Featured Photographers Of TheLifeStyleElite.com

He has photographed, Adela Guerra, one of our featured models, and has a eye for taking a photograph that will keep you starring. His name is Allen Fredrick,and this is his story.

I am Irish and Scottish (Allan Fredrick)

Where are you from?

I grew up in Maine, but left at 18. Since then lived Chicago, Hawaii, San Diego, Virginia, and now New York City.

For a number of years I was a painter, until one day while planning out a series in which I intended to take photographs of a model to reference for paintings, I went out and bought a consumer level DSLR. I brought it home, took it out of the box, and realized I had no idea how to work a camera. I had no idea what aperture, shutter speed, ISO or any of that meant. Wanting to have the most control over what I was capturing I went out and bought a book on digital photography to learn how to work it… the funny thing is, after buying that camera I never painted again. A month after buying it I did my first photoshoot, and a month after that I got rid of everything in my loft and turned it into a photography studio.

It’s been a little less than two years since that first camera purchase, which doesn’t seem like long I guess, but like I said, I came into it hard and fast and never looked back.

Portraiture, without a doubt. It’s something I just kind of fell into, but I can’t picture doing anything else. I used to think it was strictly fashion that I was into shooting, but came to realize it was less about the fashion/clothing aspect, and more about the artistic liberties that are allowed within fashion photography that I’m drawn to. Above all, it’s about the art, and the interaction between the model and the photographer to make that art.

What do you love about living in New York City?

Everything. Since living here I’ve learned that “the Greatest City in the World” is not simply an effervescent label, but a poignant commentary on the culture that exists here. Every day this city gives me passion and inspiration that I simply could not get anywhere else.

It depends on the concept of what I’m shooting. Like most photographers digital is my base, but I also use a lot of medium format film cameras now, and do all my film processing and printing at home, which I like to think gives my work a level of authenticity that is hard to duplicate.

Honestly I don’t have one single favorite photograph that I’ve taken. I would say they are like my children and love them all equally, but certainly I like some much more than others. It was hard enough to narrow down what I keep in my printed book, I can’t imagine picking one single image and saying it was my “best”.

What is your favorite designers and places to shop?

I actually don’t really have any favorite designers or places to shop. I’ve picked up a lot since photographing fashion that I didn’t know before, but when it comes down to it, I’m just a regular guy that still wears Chuck Taylors and hoodies, shops at second hand stores and outlets, and basically I just buy what I think looks good at the time and is comfortable.

The most difficult aspect is probably the struggle to be taken seriously as an artist and a professional. Especially in a city where at any given moment there are at least six or seven hundred other photographers within a two-mile radius. But I wouldn’t give it up for anything, and I feel it’s all part of the journey.

A camera. And something/someone to photograph.

For women, Jeffery Campbell (of course), and for men, Robert Wayne.

I don’t really have any big name favorite designers, I always seem to trend toward getting stuff in random places and feel like there are a lot of underrated unknowns out there that don’t have work on any runway. My favorite suit that is in my closet I bought in a back alley in Singapore for two hundred dollars.

Casual. I can dress very well depending on the event, but most of the time I am just wearing a pair of jeans that happened to look clean. I leave the bling for wannabe fashion photographers.

In womenswear, scarves… They can be a scarf or shawl for warmth, or a necklace for pattern/color. They can also tie in your hair or even tie as a belt. In menswear, I think shoes are too often over looked.

My iPod is always on shuffle, and I have rather eclectic taste, so there’s no telling what will come up next. My bookshelf is likewise eclectic, but what you are most likely to see is a stack of Kurt Vonnegut books. And my DVD player… I don’t even have to look to know it’s definitely one of the Lord of the Rings movies.

My musical taste is all over the place, so I don’t really have one single favorite musician. It could be anywhere from Kurt Cobain to Jay-Z, Trent Reznor, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, you name it. “Anything but country” probably best describes my musical tastes.

That’s a tough call, because photography, and art in general, waxes and wanes like moods, so it’s hard to tell from one year to the next where my style will be at. If I had to make a prediction, I would see my work going more traditional, more film based work, more 70’s Helmut Newton inspired artistic editorial type of stuff.