Ep 26 with Frederic Aranda: Photographer Metralla Rosa

Photographer 
You can also watch this episode on Youtube where English, Italian and Spanish subtitles are available or visit the Metralla Rosa website for more details.Frederic Aranda, this episode’s fabulous guest, is a photographer who has perfected the art of creating images that are not only filled with beauty, but are also lucid and elegant. Specialising in portraiture, and with an exceptional talent in the difficult art of photographing large groups, Frederic has spent his career creating iconic images which we discuss, in detail, throughout this interview.
With more than 20 years of experience, he has a photographic style that is serene, clean, diaphanous and gentle, while his cv tells tales of his work on the pages of magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, The Sunday Times, WSJ and Esquire. Frederic was born in the city of Geneva, in Switzerland, but has lived in the United Kingdom since he went to Oxford University, having decided, at a young age, to study Japanese. Indeed, his love for the Japanese culture is another of the themes that we explore extensively throughout this encounter, not only because it has come to define some of the more important aspects of his stylistic, ethical and aesthetic sensitivities, but because it was in Japan that Frederic began to explore the infinite possibilities that photography can offer when it comes to dedicating your life to artistic expression.
This year his photograph entitled Ian at Home – which portrays the formidable British actor, Ian McKellen – was included in the Royal Photographic Society International Exhibition, so of course we talked about all the anecdotal details behind an image which proves that, despite the limitations and realities of years like 2020, opportunities can continue to be reaped and important works of art can still be created. We also spoke of the first time one of his images went viral (despite it being taken in the days before Instagram) and which, by the way, was a group portrait made up exclusively of powerful and prestigious women from within the international publishing arena. And, as if that wasn’t enough, we also talked about the famous photo session in 2016, in which he worked with the queen of British punk, Vivienne Westwood and her husband, the designer Andreas Kronthaler, as well as the portrait he took of the American designer Tom Ford whilst still a university student, blessed with nothing but a head full of dreams and ambitions and a brightly lit career path stretching before him.
This chat with Frederic Aranda was, without doubt, a luxurious moment for Metralla Rosa. It was an encounter that gave us the opportunity to share with the world the visions of an artist, whose humility is directly proportional to his greatness.
And now, enjoy the interview!
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