Photographer Fred Eral is bringing ChromaLuxe to the ‘Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie’ in Arles

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself, I’m Fred Eral, a photographer who lives and works in the South of France, in Arles, in the heart of the Camargue.

To give you an idea, Arles is the city that organises the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie. During the first week of the festival, there were 13,500 visitors and every year I exhibit my work in the Festival Off.

For over 10 years I have worked as a photographer, exhibiting in France and abroad; I have had many publications in various magazines, in the press, and have been exhibited in the Galerie d’Art in Belgium.

Most of my work as a photographer revolves around the Nature and by ‘posing’ Man; specifically, the Artistic Nude Male in a natural environment whereby Nature figures prominently with the Human. For the last three years my Male Nude works took a different direction by posing my male models under water in the Mediterranean, or on the Blue Coast as we call it. The Model and I were free diving without snorkels to respect nature and to be closer to it without artifice and to be as natural as possible.

When I last came to Belgium, visiting some friends, I discovered ChromaLuxe. My friends, who are also photographers, thought of me and my next exhibition, saying “that’s great and your underwater pictures would harmonize perfectly with ChromaLuxe prints”. So they showed me that they had produced various jobs on ChromaLuxe and from that moment I was hooked. I could see my pictures of underwater nudes on this media and how they would benefit.

Luckily I was able to make some ChromaLuxe photo prints and I was absolutely not disappointed with the result. I discovered a depth, a strength, bursting colors, an impression of being in the water with the model.

In fact, during my exhibition INDOMITUS, which took place in one of the most prestigious locations in the city of Arles, the Espace Van Gogh, and where I was able to exhibit for ten days in June 2015; there was an echo, a feeling and the response of several people: “Your exhibition soothes us. I love the power of the color. The prints are beautiful, full of strength, and make us believe that we are underwater with the model etc … “. The praise for the work that was produced on ChromaLuxe was unanimous and positive.

“Your exhibition soothes us. I love the power of the color. The prints are beautiful, full of strength, and make us believe that we are underwater with the model etc … “

Finally, I would say that my collaboration with ChromaLuxe has been a positive experience with people whose work and qualities are very professional. I recommend them to photographers or anyone who values their work.

If you want to get an idea of ​​my work, the INDOMITUS exhibition is still on show in Arles, at the Hotel Le Belvedere Arles, until August 30, 2015.

Innovation in Photography: the story told by guest blogger Jean Jacques Micheli

My first photographic experience was watching a black and white image appear in the developer bath in my father’s photo lab darkroom; I was about 6 years old. At this time, the professional photographer had to do everything himself from taking the original photograph, through to all the laboratory work. This was in the 1960’s and I took my early steps into the world of photographic printing.

Not long afterwards, a salesman came to show us a strange camera with bellows that, in one minute, could produce a black and white photo. The Polaroid became my second important discovery in the world of photography.

Of course, the evolution of cameras and the ever-advancing quality of new films have contributed to the overall improvement of the photographic image.

In the 1970’s when I was a student of photography a revolutionary colour process appeared on the scene – Cibachrome. This Swiss process was for me my third and most striking innovation allowing slides (diapositives) to be printed on a paper which had a metallic look and saturated high-contrast colours. Cibachrome became a huge success with photographic artists around the world, in part for its special image rendition but also for its long print life said to be between 50 and 100 years. Art works printed on Cibachrome still maintain very high values in the photographic art market.

“Black Ginger” photos by Serge Anton

More recently, an article in an American photo magazine caught my attention. It spoke of “metal prints” with luminous colour and very precise details. After some research I discovered that it was an American photographic process which was virtually unknown in Europe, with the exception of the UK. With one of the principal activities of my lab being fine art printing for artists and art galleries, it was only natural that I would adopt this process. It is indeed very close to Cibachrome and many artists and photographers make the connection.

It is now 3 years since I started offering high-quality ChromaLuxe prints alongside silver and fine art prints; an ever-increasing number of artists have opted for this print media with its deep blacks (no other photographic process obtains this level of density) and its luminous colours. ChromaLuxe is also an excellent choice for outside displays because it is water and even graffiti resistant. It also has excellent scratch resistance during routine handling of images. We have, for example, some ChromaLuxe prints displayed on the island of Saint Bartholomew’s in the Caribbean in an open-air restaurant. Similarly, if you are able to pass by the new BO Bank in Brussels you will find a monumental 3D artwork, by the artist Yves Ullens, made entirely out of ChromaLuxe. It is not unusual for clients to send us mails enthusing about the quality of our work and the rendering of their images on ChromaLuxe.

ChromaLuxe is, without doubt, my fourth significant discovery in my already long photographic career.

Labo JJ Micheli was the first European lab to obtain the ChromaLuxe Quality Label certificate.

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Jean-Jacques Micheli has built his carreer around photography: from 1978 to 1982 as professional photographer and in 1982 he has created his photo lab in Bussels. He is specialised in Fine Art prints for artists, art galleries and societies. His lab is recognized for the excellent mastery of color and his team consists of image and finishing specialists. You can contact Jean-Jacques Micheli via +32 (0) 2 733 21 85 or jjm@labojjmicheli.be.

For more information : www.labojjmicheli.be