Franc Sebantu is an emerging street photographer in Phoenix, Arizona. His work primarily captures the emotion of the large homeless community in downtown Phoenix. The most compelling aspect of Franc’s work is his ability to capture deep and meaningful photos naturally. As a young, motivated upcoming artist, Franc shares his unique story starting in Congo to his life today as a photographer in Arizona. Just one of Franc’s photos speaks a thousand words, check out his work for yourself below to collaborate with one of the best upcoming photographers in the Phoenix area:
Can you start with a little background about you and your family?
I moved to Phoenix in 2013 and used to live in Houston before. I was born in Congo and my whole family too. I speak Swahili and Yom Orang is my first language but I’m not really good at it. Normally I speak Swahili to my parents. We moved here in 2007 because of war and a better life. We moved to Houston first and then now here in Arizona. When I came to the US I was about five so I only remember a couple of things like hanging out with my grandma and going outside. I can barely remember how it looked, but my grandma tells me stories and then I get flashbacks.
My grandma had her first kid when she was 12 which in Africa, it’s very normal to have a kid at a young age. She tells me a lot about how free she used to live in Africa because they don’t have rent and stuff, you just have to worry about what you’re going to eat so they live free compared to now. It’s a different world to me now with bills, work, and having a career, it’s all about the chase now. We make life very complicated when it’s not. Staying together is also very important. That’s all we really have, even back home in the villages, everybody is together. If somebody needs food, they all share. It’s a whole family.
When did you first get into photography?
I started photography freshman year of high school. I really wasn’t taking it seriously, my friend had a camera and I just liked to play around with it. I just got in a habit of picking up a camera and when I got a job, that’s when I bought my first camera around my Sophomore year. Prior to that I just started looking at YouTube videos and always thought there was nothing deep to it, but now I know it’s a whole other world.
Looking at your photography, I’d say it’s very deep and meaningful. Can you talk about your style?
Yeah, so I do mostly street photography. In downtown Phoenix, there are a lot of homeless people, it’s all you see. I used to go there and photograph what I saw which was regular people either homeless or working. I was so awkward at first to approach someone and ask if I can take photos of them because I thought my work wasn’t that good to take a photo of a model. I feel like it was easier for me to ask somebody who doesn’t know me, like a stranger on the street.
I really liked one photo in particular of yours captioned ‘angel in disguise’ and I was wondering if there was any story behind it?
To be honest, I don’t know how to answer that. I just saw him and noticed he looked like he was on his last breath. That’s all I really thought about and it happened very naturally. When I started out, I used to shoot landscapes and I didn’t like that because it was pretty boring. I was trying to do weddings, but I was very awkward so I just started taking photos of stuff I like. I take photos of anything that catches my eye. Out of three days, I’m pretty sure nobody really approached many of these people on the street or asked them for a photo. When I ask to take their photo, it makes their day ten times better. Even though I couldn’t give them money, I feel like a photo can go a very long way.
How do you feel about AI entering the field of photography?
It’s crazy, you can’t even tell if a person actually took it. Especially those graduation or senior photos, you can’t even see at all. It looks so real. It’s scary, but I feel like with photography, you can never really steal or copy somebody’s work.
How do you think you’ve grown the most in your work?
Probably with my confidence, my confidence in being able to work. As a matter of fact, I just got my first paid photoshoot a couple of days ago. I’m trying to do more portraits of models to get my name out there. Before I was very closed off about it, If I approached somebody I wouldn’t bring up my work or promote it. Nowadays, I’m getting a little bit more confident.
What advice do you have for photographers or artists?
Just shoot, I just shoot anything I see. Even at home, I take photos of my grandma sitting down or my mom cooking. You know, photography can be very lonely work or sometimes I get bored taking photos every day. I’ve started to go off with learning new things like recently I started learning how to sew and make clothes. I’m still in the basics but I just recently made my girl a purse from flannels. Another piece of advice would be to be consistent. If you do something once, you have to keep doing it. After time you for sure will see a difference in your work.
How do you think you’ve grown the most in your work?
Probably with my confidence, my confidence in being able to work. Before I was very closed off about it, If I approached somebody I wouldn’t bring up my work or promote it. Nowadays, I’m getting a little bit more confident.
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