Christian Fournier
| Christian Fournier | |
|---|---|
| Born | Raphaël Christian Fournier July 3, 1953 Arras, France |
| 🏳️ Nationality | French |
| 💼 Occupation | Photographer |
| Known for | Fashion photography, advertising photographer, underwater photography |
| 🌐 Website | www |
Raphaël Christian Fournier (French:[kʁistjɑ̃ ʁafaɛl fuʁnje]; born July 7, 1953 in Arras, Pas-de-Calais, France), who goes by Christian, is a French photographer known for his versatility and pioneering work in underwater photography.[1]. He is currently based in Paris, France, dividing his attention between personal projects and commissioned work with a focus on fashion and advertising photography.
Early Life & Education[edit]
Christian was born during the period following WWII in Arras, Pas-de-Calais (now part of Hauts-de-France), one of three children. His mother was a teacher. His father, whose health had already suffered greatly during his time as a German Prisoner of War, worked for minimum wage in a paint factory and died in 1985 from cancer. When the French administration nearly rejected his father’s application for retirement due to a lack of justification for his unemployment from 1940 to 1945, he famously wrote back, “Go ask Hitler!” As homage to his father Christian would later complete photo reportages on WWII historical reenactments.
Diagnosed with asthma at an early age, young Christian was forbidden from participating in physical activities, as was common during this time period. Nonetheless, Christian would go on to lead a very active life, even dedicating a large part of his career to underwater photography, despite medical professionals cautioning against it.
It was as a teenager that Christian began teaching himself photography, practicing on subjects close at hand such as his family and his cat. Christian attended the all-boys public secondary school Lycée Robespierre, commended by teachers for his studious attitude and excellent performance in English, Maths, Physics, History and Geography. Christian graduated in July 1971 after passing the Baccalauréat and earning distinction in Mathematics and Physics.
Christian grew up reading the poetry of Boris Vian, listening to the Beatles, and reading the works of Carl Sagan and other major scientists. Part of the Peace and Love movement, he had shoulder-length hair, prompting other Arrageois to call him “Madame”.
Following the Bac, Christian attended the University of Lille to pursue studies in mathematics, earning a Specialized Studies University Diploma (D.U.E.S.) in Mathematics and Physics, followed by a Bachelor’s degree (Licence) in Mathematics at the University of Amiens in 1975.
While Christian first moved back to his hometown of Arras to become an adjunct Professor of Mathematics, the experience was so disheartening he soon decided to pack up and move to the other side of the Channel to follow his second passion, Photography[2].
Deploring his English education in the Éducation Nationale Française for never having students utter a word in English, Christian was nonetheless quite fluent upon moving to England. He credits his fluency in English to watching “Walter and Connie Reporting” and listening to the Beatles. He enrolled in Photography School at the Berkshire College of Art and Design[2].
Owing to his already solid education in chemistry, math, and physics, Christian was given permission to skip certain classes and thus had more time to earn his living. He picked up a number of odd jobs in England and around Europe to make ends meet. He also took up volunteer work with the National Trust in England in forest conservation, and helping earthquake victims in Monteaperta in Italy. He gained sales experience in an electronics shop, Herbert’s Hifi, in Reading and as a seller of science and science fiction books at Foyles in London, England.
An adamant pacifist, moving to England allowed Christian to escape compulsory military service in France normally completed after the end of secondary school, a form of conscription that would not be phased out until the 90s. In 1978 at age 26 he finally relented when police threatened his mother and he returned to France where he was apprehended by the authorities and sent to complete his service at the Disciplinary Military Base in Drachenbonn, in les Vosges. While the experience was overall a negative one, it was thanks to this experience that Christian began to be interested in parachuting, aviation and later, aerial photography. After completing his service Christian promptly returned to England to begin his career as a freelance photographer.
International Career & The Digital Revolution in Photography[edit]
Christian Fournier’s career overlaps with the Digital Revolution in Photography. Always seeking to be at the forefront of new technology, Christian updated his equipment whenever possible and continues to do so today.
Starting out with film photography in the 1970s, one of his first cameras was the Nikon F2. When he decided to pursue Photography instead of Mathematics, Christian moved to England in part because Photography schools in France did not yet teach flash photography which was deemed too new and thus deviating too much from tradition.
When Christian returned to England in June 1979 after being forced to complete the French compulsory military service against his will, he worked as a freelancer, landing gigs as a photographer for Club Med in Corfu, Greece. Finally, starting in January 1980 Christian began working for The Cruise Ship Picture Co. LTD as a Cruise Ship Photographer based in Torrance, California[2] as well as other cruise ship companies.
Aboard cruise ships such as the M/S Stardancer, S/S Norway and the S/S Rhapsody, Christian would learn to be a businessman, managing a team of photographers, marketing and innovating new products to passengers. Film Photography aboard a ship had its own set of challenges that Christian would learn to overcome. For Cruise Ship Picture Co. Christian used Leica and Rapid-Omega cameras. Before digital cameras, photos had to be printed before passengers decided whether they would buy them. At this time developing was done in a darkroom using processing machines (the machines were altered with the rolling and pitching movements of the sea in mind) and took hours. This system was eventually upgraded in the late 1980s to 1-hour film development when Christian convinced his superiors to send him to Japan to acquire the proper Konica machines. He invented the now standard “Formal Portraits” taken with Hasselblad cameras at formal-wear dinners. In 1989, using a wide-angle lens, he even took a 1100-passenger group shot by climbing up the ship’s funnel and directing passengers with a megaphone, then developing the photo as two 8"x10" photos glued together as an 16"x10" picture. In the early 90s cruise ship photography would have to adapt to the arrival of tourists with their own digital cameras.
It was during these 13 years working out of the United States that Christian’s reputation grew. Because his work on cruise ships was seasonal, it allowed him to travel and pursue other interests: he got his private pilot’s licence in 1982 in Missouri and his sailing licence in Florida in 1984. During this extra time Christian would also hone his techniques in various forms of photography including aerial, underwater, fashion[3][4], corporate, portrait[5], humoristic[6][7], and photo journalism.
Between 1983 and 1989, Christian spent his summers climbing glaciers in Alaska, using his new pilot’s licence to reach inaccessible areas, even documenting his own unwitting attack by a bear in Skagway. In 1984 he took part in a dog-sled expedition beyond the Arctic Circle[2], a challenge, as photography film became brittle at below -30°C and one’s breath would create ice on the lens and viewfinder. He documented the testing of survival suits in the frigid waters of Alaska in 1990. One of his glacier-climbing photos would eventually be used by Microsoft in their advertising campaign for Windows 95.
He took great interest in photojournalism and the often striking conditions in which peoples lived around the world. After a first visit to Haiti in 1980, he returned three times to report on the horrible living conditions endured by Haitians[8]. He spent weeks living with and documenting an isolated tribe in the Amazon, even contracting malaria. In 1991 he completed a reportage on the slums of Jakarta, “Smiles among the Dirt”[9].
Wealthy from his success as an international photographer, Christian decided to purchase a property near Vancouver, Canada, and transformed it into a photo studio in the woods. However, he soon received an offer he could not refuse, to be a photographer aboard an underwater archaeology expedition off the coast of Mozambique. Christian left the life he had built in North America to take part in what was for him a dream come true, arriving and in LaRochelle, France in October 1993, ready to set sail.
Like others recruited for the expedition, Christian invested heavily in equipment and preparations, setting up a full photography lab aboard the Eurotri I, as documented in the magazine Chasseur Français[1]. However, this would lead to his financial ruin, for the Eurotri I would never leave France. Instead, Christian and an ever-dwindling crew remained on board for 4 months awaiting approval that would never come and guarding the equipment until finally the Eurotri I was pillaged. Like others who invested in Eurotri Ltd. and the many failed expeditions of its founder before that, Christian was left penniless, never receiving any payment or reimbursement.
Christian found himself homeless in Paris in 1993. He could not return to Cruise Ship Photo Ltd. as the company went bankrupt, and his experience in the United States was not recognized by French companies. He did have one saving grace: he had the advantage of being ahead of the times in digital photography. Digital photography was still only just beginning in France, to the point that Advertising Agencies, when presented with a Kodak Photo CD, thought Christian intended to play music for them. Together with his friend Antoine Schneck, he founded the Fournier Schneck Photography Workshop and began using digital cameras starting with the Leaf Lumina and eventually one of the first digital SLR cameras, the 1.5-megapixel Kodak DCS 420. Soon he began teaching photography for the International Spéos Photography School, and even gave introductory digital photography lessons to Peter Lindbergh.
Since then, Christian has gradually made a name for himself in the French photography industry as a freelancer with a long list of clients and specialties. He currently lives and works in Paris, France with his life partner Frédérique Gorsky. He maintains three websites, prisedevue.com (commercial), prisedevue.photos (full biography), and famousphotographer.com(extensive photo archive), showcasing his work, biography, and sharing photography advice and detailed equipment set-ups.
Photo-Editing[edit]
Before the advent of digital photography and digital photo editing software, Christian Fournier started editing his photographs by painting on transparent slides in the 1970s[2]. He earned recognition for his artwork in a 1995 issue of Canadien Photo Sélection[10] as well as a 1993 issue of the magazine Photo Gallery[11]. In 1993, Christian won a digital manipulation contest run by the magazine Chasseur d’Images, winning in all categories[12]. Christian is adept with Photoshop, having used the software since Photoshop 1.0, which was just a format converter.
Underwater Photography[edit]
Christian Fournier took up underwater photography during his time working aboard cruise ships. While taking photos of passengers snorkeling was neither interesting nor profitable, Christian’s underwater photography work on underwater caves[13], wildlife, shipwrecks, and machinery[14] have received much acclaim and media attention[15][16]. In particular, Christian was commended for being first to photograph the dugong with humans in its native habitat[17][18][19][20].
Despite struggling with asthma as a child, Christian has never had any issues diving and in fact has completed all available PADI certifications. His underwater photographs and reportages have been featured in diving and conservation magazines internationally[1]. Christian published a book on his underwater photography in 1996, “Émotions sous-marines”, a compilation from 15 years of diving around the world[21]
Photo Reportages[edit]
During his time as a photographer on cruise ships, Christian Fournier was able to travel extensively both on cruise ship excursions and on his own time during the off-season, thereby gaining a profound appreciation for the world’s cultures, landscapes, and wildlife. On his biographical website he boasts having visited “61 countries, 5 continents and 5 oceans”[22], and there are links to most of his photo reportages, with topics ranging from the poor living conditions in Haiti and Jakarta in the 1980s, to diving and underwater wildlife, to awards ceremonies and events like historical re-enactments, protests, and the Dîner en Blanc.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dubrac, Bruno (1993). "Le Photographe "Multicarte"" [The Photographer with a Full “Deck”]. Chasseur d’Images (in French). Édition Jibena. pp. 42–43.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Stained-Glass Photography". Applied Arts Magazine Canada. May 1993. p. 1.
- ↑ "Glamour is Tops for Versatile Fournier". Photo Asia. 1993. pp. 20–21.
- ↑ 1995: Erotic French Photographer Raphaël Fournier. Photography International: Australian & New Zealand Edition.
- ↑ Atherton, Nigel (1995). "A Whiter Shade of White". Amateur Photographer. UK: TI Media.
- ↑ "Christian Fournier, la Photo pour Rire" [Christian Fournier, Photography for Laughs]. Plongeurs International. pp. 72–75.
- ↑ Atherton, Nigel (1993). "People in Focus: Me, Myself, I". Amateur Photographer. UK: TI Media. pp. 64–65.
- ↑ Fournier, Christian (1995). "Haiti: Land of Voodoo, Smiles, and Welcomes". Simply Living. No. 78. pp. 33–37.
- ↑ Bordes, Nicole; Fournier, Christian (1991). "Jakarta :Smiles Among the Dirt". Photo Asia.
- ↑ "Portfolios: Peintures sur Diapositives" [Portfolios : Painting on Transparent Slides]. Sélection Photo (in French). Vol. 15 no. 1. 1995.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ "Photography Photo Gallery". Photography International. No. 19, "Glamour & Boudoir Photography". February 1993.
- ↑ "Photo Numérique façon Musée Grévin" [Digital Photography, "Musée Grévin"-style,]. Chasseur d’Images (in French). Édition Jibena. 1993. pp. 128–129.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ Fournier, Christian. "The Grotto". Sportdiving Magazine. Melbourne. pp. 54–55.
- ↑ Fournier, Christian. "Sous le "Monstre" de Métal" [Beneath the Metal "Monster"]. Oceans. pp. 22–23.
- ↑ Bordes, Nicole. "Ship Survey Photographer". Asian Diver. Singapore: Asian Geographic Magazines Pte Ltd. pp. 45–48.
- ↑ Fournier, Christian (1992). "Regard de Requin" [A Shark's Stare]. Océans (in French). Catalina,California: Média Plongée. pp. 24–25.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ "Homely Mermaids, Dugongs". Divers Magazine. Vol. 19 no. 9. British Columbia: Seagraphic Publications. January 1994.
- ↑ Fournier, Christian (2002). "La Rencontre Inespérée" [The Unhoped-for Encounter]. Le Chasseur Français. Tanna, Vanuatu: Mondadori France. pp. 126–131.
- ↑ "Dugong or Not". Scuba World. Tanna, Vanuatu. May 1993. pp. 16–17.
- ↑ "How Now, Sea Cow?". BBC Wildlife. UK: Bristol Broadcasting House. 1993. pp. 54–55.
- ↑ Fournier, Christian (1996). Émotions Sous-Marines [Underwater Emotions] (in French). Paris: Amphora. ISBN 9782851803054.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
- ↑ "Biographie illustrée du photographe professionnel Christian Fournier spécialiste en mode publicité événementiel industrie mariage sous-marin corporate à Paris". www.famousphotographer.com. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
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