The moment I said it

Francesco Carovillano

Through nature and image-making I keep discovering who I am. The more I grow older, the more these two things merge together.

I’m a full-time landscape photographer mainly working in the forest of Fontainebleau, France.

francescocarovillano.com

Introduction

I wrote this story for you, the reader.

Despite the struggle for recognition, this should not discourage your desire to create. For the joy you experience through artistic creation is what truly matters, regardless of the judgment of others.

History has an ironic way of repeating itself.
Gatekeepers have a careless way of repeating the same mistakes.
Artists have a fatalistic way of sharing the same struggle.

15th October 2024, 10:30 AM, bright sunlight shines on my face as I walk on Pont du Carrousel to cross the Seine River. No one expected such a hot day in Paris at this time of the year.

I’m almost sweating when I pick up my pace to be on time for my meeting. I made it to the staff entrance of the Orsay museum 10 minutes ahead of time. I pause, take off my jacket and put it in my bag, next to a copy of my book. In a minute, I will present it to the director of the museum bookstore. After five years of work on my photography book and months of waiting for this meeting to happen, here I am.

I enter the museum from the staff’s entrance, pass security and explain who I am supposed to meet. Of course, no one knew about my meeting there, and the bookstore’s director was nowhere to be found. Experience has taught me that it would have been naive not to expect this inattention to my meeting, even from the person who granted and scheduled it for me, so I was not affected by the subsequent waiting time. Twenty-five minutes passed before anyone managed to find the director of the bookstore, reminded her of our meeting, and only then was I accompanied to her.