A pleasure for the eyes! Marzia Gamba‘s shots are fun and colorful, disorienting and delicate and can not fail to please.

Born in 1987, Marzia Gamba is an Italian photographer who now lives and works in New York. Specialized in conceptual and still life shots, in these years her works have been presented during exhibitions in different parts of the world, from Paris to Miami, but they have also made Marzia’s work popular with different brands, leading Marzia to collaborate with Prada, Campari, Estee Lauder and many others.

Marzia’s works stand out for their bright colors, making them particularly striking, but also for a delicacy that passes through floral elements.

Some of Marzia Gamba’s shots will be exhibited in Turin starting November 27th for Ph.ocus – About Photography in the “Please, Stay Home” section and to find out more about her work we asked her some questions.

Don’t miss our interview below!

How did you approach photography and what led you to specialize in Still Life?

I approached photography when I was about 20 years old, I became passionate about it during a course at university, I started doing self portraits with an analog camera.
I was very fascinated by film and so I started working in an analog photography lab, where I spent hours in the darkroom learning how to develop film and experimenting with different printing techniques.

Then I did my first exhibitions and personal projects, which led me to be admitted to the International Center of Photography in New York. That was the real turning point. There I learned a lot, before I was mainly self-taught, I shot with a lot of heart and little technique.
Before specializing in still life I explored many types of photography, but in still life I found a way to combine my other passions like art, graphics, food and photography. For me still life is a meditative process, it fascinates me to transform everyday objects and give them a new visual and sensorial conception.

How does your creative process take place and how much time do you dedicate to the preparation of the subjects?

I would say that my creative process is a bit like me, thoughtful and impulsive at the same time. Everything starts with an idea and from there I work on the creative development where I do sketches by hand, decide the color palette and create a mood board with reference images.
After this, I start to look for objects and backgrounds, this phase amuses me a lot because it is the most manual and research part where I find myself building the set from nothing.
Finally, when everything is ready I prepare my camera, lights, tripod and start shooting and then I finish with the post-production phase.

Looking at your shots, what captures the viewer are the colors, especially the backgrounds and sets, always vivid and brilliant. How does their choice happen?

When I dedicate myself to the realization of a photo, one of the first things I think about are the colors and the emotions linked to them.
Aesthetics is very important to me. Creating harmony between objects and the colors I use is fundamental, in my creative process I always look for beauty even in common objects, making the viewer feel a new emotion looking at something familiar, playing with his perception of light and shadow, is for me an important part in the creation of a photograph.

Where do you get inspiration? Who are the photographers or artists you follow?

I take my inspiration in many different places and ways: from music, movies, museums, or everyday places. I love flower and fruit and vegetable markets, where my imagination really gets wild.

As far as artists are concerned, I am very inspired by the Surrealists: from Magritte to Salvator Dalí to Frida Kahlo, while among the contemporaries Maurizio Cattelan, Yayoy Kusama, John Baldessarri.
As for the photographers where to start, there is a line that I consider my masters, Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Francesca Woodman, Cindy Sherman, Martin Parr, Luigi Ghirri, just to name a few. Then there is a whole line of contemporary photographers that I like a lot like Grant Cornett, Camila Falquez, Bobby Doherty, Paloma Rincon and many others.

Is there a shot that was particularly difficult to take? Tell us about it.

More than difficult I would say it was a challenge. I am reminded of one of my latest personal projects “Corona Glam” that I shot in New York in mid-March, just before the Covid-19 boom in America and the city went into complete lockdown.
I was walking around my neighborhood, in Brooklyn, looking for disinfectant gel and masks to make some shots, both impossible to find, I had been in many places and everyone told me that they were sold out for weeks, even if no one in the city was wearing masks.
So I thought of replacing the gel with a transparent soap but I had no idea how I would do for the mask. Finally, while walking around, I had an idea, I went into a nail salon and tried to convince the owner to sell me one, he gave it to me with a puzzled face. Thanks to that gesture I was able to take the picture of the melon and I reused that mask to take the plane when I had to return to Italy a few days later.