that shot. He was the kind of guy that whenever I see mutual friends who loved Herb, we start crying," he added.