Louth Life: Fra Lucchesi's unique journey from a soldier to professional photographer

This story appeared in the Louth Life magazine earlier this year

“For me when I look at pictures of people, I sort of see a story behind it all, it's a moment in time and its forever going to be a moment in time”.

It is the human element that connects photographer Fra Lucchesi to his work. “I could look at pictures all day, but if there's not a human element in it, I don't really get attached to it, it's all about the human element.”

Fra's journey to becoming a professional photographer and opening The Town Studio, a studio he opened in Dundalk with friend and fellow photographer, James Matthews, is not a typical one.

Beginning his career as a soldier in the Irish army, Fra wanted a change. “I was never really comfortable in it, I remember from an early age that it wasn't really me. It was good to get that structure and get that groundedness in my life at that time, but I just felt like there was something more I wanted to do with my life.”

Having studied art as a child, photography was always something he was interested in, but it wasn't until others pointed out his talent that he realised it might be something he could explore further.

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Visiting his sister one day, he took a photo of her baby. “I just liked that picture, it looked a bit dramatic. I put it black and white, just to add a bit more drama to it, and put it online.”

The photo got a good reaction after his sister shared the photo, and after being told that he had a good eye for it, “the penny sort of drops”.

He contacted well known local photographer Ken Finegan who was running a photography course, and after having showing him some of his photos and being told he has an eye for it, the decision to leave the army and study photography was made very quickly. “From I took the picture, it was July – in five weeks I was studying.”

While he was studying Fra got a job doing nightclub photography at Brubakers in Dundalk. “That helped me become more seen. Everybody is out partying, having a good night, I'm walking around with a camera and was taking pictures of people.”

Then someone asked him one night, “do you do Christenings?” It was an opening that he was eager to try out, and Communions followed on from that. “I was lucky in that sense, people were seeing I was out and about, I made conversations with people.”

He was at the start of his career and decided to “ go with the flow and see how I get on”.

It turned out to be a wise decision and as his career developed, he and James opened The Town Studio in 2024.

The focus at the studio is family and wedding photography. Wedding photography is a part of his job that he loves. “I get to be in the best part of some people's days, for some its the best day of their lives, I get to witness that.”

The wedding industry has changed a lot over the years. “Speaking to photographers who worked years ago, its a completely different job then to what it is now – you wouldn't shoot it candidly or get natural moments, it was more like staged pose.

“Then albums changed as well, used to be staged shots of family, now you have the story books, doing a story of throughout the day, documenting it all.”

Meeting and working with people and capturing their special moments is something Fra has grown to love.

“I love the job, I adore it and I feel blessed that I get to do it, and its things like that I get to enjoy.”