Hi, my name is Andrea Francolini and I am from Sydney, Australia.

I bought my first camera after saving up for a scooter. My parents said they did not want me to buy one but I thought that if I could save up they could not say no. Well....they said no so with the money I had I bought my first camera, a Canon EOS 1000 with a 24-80mm lens (film)

I never studied photography, I just tried things and read a lot of magazines - before the internet existed.

My first paid shoot was for a sailing regatta. I then shot boats for the following 23 years. The day of the shoot i had to leave home at 4am and I was very excited. So excited that I forgot all my film at home. Luckily I was still in my street when I realized it.

It depends what i do as i still shoot film for some clients who want their portraits.

Canon R5, 24-105mm + 50mm f/1.2, Polaroid 110A camera with a 4x5 back on it, and Mamiya 7

I am working towards the fact that my commercial work can pay for my personal work which I would then show in galleries and sell prints.

I dont know how to answer that. I think the best compliment is when a client comes back for a second or third shoot. I once went to someone's house for dinner and saw a picture of mine hanging on the wall. I remember someone ordering that print but did not know that it was for a gift to someone.

The connect with my subjects is the most important thing and I spend a lot of time creating this link. Then shooting is the last thing that happens

Precise, Connection, Emotion

Any award is always a good thing. It is a confirmation of what I am doing from my pears. You don't always need to have someone confirm what you are doing but it is nice. It is a way of creating a dialogue and you never know who sees these images. It can opens doors I would have never had the chance to open

Sydney has recently been put into a second lockdown due to covid. At this stage we have already done 7 weeks and there are at least another 4 ahead of us. All children have been homeschooling so while helping my daughter i had to find something to do for myself. I normally shoot portraits or sporting events and this is not possible now so i needed to find something to keep busy while at home. My photography always had a journalistic approach and style. Doing something abstract is very different to what I normally do. I did a lot of trials before understanding what i think looked nice. Above all it was something that made me curious and kept me motivated

I dont know, time will tell !!!

Sebastiao Salgado, Trent Park, and Richard Avedon.

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

So, if you are doing something and you are not getting results then you have to do things differently. That is very hard. You have to think outside the box

Never give it even when you think it is too hard.

Passion and be curious. Without those two ingredients you will not achieve anything in any field.

I guess one has to be curious. I like seeing a lot of photography. Even if it is something i dont like. I look at it and try to understand why I don't like it.

Andrea Francolini andrea@afrancolini.com

Thank you so much to the Muse Photography Awards, you are truly incredible and I'm truly honored to be a part of it!!