Michel Legrand
Photographer

After having studied classical music during his formative years and played piano at high competitive level, French born Michel Legrand started in photography in the early 1970’s, apprenticing with some of the most successful practitioners of the art.

As a photojournalist, from the mid 1970’s to early 1980’s, he roamed the Continental United States contributing picture stories to news agencies and major publications. In the early 1980’s, he opened a photography production studio in New York City and devoted his creative talents to advertising for major corporations and department stores.

In 2000, he moved to Northeast Pennsylvania with his wife and two young children. He currently maintains a "pied a terre" in Paris and he services both photography and film clients in Europe and North America. In the last few years he has contributed some of his time teaching photography to underprivileged children and teenagers successfully using digital photography as an art therapy tool.

More recently with the help of a grant from the PA Humanities Council, he worked, in collaboration with the Wayne County Library Authority on the "Save Our Barns" project. The project was funded by the PA Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

His adventure into film making came out of a desire to expand his horizons and discover a medium that incorporated all the disciplines he learned over the years: namely music, photography, lighting techniques, direction, scene composition, and writing. His latest project also funded by a grant of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts "Living Treasures" is a documentary on Raymond Rocklin, the Abstract Expressionist sculptor.

Website: www.michellegrandphotography.com

Studio Tour Artist: 2011