Notre-Dame de Paris - Warrnambool Photographer

When I was 17 I lived in Paris with a beautiful family who took me in as their own for a short while. I spent a very special couple of months sharing their culture, improving my French and learning about their great love of photography.

Fred, their son, was a photographer who worked for one of the oldest and most exclusive film labs in Paris called Picto. It was here that Fred learnt from the very best developing negatives for some of France’s greatest photographers - Henri Cartier Bresson, Josef Koudelka, Jacques Oliver.

Fred took me to his lab and gave me an insight into this world of black and white film showing me his workflow and his passion for the art. I was completely star struck and also fell in love with everything about the process of creating a still image.

Dominique his father also took a keen interest in art and photography. On his days off work Dominique would drive me around Paris taking me to all the famous and not so famous art galleries, stopping off along the way to point out and photograph some of the most notable vantage points, buildings and monuments.

One of my greatest treasures is an album we created together filled with images of Paris. Pont Alexandre III, Le Tour Eiffel du Trocadéro, Pont Neuf, La Bastille, île de la cité, Notre-Dame, Place des Vosges... the images that I took with Dominique were later developed by Fred at Picto.

I have no doubt that my passion for film and photography was born exclusively out of this experience and I think of my french family often. They were so generous and I’m forever grateful for our enduring friendship of over 20 years. xx

You will find @fredgoyeauphotography on IG and can also check out a recent article written about him and his love for the struggling trade of film photography here. xx