My name is Francisco Úbeda Llorente, and I was born in Almería (Andalusia, Spain) in 1981. After
graduating from high school in 2000, I entered a public art school to study photography. After finishing
my studies, I enrolled in the Escénica theater school to study theater lighting. During that year, I won the
First Prize for Young Photographers of Andalusia. During the next few years, I worked
sporadically as a photographer at various music festivals, taking photos of music bands, illustrating
books, and doing whatever I could with my camera. This led me to Estonia, where I ended up giving
some introductory courses on photography and exhibiting my work.
After a few years, I saw all my photographs the same way. I felt stuck in photography, so I
decided to stop in 2007.
In the words of the writer Juan Goytisolo, you don’t have to live from writing, you just have to find a job
and write. So I did.
I’ve been combining my boring office working life with projects and commissions ever since.
The purpose of photography has never been to earn a living, but rather to give life meaning.
The pressure of creating for a living is too much for me.
It is my nature to be eclectic in every aspect of my life. Whether it’s Bach or techno music, I can jump
from one to the other.
With photographic projects, I experience the same thing. My first thought when I come up with an idea is
which language suits my story best. It can be black and white, color, or closer to a fashion or documentary
style. My personal style isn’t important to me since I have already gone through that and made me move away
from photography.