Driven by an inner and personal desire to live in direct contact with Nature, Federico Bechis decided in 1978 to settle in San Carlos de Bariloche, city located inside the Nahuel Huapi National Park, in the Patagonia. It is then when he takes his first photographs of landscapes and nature; photographs that outstayed by the sharp observation of the light, so changing in the Patagonia, that permits him to grasp those subtle strokes that enhance in magic way those intimate moments between Nature and the photographer. "My photographs try to transmit a feeling of a certain moment of my life", feeling that one can perceive by observing his images.

When asking him what qualities should have a good photograph, he responds: "should have the power to transmit the observer a special sensation, that grasp him, that excites him, that makes him to stop, to observe and to discover new elements when he looks at it closely. It should have certain charm, should be original, should be well composed and technically well performed".

The leitmotiv of his Photo workshop "The Awakening of the Look", where he puts special emphasis in teaching his students which is the subtle difference between looking at and to see it. "To see is to observe without paying too much attention. To look at is to dedicate a thought to what surrounds us. We see with the eyes, but we look at with the heart and the soul, trying to grasp beyond the forms, the color and the size. It is as discovering something that other do not see. It is to focus the attention with our senses, looking at beyond the object itself, discovering the essence of the things".

in the 'Trochita' train

Since his childhood he relates to the world of the photography through the work of his father Juan E. Bechis, one of the first advertising photographers in Argentina. "Without even realizing, I was learning and developing a visual language while helping my father in his advertising works, without doing any photographs, simply by paying attention, carefully observing what he was doing". But it is in Bariloche, during his continuos walks through forests, by rivers and Patagonian Andean lakes, where he discovers his real vocation of photographer.

Destiny wanted that he met excellent photographers such as Roberto Fernandez, Raúl di Giulio, Annemarie Heinrich, Jorge Compiano, Paul Dix, Perry Conway, Bill Ratcliffe, Carlos Mordo and Juan Travnik, besides sharing good moments with them, they encouraged and advised him in his photographic work.

Federico was born in Buenos Aires August 14, 1952. He finished his secondary studies in "San Juan el Precursor" school. Then he continued his university education in the Faculty of Architecture and urban development of the University of Buenos Aires, where studied up to third year. Father of five children, lives in the house that he built on the outskirts of the city, surrounded by trees and in company of his wife, his sons and daughters and his she-dog Quillén.

His professional activity develops in the field of the advertising photography, landscaping and of nature. It carries out also personal photo essay productions such as "The mapuche" in Neuquén and one named "Línea Sur" ("South Line") from Comallo in Río Negro province. It organizes photographic tours around Patagonia, Argentina and the South of Chile. He is professor of photography since 1993, teaching in his studio, in Fasta University at the Social Communication professorship. From 1994 to 2004 he had taught photography in the Municipal School of Art "La Llave" of Bariloche.

Self portrait

For his photographic works have been awarded with several distinctions, honorable mentions, national and international prizes, among them: Golden Medal in The 49th International photographic of Japan and Honorable Mention in Nikon Photo Contest. In 1991 is distinguished as Argentine Artist Photographer (AAF) by the Federación Argentina de Fotografía. In 1992 he participated of a cultural exchange as "Artist in Residence" in State of Montana, United States, where he is invited as instructor and presents his audiovisual work "Bariloche, reflejos de un sentimiento" ("Bariloche, reflections of a feeling") in the Workshop "Nature Photography in Wyoming" in the field school of the National Audubon Society.

He participated in debates and conferences, and his professional work was published in different magazines and books of Argentina and abroad.

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Photos:1999-2003© Federico Bechis
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