Talent is everything. There are luck, persistency and golden opportunities, of course, but a story like the one we are about to tell you wouldn’t be much without an authentic and original genius. We’re talking about Monia Merlo, an architect from Bassano del Grappa by Vicenza, who, on the advice of a friend, took part (and won) to the 2012 “Photo Vogue” contest, promoted by the Italian Vogue website. Her pictures have become incredibly sought-after since then and her passion for photography is now an out-and-out job.

Good morning Monia, have already taken a picture today?

No, I don’t always shoot, although I work on my pictures every day. I don’t use photography to document something. I build and plan every single shot, which of course needs a lot of time.


Describe your job in three words.

Melancholic, intimate, narrative.


Flowers and nature are often at the centre of your pictures: is it a style choice or pure passion?

It’s a style choice coming from my passion for the Pre-Raphaelitic painting. And the “secret garden” theme has always been important to me.


What’s your favourite location? Where would you like to shoot in the future?

There’s an abandoned mill not far away from my house, I love it. I like places with history, full of splendor. Every place of this kind is good to me…


Your models are always looking somewhere else or keeping their eyes shut. Why?

They’re meditating, talking to themselves. I ask them to interpret a feeling rather than think about something. I like having control when I shoot. I often move them as they were dolls, I’m not interested in them, but in the story I’m telling.

We’d like to thank Monia for this nice interview, but most of all for her pictures: in this consumerist world, they’re a breath of fresh air, just like real art works can be.