PHOTOGRAPHER PIERREFREDD
HER ROAR’S WALL
THE PARISIAN WAY OF LIFE IS STILL AN
INCREDIBLE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
PIERREFREDD was born and raised in Nice, then settled in Paris after graduating from his studies in Arts and Communication. The beauty and history of Paris had always attracted and intrigued the artist which was originally a playground that led him to shoot his first street pictures.
YOUR GREATEST INSPIRATIONS AND INFLUENCES
The world around me is an endless source of inspiration. Childhood, old age and fear of aging, death, are themes that inspire me a lot and are recurrent in my photographs. The incongruity in everyday life and marginalised characters are my favourite subjects.
I admire the work of many artists such as Vivian Maier, Doisneau, Elliott Witt and Weegee. However, when I switch on my camera, I do not wonder if one of them would have taken a photograph like this or like that ... They may be inspirations but I operate by feeling and everything is very spontaneous.
In street photography as in posed sessions, the artists who touch me are those who have retained an innocence, those who have an immediately identifiable aesthetic imprint and do not seek to please or shock at all costs. To name a few, I have a deep admiration for Pierre et Gilles, Mondino, Herb Ritts, Steven Meisel, David Lachapelle and so many others...
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS. THINGS YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2021.
I really like walking around without a specific agenda, constantly adjusting my camera settings according to the light and weather conditions on which I am very dependent. Once my camera is ready, I observe situations and personalities around me. Whenever a subject calls out to me, I adjust my settings as quickly as possible and take the picture. You have to be very responsive, not asking yourself too many questions. Emotions, and state of mind when shooting can affect judgment on whether or not to keep the photograph depending on whether the experience was good or unpleasant. I don’t do that anymore and wait until I’m home to have a second look at what I shot.
For posed street portraits, the approach is different since I have to get in touch with individuals and explain my approach at the risk of losing authenticity and spontaneity. That’s why I generally try to achieve these portraits quickly so that the subject does not have time to get to pose. This happened after getting consent to photograph someone: I went away and came back to the subject at an unexpected moment in order to capture what struck me about them at first sight.
For studio sessions, the approach is different. I usually have a general guiding idea about what I want to express, a place, a pose. Once these ideas explained to the models and once positioned, I leave room for some improvisation on their part. This process allows the models to feel at ease and take ownership of the story I want to tell. Their personality is not distorted and that’s what I’m looking for.
Leila your favorite photograph "Her Roar's Wall" illustrates this desire for spontaneity and authenticity that I have just described. The idea for this photograph came to me after observing a crack in the wall of a friends’ garden and having the youngest of their children posing, facing the wall that she could destroy by the mere force of her explosive personality. This photograph epitomises the themes that are dear to me such as childhood, freedom of speech, and girl power, with force and humour.
Finally, I attach a great deal of importance to the moment I give my photographs a title. These labels are very intimate, they reflect my feelings and my state of mind at a specific moment: a fragment of my album of personal memories. Thus, these titles are intentionally not descriptive. The objective that I have set for myself is to give everyone their freedom of interpretation according to their sensitivity. Eventually, these titles are only tags that illustrate the progress of their author.
HOW HAS THIS YEAR CHANGED YOUR CREATIVITY OR HOW YOU SEE THE WORLD CHANGING MOVING FORWARD ?
The past year has drawn us all into a visual navigation process, with absolute ignorance of what the next day has in store for us. Mentally, emotionally and artistically, we have all felt the effects of this past year.
Personally, an exhibition was planned in May and then postponed to November before being finally cancelled. Each scheduled date matched with a period of lockdown and social distancing in France and of course I was affected. When the first lockdown was announced I was away in Burgundy. I hence had the opportunity to produce a series entitled "La Maison Buissonnière" which illustrated this feeling of unprecedented lockdown and the establishment of home schooling through the prism of children. My creativity had not yet been shaken.
Upon my return to Paris and with the restrictions imposed, it was different. The first masked faces appeared in my pictures and very quickly the deadly atmosphere of the deserted streets became suffocating to me and began to restrict my imagination.
In the summer of 2020, lockdown was lifted. I regained possession of the space around me and the desire to photograph the world until the second lockdown that began in October. This time, our state of mind had evolved, our habits had changed. We had resigned ourselves to the inability to communicate with our loved ones except through screens. It was by observing this new aspect of our lives that I realised the only human interactions we had on a daily basis were with our local merchants, whom I ultimately knew very little about!
I felt the need to meet them during the unique hour authorised outside, in a 1km radius around home and realised the series "My OberkamPF Story". This series mixes fairly classic photos of shop owners in the context of their activity as well as staged pictures of them when the weather, the desire and the inconvenience caused to the customers gave us the possibility to do it.
For this year 2021, I obviously want to have the opportunity to share my passion and exhibit again. Eventually I want to surprise and be surprised, that’s the biggest aspect for me.
