Info

Black-and-white self-portrait of Melissa Debernardi

I steal a little truth from people.

I’m Melissa Debernardi, a portrait photographer and writer based in Italy. I picked up a camera at sixteen and never put it down. I went to art school, studied photography at John Kaverdash in Milan, then storytelling at Scuola Holden in Turin.

I’m always chasing the decisive moment. I’m a bit of a voyeur: I wait for the second before people remember they’re being looked at. That’s when the truth slips out, and that’s the shot I keep.

Writing taught me to look for the story inside a face. Every portrait is a short scene: a character, a tension, something left unsaid. Photography is how I make peace with my own contradictions.

Today I also work with artificial intelligence, under the name What If. Discover the evolution

Services

Portraits

Editorial

Fashion

Campaigns

Personal commissions

Press and collaborations

Vanity Fair Italia

Contrasto Books

Ottica in Fissa podcast

Based

Based in Italy

Available for work in Italy and abroad