Descobriu a fotografia aos 14 anos, desde logo começou a processar as suas próprias imagens com produtos químicos comprados na farmácia.
Dez anos mais tarde, montou o seu estúdio profissional, especializou-se no retoque em chapas rígidas de grande formato. Fez retrato, fotografia aérea, industrial, trabalhou para muitas empresas nacionais e internacionais do setor alimentar, vidro, plástico, moldes etc. Torna-se um fotógrafo industrial com cinco laboratórios em Leiria.
No inicio dos anos 90, perante o olhar incrédulo da maioria dos fotógrafos, é o primeiro Português a manipular fotografias num computador. Deu formação e estágios sobre fotografia digital a alunos de várias escolas quando ainda ninguém sabia falar esta linguagem, percorreu o mundo dos EUA ao Japão em busca de novas tecnologias mas a falta de conhecimento era generalizada, só no final desta década o seu sonho se tornou realidade: A fotografia digital ficou finalmente ao alcance de todos.
No inicio do século XXI, dedicou-se ao desenvolvimento de páginas web com o objectivo de divulgar a fotografia em todo o mundo, produzindo plataformas que são verdadeiras ferramentas de trabalho.


EN
Manuel Figueiredo was born in the 10th of August of 1952 in Alcobaça, Portugal.
In his childhood he revealed a great appetence for electronics. Later, at the age of 14, he discovered photography. He started to process his own photos with chemicals bought in the drugstore.
In the Navy, he continued to study electronics. After his military duty he had to decide between electronics and photography. Fortunately, he managed to conceal his two passions, bringing electronics to photography. He was the first photographer in Portugal to explore that.
Between 1980 and 1990 he was requested by several enterprises to solve technical problems concerned with the execution of slides to printing companies and with industrial and air photography. He became an industrial photographer with five photographic laboratories in Leiria, Portugal.
In the nineties he was a pioneer in digital photography. He was request by several schools to teach in that area.
He learnt to fly paragliding and he flew in several countries, from Atacama desert to Japan, always carrying his camera.
In the beginning of the XXI century he devoted to program web pages with the purpose to disclose photography all over the world.
His recent site “fineart-portugal.com” easily became the best Portuguese site of photography.