Paolo Troilo
Italy
Born in Taranto, Paolo now lives and works in Milan and Palermo.
A self-taught artist, he first began drawing in pencil at the age of 4.
Paolo studied Architecture and Modern Literature at the University of Florence, then in Rome at the European Institute of Design.
He has worked as Creative Director for several prestigious international advertising agencies. In 2007 he was nominated best Italian creative by the Art Directors Club Italiano (ADCI).
In April 2005, in parallel with his advertising activity, Paolo’s career as a professional artist began when he started painting with his fingers for fun (he had forgotten to buy the brushes). It is thanks to his technique of dipping the tip of his fingers directly into jars of black and ivory acrylic that he became one of a kind in the art world.
Paolo’s works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, in Milan, Rome, Florence, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, San Francisco, Istanbul, Tel Aviv and Los Angeles.
“Be Water, my friend” said Bruce Lee in his famous interview on the Pierre Berton Show. Because water can understand and therefore take whatever form it encounters, adapting itself with the power to caress or destroy
Roberto Ridi
Italy
Born on the Island of Elba
From an early age Roberto nurtured a love for professional photography. Moving from the magic of B/W to a passion for colour, he has lived through the transition of the curiosity of photographic film to the speed of digital photography, replacing the blackness of the dark room with a screen overflowing with creativity and colour.
A professional photographer since 1980, Roberto is a visual storyteller specialising in naturalistic reportage, ranging from aerial photography to underwater, from portraiture to landscape, always keeping a close and careful focus on Man and Nature’s designs.
Roberto is author of numerous international publications and responsible for setting up the Tuscan Archipelago National Park’s photographic archive
The sea is what water means to me, a magnificent liquid, the sky's mirror. I live on an island, embraced by this immense element, changing, unstoppable, capable of instilling serenity but commanding respect, both gentle and mighty. From the transparency of the surface to its dark depths, it is like the human soul
GMB Akash
Bangladesh
Born in Bangladsh
He grew up in a home far removed from my profession.
Throughout His childhood he did not have access to photographers, their work, or even a camera.
Photography did not exist for him in theory or in practice. Then a decade later, he found his father’s old camera and his life took a different turn. His fascination for the captured image was uncontainable and overcame everything — even his inexperience. Not knowing what he was doing or why, he went everywhere shooting anything and everything that caught my attention. The only thing he was certain of were the subjects he photographed.
He concentrated on people living on the edge of society because their faces, lives, and living conditions held a particular fascination for him. Gradually he became absorbed in their daily lives for months on end, learning from their experiences.
His desire to capture it all on film pushed him to go to places and to meet people he never would have encountered otherwise. Each visit gave him a deeper understanding of humanity.
As he improved in his art over the years, his work has been featured in over 100 major, international publications including: National Geographic, Vogue, Time, Sunday Times, Newsweek, Geo, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Fader, Brand Ein, The Guardian, Marie Claire, Colors, The Economist, The New Internationalist, Kontinente, Amnesty Journal, Courier International, PDN, Die Zeit, Days Japan, Hello, and Sunday Telegraph of London.
He has received more than 100 international photography awards and recognition starting in 2002 when he became the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands. He was one of the speakers at the fifth Global Investigative Journalism Conference, held at Lillehammer, Norway in 2008 and as well as at Ted Talk at TEDxOporto 2011, in Portugal where He was the first Bangladeshi to speak for this event. Also He was one of the speakers at TEDxHyderabad 2017. In the same year, 2017, He was one of the speakers at the "7th Forum of Emerging Leaders in Asian Journalism", in Yogyakarta, Indonesia".
He has had Solo Exhibitions from 2006 to 2018 in Bangladesh, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, the USA in New York, N.Y. and Charleston, S.C, as well as in the Czech Republic and Greece.
Some people have no time to enjoy the rain because they remain too busy collecting drinking water. Please do not waste a drop of water, someone out there is spending hours just trying to get some!
Domenico Cammarano
France
Born in Cilento (Italy), lives and works between Rome and Montpelier.
Thanks to my parents, I grew up with a strong curiosity and attention to details. I immediately fell in love with the beautiful closter olympic, the camera of my dad. It still works and looks great in my camera’s collection.
My first serious camera was a Yashica Fx-3, A dream come tue. After working as a procrastinator, I finally graduated in geophysics at the University of Rome in 1998.
In my journey of life, I have never abandoned photography, and after stealing all my photographic equipment I decided to go digital, just when I decided that the only way to improve in photography is to work hard and study with ardor the masters of the past. And, before you take up a camera, you should eat many and many books. After attending some photostudios, I convinced me to become a professional photographer in the early 2000s.
I love documentary, portrait and street photography and Yes, of course I love telling stories.
I think however, that the only possible Photography is the encounter of light with argentic-substance and, for this reason in 2010, I again approached film photography, up to these days, with the purchase of my beautiful leica M2.
“We never know the true value of water until the well is dry” Proverb
Sara Munari
Italy
Born in Milan, Works and lives in Lecco
She has studied photography at Isfav, Higher Institute of photography and visual arts, in Padua (www.isfav.it), where she graduated as a professional photographer.
In 2001 she started La Stazione Fotografica, a studio gallery where she organized photo exhibitions and courses.
She is teacher for History of Photography at the Italian Institute of Photography in Milan (www.istitutoitalianodifotografia.it). She has collaborated with the Catholic University of Milan.
From 2005 to 2008 she was Art Director of the Leccoimmagifestival for which she organized personal exhibitions of well known and young photographers from all over Europe. She has organized workshops with prominent authors on the national scene. In 2008 she participated in the San Fedele award. She has exhibited in Italy and Europe in galleries and museums of contemporary art. Her work is part of the National Photographic Archives of Castellanza and the archive of Tor Vergata University in Rome.
She is a portfolio reader in national competitions and festivals. She has won awards at national and international level.
SHE HAS FUN WITH PHOTOGRAPHY, SHE LOVES AND RESPECTS IT!
“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one” Jacques Cousteau
Carolina Sandretto
Italy
Born in Italy, works and lives in the United States
Carolina Sandretto is an Italian Photographer. With a back ground in both not for profit management and documentary photography, Carolina explores themes such as passing of time, memory, abandonment and the environment.
She works predominately with medium format and large format analogue cameras.Carolina has a Political sciences degree from University Cattolica in Milano and a MA in not for profit management.
She completed the Documentary Photography Program at ICP New York, in 2013.
She published with Skira the book “Cines de Cuba” in 2017 and “Cuba. Vivir Con” is her second book.Her shows include:“Anthropological landscapes”, with Corinna Groeben and Francesco Iodice at Galleria Antonio Ricci curated by Laura Cherubini at Whitebox Gallery, New York City USA, 2015. “Vivir Con…”, Solo show, Galleria Renata Bianconi 18/09 – 30/10 2015.
Julia Margaret Cameron Award winner 2017. “Cuba Is!” Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles USA, 2017. “Analogue Portrait“ at Lucie Foundation during MOPLA, Month of Photography Los Angeles USA, 2019. “Things Left Behind” Solo Show at DIP Contemporary Gallery in Lugano Switzerland, April – June 2019.Her work is present in several private collections and has appeared on different publications and news outlets such as: BOMB Magazine, Flash Art, Atlas Obscura, Vogue Italy, La Stampa, LA Times, Glamour Italy, The Guardian, CNN Style, Artribune and others “Cuba Is!”, Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles. “Analogue Portrait“, Lucie Foundation, Los Angeles. “Things Left Behind” DIP Contemporary Gallery, Lugano.
Water is the driving force of all nature” Leonardo Da Vinci
Jian Gao
China
Born in China, works and lives in Pechino and NY
Jian Gao is an award-winning photographer currently based in Beijing and New York.
He is the Pulitzer Center on Crisis reporting grantee and Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar. His work gained many industry honors, such as PDN, Communication Arts. Lucie Foundation scholarship.
He is also the Eddie Adams Workshop XXVI alumni.
Jian's work has been published on many international platforms, such as NatGeo, Doc!, Invisiable Photographer Asia, Rangefinder, American Photography 30, The Eye of Photogarphy, IPA, NYPH, etc.
His work has been exhibited and collected worldwide.
From 2013-2017, he worked as Digital Editor at Magnum Photos, Photo Assignment Editor at The New York Post and Photo Editor at Daily Mai/Mail Online in New York.
In the beginning of 2017, Jian continued to work as a photographer.
Water is shapeless, on the other hand, It could be shaped into any form that people could imagine, it accompanies our daily lives almost everywhere
Patricia Monteiro
Brazil
Born in São Paulo in Brasil where she lives and works.
Patrícia is a documentary photographer member of Women Photograph and Girl Gaze. Freelance, she's always looking for stories and events to document, interested in social and economic issues around the world, and more than that, in the singularities of people’s lives in which, in itself, can contain a world of global matters.
Her work has been published in Time, NPR.com, Al Jazeera, Audubon, El País, Bloomberg Business, Buzzfeed News, Valor Econômico, The Wall Street Journal, Aftenposten (Norway), EBS News (South Korea), Harmony Magazine (India), among others
Water means connection, fluidity, relief. No one should be denied the access to that basic life source
Yvonne Etinosa
Nigeria
Born in Benin City in Nigeria where she lives and works.
She is a self taught documentary photographer and she considers photography to be a medium of expression and a tool to drive social change.
Thus, Etinosa leverages on the power of visual storytelling to create awareness, educate
and inform people about causes and issues she is passionate about.
In 2018, she received grants from Women Photograph and National Geographic in partnership with Lagos Photo Festival for her project; It’s All In My Head.
Etinosa's photos have been exhibited internationally, her works have also been published inseveral international publications.
There is no alternative to water which makes it the essence of life. It is an indispensable force that has the power to unite us
Katie Orlinsky
United States
Born in New York City , lives in Brooklyn, New York
She began her career as a photographer thirteen years ago. She has photographed all over the world documenting everything from conflict and social issues to wildlife and sports. Her work explores the everyday lives of people in extreme situations, and the intimate moments behind global issues.
Since 2014 Katie’s work has focused mainly on environmental photojournalism and telling stories that bring a human face to climate change. She is now in her sixth year of a long-term documentary photography project exploring the many ways climate change is challenging communities across Alaska, altering the relationship between people, animals and the land.
Katie’s work is frequently published in National Geographic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Smithsonian Magazine. Over the course of her career has won awards from institutions such as the Art Director’s Club, PDN, Getty Images, Visa Pour L’image and POYI. Katie received a Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University in 2010, and was the Snedden Chair of Journalism at University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2018. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
All life on earth depends on water, and so do our spirits. Like so many people all over the world, being near water is where I am happiest. It is where I feel most alive and present. It quiets my mind, and allows me the peace and calm I need to truly listen to what this big, beautiful planet has to say
Giorgio Galimberti
Italy
Born in Como, where he lives and works
Accomplice a family linked to art and his creativity, He approaches to instantaneous development photography at a young age, taking advantage of the possibilities that the film allows, experimenting manipulation techniques facing it as a game, but, with awareness and mastery of the instrument.His images are beyond the usual photographic canons, uniting different genres, starting from street photography, declined in a vision focused on contrasts and a use of modern and current light.His works have been exhibited at MIA Fair, Galleria Expowall, and DaDA Est in Milan, Leica Store and at the Gipsoteca of the Liceo Artististico of Porta Romana in Florence and published in numerous magazines.He is a member of the collective “Italian street photography” and has participated as an author in the main Italian and European street photography festivals.
I enjoy the weightlessness of water, the absence of structure but yet its strickness of being a perfect horizon
