Shawn Frederick is a highly sought after craftsman, awarded photographer and masterclass teacher that has been working professionally for 30 years. He has mentored more young professionals that belong to some of the most well known associations than he can count. He has always been an advocate for supporting the Arts in the youth, and is one of the funnest guys to travel and learn with. His professional recommendations come from every corner of the business and art world. His students often say that he’s the art teacher you always wanted, but never had. When traveling, studying or having a sit down with Shawn, you quickly realize he’s quite the laid back guy and unless he said so, you’d never know he’s as accomplished as he is as a master craftsman. He’s part artist and part psychologist. Everyone is quickly at ease around him as he creates an environment of peace and of having fun. He is not type that has the know-it-all attitude. And no matter the mass of awards and accolades Shawn has been given, his motto is and has always been to “treat your successes and failures as the imposters they are”. A mantra his grandfather taught him at a very young age.

Throughout his distinguished career, Shawn has worked with a lot of very high profile athletes, actors and models that have included Kobe Bryant, Grant Hill, Kelly Slater, Tracy McGrady, Mark O’Meara, Steve Guttenburg, Taysa Teles, Dennis Haskins, Jeff Brushie, Mike Metzger and numerous others. He has led teams of athletes and adventurers to hundreds of locations around the world that include areas in Morocco, Austria, Switzerland, Sahara Desert, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Panama, Baja Mexico, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Canada, Panama and most of the 48 continental United States, as well as the Hawaii Islands and Alaska.

Throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s, Shawn was a photographic force in the world of Extreme Sports content creation. He’s a multi-time gold statue and best-of-show awarded recipient, and is one of the original photographers that brought Snowboarding photography to the living rooms of the masses through his lens work with many of the sports icons and now, legends. His photography work for industry brands like Burton, K2, Salomon, Oakley, Rossignol and Ride Snowboards, and many others was seminal and created numerous industry first campaigns. And his lifestyle photography work with out of industry brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Mountain Dew, Nissan, ESPN, NBC and other well known entities put him on the international map of one that can create imagery beyond that of high action and sports related content. As such, it wasn’t long before high profile Television Network Producers, New York & London based Publishers and Madison Ave Advertising Agency types noticed his work and began commissioning him for larger television, commercial and advertising campaigns.

Now, deep into 2020, Shawn is still at it creating master pieces for private and institutional collections. His focus has become more select on the commercial shoots he accepts, and more often than not he can be found hiking through a forest or down a remote sandy beach creating stunning large format prints for his gallery collections. Not to mention, each summer Shawn spends between three and five months in Croatia leading photography retreats and teaching masterclasses on photography for the Adriatic Academy. An entity he established in 2016 with his wife, Anne Marie. It is through this work that Shawn feels he’s giving back the most and each year the Academy grows and grows to include people from further around the world. This is truly what makes him happy he says…

Shawn’s in-depth academic studies include Architecture and Communication Design, Sociology and Photographic Applied Sciences while attending Chaffey College and the Brooks Institute. Shawn currently lives in Calabasas, California (yes, the same Calabasas as the Kardashians - ha!) and he spends his summer months living in, and leading photography tours, workshops and masterclasses in beautiful Croatia with his wife Anne Marie. Shawn’s an avid sailor, mountain biker, standup paddle boarder and waterman.

Now that you know a great deal about him, don’t hide behind your computer screen, be sure to drop a note to him and say hello. Ask him a question about photography or just send a message about the weather where you live… haha