We had the good fortune of connecting with Francesca Forquet and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Francesca, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I don’t think there was any real thought process behind this choice. It just happened! I’m from Milan, Italy and there, I worked for years in communication agencies as a photographer and as a graphic designer, so it was natural for me to do some personal work beyond office hours, not only was it a good way to scrape together but also and above all a great way to develop my style and to test myself as a creative. Over time these on the side works have become a constant and obviously all my interest has shifted more and more to these projects of mine. With the pandemic and thanks to pandemic relief, I took the opportunity to take the leap (but with a parachute) and throw myself completely into the freelance profession.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I can’t say it was an easy road but it was certainly a very fun, exciting and full of surprises journey. In fact, my profession took me from Italy to Los Angeles where, after an initial period in which I worked as an art director at an entertainment agency, I finally embarked on my profession as a photographer.
In fact, today I work as a commercial, portrait and lately editorial photographer, having recently started a freelance collaboration with The New York Times, of which I am obviously very proud.
The thing that I think sets me apart from the others, however, is my personal work on Santa Monica, a project that I started shooting during the pandemic and especially during my solitary walks with Zita, my dog. During these walks in the residential districts of Santa Monica and in their “flip side”, the back alleys, it came natural for me to notice clues, objects, messages hidden by the apparent uniformity of the streets, and to photograph them.
I think they have a very particular communicative value, they convey funny, surreal or illogical, almost incomprehensible situations, and I am magnetically attracted to them. Sometimes they are messages that the people who live in that house or own that particular car feel the need to transmit and communicate to everyone else. Sometimes they talk about the events affecting the city, the pandemic for example, the elections: the people of Santa Monica react, they talk to me, everyone tells me what they feel.
Indeed, the collection of these photographs reveals to me a very playful, sometimes ironic, sometimes funny, surreal aspect of the people of Santa Monica, a city that seems completely ordinary, sometimes even boring, where you rarely meet much human presence during a regular walk. These photographs are a sort of portraits of us, the citizens of Santa Monica.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Los Angeles is such a beautiful and vibrant city, there is so much to see that it will be really hard to pick my favorite places.
Well, surely a ride along the coast and on the famous PCH is a must, I find that the view of the ocean is always of great impact and that makes anyone understand immediately what makes this metropolis really special. For lunch I always enjoy a fish and chips from Reel Inn or a breakfast from the crazy Patrick’s Road House.
In addition to this, I would certainly recommend taking a leap into the artistic part of the city, in fact Los Angeles is really exciting from this point of view, there are great museums such as Lacma, Moca, Broad, Hummer, up to more niche galleries, such as the delightful GGLA Gallery in Highland Park. Still on the coast and if you like photography, Bergamot Station is definitely a nice place to spend a few hours in the afternoon.
For dinner there is no doubt, a nice yakitori from NanbanKan in Sawtelle.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Obviously it’s a very long list, I think I can never be grateful enough to all the bosses, all the mentors I’ve had. Each one has provided me with an important piece of himself, and the set of all these precious bricks has made up who I am now. I therefore want to thank the trigger, my son, whose birth when I was very young, spurred me to learn and to undertake my profession as a graphic designer and photographer very seriously and with the utmost concentration and enthusiasm.
Website: www.francescaforquet.com
Instagram: @francesca.forquet
Other: My journal www.everydayalittleadventure.com
Image Credits
© Francesca Forquet