Stephanie Freid-Perenchio is an independent

documentary photographer Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional pho ...

known for her work highlighting humanitarian causes and wartime. She is best known for her documentary work on the

Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy, U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Special Wa ...

, both in her publication ''SEAL: The Unspoken Sacrifice'' and subsequent work. Her work has been exhibited at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...

and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts.

Work

Perenchio, along with colleague Jennifer Walton, coauthored ''SEAL: The Unspoken Sacrifice'' in 2009. The book accounts and shows photographs of

operations during their training and service. Specifically, over the course of eight years, Perenchio and Walton documented training for recruits in Alaska and California, and also spent several months working with the SEALs in Afghanistan. Perenchio's work on Navy SEALs has been featured in ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'', the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

, and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library. Perenchio has noted that her motivation to document the service of Navy SEALs was based on a conversation she had at a dinner party with Vice Admiral Robert S. Harward. After discussing his service, she has asked frankly out of interest, "How do you kill someone in the morning and then go home and play with your wife and children?" The two continued to stay in touch and after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, Perenchio contacted Harward about the project, where he allowed her and Walton access. The project was originally called "A Day in the Life of a SEAL." She has also done documentary work examining endangered animals on the African continent, and evaluating the impact of wartime on women and children living in Afghanistan. Locally, Perenchio is also co-chair of the Family of Women Film Festival in

Sun Valley, Idaho Sun Valley is a resort city in the western United States, in Blaine County, Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum in the Wood River valley. The population was 1406 at the 2010 census, down from 1427 in 2000.Ketchum, Idaho Ketchum is a city in Blaine County, Idaho, located in the central part of the state. The population was 3,555 at the 2020 census, up from 2,689 in 2010. Located in the Wood River Valley, Ketchum is adjacent to Sun Valley and the communities sh ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freid-Perenchio, Stephanie American women photographers Documentary photographers People from Ketchum, Idaho Women photojournalists