What Makes Nora Jaccaud’s Provence Photography So Captivating? Exclusive Interview

It’s not every day you get to interview someone who has appeared on a TED Talk. Nora Jaccaud is a talented photographer who has travelled the globe, telling human stories through photography and video production. Based in the Luberon Valley in Provence, she works with a range of clients, from visitors seeking to “capture the moment” to those who have made Provence their home. Let’s dive into this exclusive interview with Nora Jaccaud.

Nora Jaccaud Photographer

Growing up in the village of Saignon, at an artist residency that served as a local cultural hub in the Luberon. People from diverse countries, disciplines, and backgrounds frequently visited the residency. Nora says, “In a way, the world was coming to us first, before I ever left.” She notes that this early exposure to international cultures shaped how she sees the world as an adult, with openness and a readiness for exchange.

Nora Jaccaud is a filmmaker and photographer specializing in documentary portraiture, with a practice centred on people and lived experience rather than conventional storytelling. She has developed a video series titled “Human Postcards.” In addition to working with private and commercial clients, Nora collaborates with her partner on a project using a vintage box camera.

Photo credit: ©Nora Jaccaud

Human Postcards

Can you describe your professional background and the evolution of Human Postcards?

Human Postcards is a series of one-minute poetic portrait films I created and developed over time, later co-produced with France Télévisions. Each film is built from fragments of a person’s world: voice, gestures, moments of life, and atmosphere. It is not a direct interview format but a more layered and poetic composition in which meaning emerges through editing and juxtaposition rather than explanation.

Editing is at the core of the work. I spend a lot of time distilling each encounter into one minute, trying to preserve an emotional and human essence rather than information. The challenge is to compress complexity without reducing it, so that something truthful and resonant remains.

Over time, the project has grown through hundreds of encounters across countries, refining this balance between minimal duration and depth of feeling, and between observation and poetry. Today, I also create this type of portrait work for companies, private clients, brands, and foundations, using the same approach to reveal the people behind projects and organizations authentically and meet their communication needs.

Photo credit: ©Nora Jaccaud

Provence Photographer

While you have worked on many international projects, you are based in the Luberon in Provence and offer local photography and short-video portrait services. Can you describe the range of services that you offer?

I offer photography and short-form video work in Provence, focused on people, experiences, and places as they are lived, not just represented.

A large part of my work is retreat photography, in which I document groups, practices, and moments over several days. I often think of this role as a memory guardian; I’m there to preserve what is happening in a way that remains faithful to its atmosphere and emotional truth without interrupting it.

In addition, I work with couples, families, children, individuals, and brands. This can range from a simple portrait session or following someone or a family throughout a full day to build a more complete visual story of their time here. I produce photography, video, and Instagram-focused reels for people who want to share their experience in Provence naturally and coherently.

Photo credit: ©Nora Jaccaud

I also provide location and estate photography for hotels, guesthouses, and rental homes. In this context, I can focus more on staging and arrangement, shaping light and composition to bring out a place’s character and make it feel alive and desirable, while remaining honest. When needed, I also offer drone photography and video to capture landscapes, properties, and experiences from a wider perspective, adding another layer of narrative to the work.

Alongside this, I occasionally work with a vintage box camera, creating slower, more tactile portraits that bring a different rhythm and material presence to the image.

Capturing Provence

How does your global perspective influence local stories in Provence?

Growing up in Saignon and being surrounded by creative people has changed how I see Provence today. I don’t see it as closed or fixed; I see it as already porous, already connected. My international experience reinforces that perspective. It allows me to approach local stories without reducing them to clichés of “the South of France” and instead to see the complexity of the people who live and work here.

My background also helps me connect quickly with people from very different backgrounds. I speak several languages, which naturally shifts how trust is built, whether in a set or during a shoot; it becomes easier to move between cultures and understand what goes unsaid. In Provence, which is increasingly international, this creates a bridge between local reality and global audiences while keeping the work grounded in real human encounters.

Photo credit: ©Nora Jaccaud

Lessons from Abroad

What are the most valuable lessons from working worldwide?

Listening properly, first, and accepting that people don’t need direction to be interesting. The less I try to control what I see, the more precise the result becomes.

Does international experience change your view of Provence?

Yes. It prevents me from romanticizing it and makes me realize how special our region is. I never take it for granted.

How do you build trust in the first meeting?

By not rushing the camera, I spend time talking, sometimes without filming at all, at the beginning. I explain what I’m looking for simply, then leave space for silence. Trust usually comes when people realize they are not being forced into a performance.

Photo credit: ©Nora Jaccaud

Working with Clients

How does experience with diverse subjects help with clients?

I’m used to very different levels of comfort in front of a camera. That makes me calm, and that calmness tends to transfer to the person being filmed or photographed. I like to describe myself as “a loving mirror” to people. The camera is a way to reflect that beauty back.

How has documenting cultures shaped authenticity?

It taught me that authenticity is not a style. It’s a consequence of attention. If you observe long enough without imposing a narrative, something true usually emerges on its own.

How do you balance local identity with client messaging?

I try not to overwrite the place. The client’s message must sit within the environment, not replace it. Provence becomes a context, not a backdrop. I listen to the client’s needs and adapt my eye accordingly.

Photo credit: ©Nora Jaccaud

What storytelling techniques do you bring from documentary work?

Patience, restraint, and editing down to what is essential. Also accepting imperfections as part of the truth rather than as something to fix.

How does your cross-cultural experience help with diverse audiences?

It keeps the language visual rather than cultural. I focus on gestures, rhythm, emotion, and situation, which translate more easily across audiences than a heavily coded local aesthetic.

Provence Portfolio

Can you give us some examples of projects in Provence?

Working with local artisans, the goal was not to present a polished product but to showcase the process: the repetition, the environment, and the person behind the work. The emphasis was on continuity between life and work rather than separation. I also do hotel shoots and portrait photography. Here are a few examples:

My photography with examples of diverse things:

• I made a portrait of a local artist/painter.
• A portrait of a gardener.
• Photos for the newly opened hotel, Auberge du Presbytere.
• Portrait of an artist in residency.
• Reels and content for the perfumer brand Poete.
• Vintage photography with my partner, Lukas Birk

Photo credit: ©Nora Jaccaud

Stories Made in Provence

How do you approach storytelling differently in Provence?

I slow down. There is more space here, both physically and mentally, so the work becomes less urgent and more about depth as I feel my deep roots in this place.

Photo credit: ©Nora Jaccaud

What stories in Provence are still waiting to be told?

The ones not designed for visibility: people working quietly, shifting between tradition and modern life, and everyday transformations that don’t fit the region’s usual visual narrative. Many creative people are waiting to be seen, and many wonderful projects are coming to life here. I also love making portraits of children; they have so much to share, and they change so fast. I love capturing love.

Contact Nora Jaccaud

Nora Jaccaud (website)
Telephone: +33 (0)7 69 22 70 47

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Carolyne Kauser-Abbott

With her camera and laptop close at hand, Carolyne has traded in her business suits for the world of freelance writing and blogging. Her first airplane ride at six months of age was her introduction to the exciting world of travel.

While in Provence, Carolyne can be found hiking with friends, riding the hills around the Alpilles or tackling Mont Ventoux. Her attachment to the region resonates in Perfectly Provence this digital magazine that she launched in 2014. This website is an opportunity to explore the best of the Mediterranean lifestyle (food & wine, places to stay, expat stories, books on the region, travel tips, real estate tips and more), through our contributors' articles.

Carolyne writes a food and travel blog Ginger and Nutmeg. Carolyne’s freelance articles can be found in Global Living Magazine, Avenue Magazine and City Palate (Published Travel Articles).