Enric Fradera
“Feeling the connection with the model and her interaction with the light is something magical; it is the center of the creative process.”
Intercru: Where are you from?
Enric: I’m from Badalona, a beach town next to Barcelona
Where do you live and work now?
I live in the same city I was born in, Badalona. Currently I combine office work with fashion and portrait photography.
How did you get started in photography?
I got serious about photography with the purchase of my first reflex camera, a simple Canon 1000D. At first I was doing street photography, but I drifted towards a more street style of portraits and began to attend Fashion Week in Barcelona as a photographer.
The world of fashion and female portraits got me more and more hooked and for a couple of years I have been taking a fashion photos and portraits entirely, in addition to continuing to do backstage and catwalk at Fashion Week (which unfortunately due to COVID has not been could in this 2020).
Who is your biggest creative inspiration?
I believe that we have to find inspiration in all artistic fields to cultivate our particular creative universe. I have always been passionate about cinema and I love the visual style of directors such as David Lynch, Wong Kar Wai, or Gaspar Noé, or the classic "femme fatale" of film noir.
As for photographers, I have a special admiration for great masters of color like Miles Aldridge or Guy Bourdin. And now there are also young photographers like Marta Bevacqua, Lauren Naylor, Lou Escobar, Agata Serge, Angie Lopez, Coco Duciel, Xenia Lau, etc. who also inspire me a lot. And of course I must also mention Peter Lindbergh’s black and white.
But going back to what I was saying, it often turns out that listening to a song, going to see an exhibition, going through certain moods, reading a book, or seeing a certain light can be the starting point for a creative idea.
What types of emotions do you try to capture in your subjects?
More than a type of emotions, I try to capture feminine beauty in all its depth and sensitivity. It is complex to define and capture, but basically it is what makes me emotional and what motivates me.
For me the naturalness in the model and in the photo is important, it is the most effective way to excite a viewer. I do not like forced smiles or that aesthetic that has become fashionable on Instagram with ultra-edited skins and excessively contrasting and saturated colors.
What is your favorite thing about photography and portraits?
Many times I like to have a purely aesthetic purpose and play with colors and lights, combine a certain style with the location, or improvise depending on the light that I find. Feeling the connection with the model and her interaction with the light is something magical; it is the center of the creative process.
Above all the most beautiful thing is to be able to capture small details, a look, lips with gloss shining in the light, skin textures , a stray strand of hair or those small imperfections that give a boost of beauty and reality.
Enric Fradera is Spanish fashion and portrait photographer based out of Badalona. To see more of his photography, you can visit his website enricfradera.com or follow his work on Instagram @efradera.
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