But who is behind the camera?

Hello! I’m Fred. What makes me so passionate about photography is finding out about others, meeting others : a character, a face, a loving couple or the bride and groom, a mother-to-be or a newborn, siblings or a family and even our four legged friends… so many opportunities to snap pieces of life as a faithful and invisible companion.

Even today I am still fascinated by this power of capturing the living against the passage of time and I am particularly drawn to the sentimental and heritage value a photograph can inhold.
For me, this became clear with few experiences like the unexpected discovery of a portrait of my dear grandmother, a cautious and private woman, in her youth posing as a sparkling pin-up on the bonnet of a sport sedan or through the emotion on the face of my mother-in-law sharing a photo of an ancestor, standing solemnly alongside all his family in front of “the first tractors in the area”, in the far out Devon countryside.

It is the same fascination that encourages me to photograph on film whenever the opportunity arises but also makes me believe that the real value of a shot is only unveiled once printed on paper.

However, I was not born a camera in my hand. This passion came about progressively. I discovered a particular interest with all things related to portraiture, corporate or intimate, firstly when travelling and then through practicing studio photography. I decided photography would become my full time job.

A recent father to two treasures Lily and Oscar, I have shared the last twenty years of my life with the author of this portrait, a short english women with a sturdy character.
Cheerful, caring and a perfectionistic, I speak my mind and I particularly enjoy sharing those moment of complicity with all the livings who pass in front of my lens.

Portrait of Frédéric Caunant, portraitist photographer