Raphael Fourau

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Raphaël Fourau’s very first passion was for skateboarding. An activity that he practised intensely throughout his adolescence, also devouring the magazines dedicated to it: “I was passionate about images; I saw the photographers’ names before those of the skaters,” he explained in the Allez (Ausha) podcast. “Many photographers have come from that context, and it is not insignificant: skateboarding culture was on the cutting edge of image-making.” Introduced to climbing by his parents during his childhood in the Aveyron region of France, he initially saw this sport as a constraint. But gradually, he developed a taste for it and a passion was born. His early photographic subjects were the mountains and other climbers. After his first commission in Iceland, he went on to do many collaborations, and he now works for numerous brands such as Patagonia, for which he is the ambassador, The North Face, or the bicycle brand Caminade, as well as for media like L’Equipe Mag or The Red Bulletin. He also directs documentaries, as he did in 2021, on a film co-produced by France Nature Environnement, to encourage the harmonious cohabitation of climbers and nature-defenders.