Self Portrait
I was born in Mexico fourty years ago and after spending four years of my adult life as a globe trotter, I decided to settle in Florence - there I fell in love with a girl and with this fabulous art city- when I was 28 years old.
After graduating in graphic design, I discovered that photography was my true passion, so I decided to go to Mexico City to study photography at Escuela Activa. To become a photographer in Mexico was a real priviledge due to the difficulties in making a carrier in that area.
When I moved to Italy I participated in a Masters in Lighting and Commercial Photography. In Italy I had a chance to futher explore my passion for art, still life photography and fashion photography and to experiment the links among them.
In 2005 I founded ZONA-X, my own photo studio where I still work on my projects, I make my inspirational encounters, I teach my courses on fashion photography, still life, portraits.
In Italy I've been working as a freelancer for global brands as Ferragamo, Armani, Ilaria Nistri, Roque, Masnada, Ciuffoletti, Manuel Vanni, Luisa via Roma, Swarovski, Giorgia & Jhons, Hotel Montebello Splendid, Hotel Le Maschere, Hotel 1865 Residenza d'Epoca, Caffè Jolly, Kult Magazine, Vogue, Marie Claire and others...
I'm currently also a teacher at the Florence University of Art and collaborate at Cecov (Center of Visual Communication).
The thing that fascinates me the most about my job is the relationship that is created with people who know they are being photographed, the exchange of emotions and the power of certain superficial aspects, which in the time of shooting, gain strength, even at times vanity...
I am fascinated by the psychological aspect, the attitude of people in front of the camera (jokes can lighten the tension when a subject is nervous or paralyzed. There are those who become what they want to be in daily life, but can not and so on...). The end becomes a state of liberation, in front of a known phenomenon, yet always mysterious because no one knows how it will end. I love this relationship, the exchange of feelings involving the photographer and the subject.
– Gildardo Gallo