Portfolio: Francesc Planes

— Since I was young I attended painting classes thanks to my mother. In secondary school I was into graffiti, and in high school I wasn’t doing anything that had any relation with creating and I felt frustrated. I finished high school and didn’t know what to do with my life, I wanted to do something related to art so I started a degree in Audiovisual Communication. One day on a trip I felt the need to capture the things that surrounded me so I bought a disposable camera, after that I fell in love with photography.

I don’t see my photography without the human presence. Most of the people I shoot are friends, but now I’m starting shooting friends of friends. I also did a series of photos of some mentally ill people that I met on the street. I have a series of photographs of my grandma — she’s a very special woman. I would like to make a book about her sometime.

I really like fashion photography but I don’t feel satisfied with it at all. I think that my photographs are a mix of fashion and art photography. I’ve done also documentary photography and I love it. I’m searching for my own style. But I think you have to tell your story and make something personal. I try with photography to know more about myself and immortalize what I think deserves to be remembered.

I don’t have big problems I think. Just some little things like spending a lot of money on film. Most of the time I don’t know if I’m making a great shot until I develop my film and see all the photos. And when I do, I just know in seconds which one is good. Sometimes I don’t like a photo a lot but the people love it. It’s difficult to know what is good or not. I like to ask friends which photos they like more but they say different things.

The equipment you work with is only partially important. You can make great photos with shitty cameras and bad photos with great cameras. But I try to take good photos in the technical aspect and in the artistic aspect. And yes, I only shoot analogue. I don’t like my work with digital cameras at all. When I shoot in digital I’m frustrated and shoot without thinking.

Photography like a hobby but I want to win money off it too. I’ve worked for some magazines. I think the main thing is to do your own thing and be sure that people see it. After that, if you are good, the work will arrive. It’s easy to work as a photographer, but if you want the people to pay you for your personal style you have to work it.