Acclaimed Melbourne fashion photographer Mauro Palmieri relocates to Perth

Top Melbourne photographer Mauro Palmieri has recently relocated his studio to Perth. Following the arrival of their second child, Palmieri and his wife decided to pack up their lives in Melbourne and move to Perth, where they could be closer to his wife’s parents.

Born in Rome, and migrated to Australia in the early 80’s, Palmieri has been shooting commercially in Melbourne since 2003.

He got his break working on a few campaigns together for Publicis Mojo and Singlton Ogilvy & Mather. His first brief was a huge campaign at Publicis Mojo for Telstra Mobile with a massive budget (see very bottom pic below).

“As I was still only a young assistant at the time, I jumped in the deep end and I had to learn to swim very quickly.  With the help of an amazing team, including my Illustrator/Animator brother Marco Palmieri, we pulled it together seamlessly and this shoot set the pathway for me as a young professional photographer,” said Palmieri.

In 2004, he had a chance encounter with Julie Mathews who at the time was the Art Director for Pantene at Grey Worldwide. They shot together for a few years on Pantene and some other beauty brands that Grey had on their books.

“This is where I honed my lighting skills, as we were shooting on large and medium format film. There was no room for error, the packs simply had to look incredible on the transparency film.

Over the next few years he was represented by a handful of agents and bounced between Melbourne and Sydney, working on a variety of campaigns. He also received an honourable mention at the 2008 International Photography Awards, for a personal beauty series which was also selected as a finalist in the 2009 London International Creative Competition.

Palmieri’s career took a sharp turn towards fashion in 2010 when he began working with David Roennfeldt from 3Deep where he assigned Palmieri to shoot a look-book and ongoing fashion campaigns for Melbourne-based Australian fashion designer Toni Maticevski.

“This lead to a long working collaboration with Toni which lasted many years, and developed an invaluable friendship and working partnership that still influences my photography today.

“In 2016, Toni asked if I was interested in becoming one of the main contributing photographers to his book, ‘The Elegant Rebel’, written by Kristie Clements and Mitchell Oakley Smith and published by Thames & Hudson. I was very humbled as I truly believe that Maticevski is amongst the greatest fashion designers of our time. The exposure that came from this publication, set the tone for the next few years. I was cemented as one of Maticevski’s photographers and became a regular contributor to the fashion industry in Australia.”

These days, with a strong focus on the people he photographs, Palmieri is regularly shooting commercial campaigns and editorials for advertising and brand agencies, the arts and entertainment industries and fashion designers.

“I’m looking forward to establishing a new network in Perth, where I can bring the breadth of my experience and skills to the creative scene and hopefully collaborate with many of the talented people that make up the fabric of the creative industry here,” said Palmieri.

mauropalmieri.com