Marco Squassina
Cinematic Nude Art Photography
Vision
I photograph women because I am interested in presence: the moment in which beauty, personality and freedom become visible within the same image. My work is not about documenting appearance alone. I look for the point at which a woman stops simply posing and begins to inhabit the photograph. That transition is subtle, unpredictable and real, and it is the foundation of everything I create. Photography, for me, is a way of transforming an encounter into an image that feels suspended outside ordinary time. I am drawn to photographs that retain atmosphere and emotional tension; images that suggest a story without explaining it completely.
The Female Figure
The female figure is at the centre of my visual language.
I am interested in beauty not as perfection, but as presence, individuality and expressive force. The body becomes part of the composition in the same way as light, colour, architecture and space.
In my work, nudity is neither an endpoint nor a provocation. It is a visual language: a way of removing social codes, fashion and chronology until only form, gesture, vulnerability and identity remain.
My aim is to create images in which sensuality and elegance can coexist naturally, without becoming superficial.
I rarely approach a session as the mechanical execution of a fixed concept. I prefer to create a visual territory in which direction and spontaneity can coexist. I may define the light, the location and the emotional tone, but the final image is always shaped by what happens between the person, the place and the camera.The model is not simply a subject placed inside a composition. Her personality, movement, posture and way of occupying space actively determine the photograph.This is why every session is different. The most meaningful images often emerge from small, unplanned moments: a gesture, a pause, a change in expression, a movement that cannot be repeated in exactly the same way.
Light, Cinema and Painting
My visual references come from painting, cinema and photography.
I am deeply influenced by chiaroscuro, by the theatrical use of light, by the emotional density of cinema and by the expressive tradition of European portraiture. I am especially drawn to images in which light does not merely illuminate the subject, but creates tension, mystery and depth.
Colour is also central to my work. Warm and cool tones, deep shadows and selective areas of light help create images that feel cinematic rather than purely descriptive.
I work with both natural and continuous light, often combining them. The technical process is important, but it always remains subordinate to the atmosphere of the image.
Real Photography
Every image presented on this website originates from a real photographic session.
The people, bodies and environments are real. No subject or location is generated synthetically. Post-production is used to interpret the photograph, refine its colour and strengthen its emotional direction, never to replace reality. In an era increasingly shaped by artificial imagery, I consider the authenticity of the encounter an essential part of the work. The photograph matters because something actually happened in front of the camera.
Short Biography
Marco Squassina is an Italian visual artist and photographer based in Northern Italy, working internationally.
He began developing his photographic practice in 2015 and, from 2018 onward, progressively focused his research on female portraiture and nude art. His work combines cinematic atmosphere, painterly light and a strong attention to the relationship between subject and space.
Over the years, he has collaborated with models from different countries and created an extensive body of work across Europe and beyond. His photographs have been collected in books, editorial projects, private archives and curated online collections. His current practice explores the expressive potential of the female figure through images centred on beauty, freedom, intimacy and presence.
Conversations
A video conversation on the origins of my photographic language, the evolution of my work and the meaning of beauty within contemporary image-making - Interview
For collaborations, commissioned sessions, publications and artistic enquiries: info@marcosquassinaphotography.com