About

About

Frédéric Colombo made his first photographs at the age of 7, during a trip to Egypt with his parents. He was using his father’s Canon AE-1 Program, a 35mm film camera whose full significance he didn’t yet understand — but he already loved the click of the shutter, the weight, the mechanics. He didn’t know it yet, but that instinctive, almost magical gesture would become a vital constant in his life.

As a teenager, he switched to compact cameras, making pictures casually, often without even developing the film. But his eye for composition, light, and timing never truly left him. In his early thirties, he returned to photography with a digital SLR — a fresh start, more intentional, more focused.

His vision has always been deeply shaped by his profession: Frédéric designs lighting, both artistic and technical. Together with his sister, he carries on a family tradition passed down through several generations. He creates lighting pieces for exceptional spaces, often complex ones that demand both precision and sensitivity. This daily relationship with light — in all its physical and emotional dimensions — feeds directly into his photography. It shows in the way he frames, in his attention to shadows, to balance, to structure.

While living in Barcelona for several years, he began photographing racetracks — Formula 1, GT — another passion of his, and documenting the many trips he took during that time with Elena, who would later become his wife. He carried a 20kg bag of Canon gear everywhere, always ready to capture speed or the density of a place.

With the birth of his children, his practice shifted. The DSLR gave way to a Fuji X-Pro: lighter, quieter, freer. That change in gear opened up his movement and deepened his photographic culture. Discovering Fan Ho was a revelation — and a turning point. Frédéric began to see photography as a form of writing. A way to express what couldn’t be put into words.

Now based in Toulouse, he has developed an author-driven approach. Street photography remains central to his work, but his gaze has widened. He continues to travel, though now at a slower pace, in immersion — far from tourist clichés — guided by emotion, tension, or the subtle presence of something unresolved.

Frédéric doesn’t claim a single, fixed style, but he naturally gravitates toward black and white. It gives him clarity, density, and a visual tension he knows how to handle. Color appears only when it asserts itself.

Over time, his sensitivity has grown into a deeper awareness of photography’s physical nature. After years of working exclusively in digital, Frédéric came to understand that his images don’t fully exist until they’re printed. Printing has become an essential part of his process: every photo he shares has first been printed, held, and reviewed — often with his family. Without a print, the photo doesn’t really exist; once printed, it becomes an object. Frédéric especially enjoys giving prints as gifts, finding it far more meaningful than sending a file by message. A photograph can then travel through time, slip into a book, rest in a box, be rediscovered one day — and with it, all the memories it holds.