We recently had the chance to connect with Francisco De La Cruz and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Francisco , thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
When it comes to street photography I tend to lose track of time. I can be roaming all over downtown LA and continue to take snapshots of everything around me. Most things catch my eye since there’s so many different type of unique individuals during each day to day basis. I feel that finding myself comes towards the a day of photographing and the fact that I engaged with so many different individuals.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello my name is Francisco De La Cruz, I’m a freelance photographer based in the South Bay. I do all kinds of photography because I feel like dipping your toes in every different kind of photography opens doors to other connections. I think the amount of socializing as a street photographer makes it a very special to get to know people with different stories. Currently working on making some photo books and some zines for my website.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My father was one of my biggest supporters and someone who always pushed me in everything I wanted to do. He always saw me as an artist before I even thought about pursuing it. Sharing my early work with his friends and family. Always telling me I will be a great artist by any small recognition and the moments I felt like quitting due to creative blockage, he’s always seen me as a creative individual before I even saw my self.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes! many times I think that’s one thing not a lot of people might understand. Creative blockage and self sabotage are two things that should not exist or even go together. It’s difficult at times trying to push yourself to create when you feel like you are your biggest critic, I think learning to take a step back and journal is what helped me. Even taking some time away to refresh yourself from thinking about it is another thing to do, sometimes you might even have a project but doing a different medium of art can help a long way.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Having a good time and not forgetting why you are doing something. Like for example as artists we are out there to create art and the people in my group do it with the intention of creating art. That’s what really matters to me never being about likes, followers, or even content because for me that’s not genuine passion. Like when it comes to gigs yea you have to do it for the job but you can still use your creative mind to create something from passion not just to do it for the job.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Yes I could I think most of the times it’s very hard to remind myself for the victories I have taken. I tend to remind myself that I should always try my best and I could at least say I tried it! I also need to give myself more credit for the victories that I have received and milestones I passed because I sometimes focus on the next subject with people giving me my credit but I just feel like I need to always do more. Something I’m currently working on!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Imrover
