What people say
The best photo shoot I've had! Monia is an incredibly talented and extremely passionate photographer. My pictures feel rich and deep because of the connection we made, the genuine laughs we had, and the encouragement and support she gave. She's truly a gem!
Leslie Miller
Actress and award-winning VO Artist (Los Angeles)
Salut Monia, on vient de télécharger les photos ce matin et on n’arrête pas de les regarder depuis ce matin: elles sont juste magnifiques!
Tu as fait un grand boulot… franchement elles sont vraiment géniales!
On veut en agrandir quelques-unes et c’est difficile choisir parce qu’elles sont toutes magnifiques. C’était un super job et surtout c’était génial de te rencontrer… tu es une belle personne avec un grand cœur et très engagée avec un amour pour l’Afrique qui fait vraiment plaisir. Merci en tout cas pour le travail que tu as fait, on est très, très, très contents!
Gardons le contact et si tu viens à Nairobi , fais-nous signe. On t’embrasse très, très fort!
Sidonie, Eric et Atya
Lamu (Kenya)
I genuinely cannot ask for anything better in a photo session. It was absolutely top!
Monia has the rare ability of capturing the soul in you.
She is empathic, highly professional and wonderfully easy going.
She can honestly see through you and then she presses the shutter just at the right moment!
She naturally guides you in the most spontaneous way and, without realizing it, you are in her world, completely at ease and therefore true. With people's portraits you either get it or not… Monia, definitely gets it!
Thank you so much for our spontaneous photo shooting and your charming photos. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am delighted with the result.
Monia has the rare ability of capturing the soul in you.
She is empathic, highly professional and wonderfully easy going.
She can honestly see through you and then she presses the shutter just at the right moment!
She naturally guides you in the most spontaneous way and, without realizing it, you are in her world, completely at ease and therefore true. With people's portraits you either get it or not… Monia, definitely gets it!
Thank you so much for our spontaneous photo shooting and your charming photos. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am delighted with the result.
Uwe Rybin
Architect (Hamburg Germany - Lamu Kenya)
Today I feel inspired and I’d like to talk to you about Monia.
I had the pleasure to host her here at L’Albero in the occasion of her birthday.
She has this tradition to celebrate her birthday by solo traveling, somewhere new and see what the universe will gift her with… this time her destination was Matera! Isn’t this a great idea? Read more...
She has this tradition to celebrate her birthday by solo traveling, somewhere new and see what the universe will gift her with… this time her destination was Matera! Isn’t this a great idea? Read more...
Eliana Viggiani
Owner of "L'albero di Eliana" B&B (Matera - Italy)
As far as photographers go, Monia has proved over the years to be the most reliable, inspired and energy driven. Our relationship spans almost 8 years and we’ve worked together on numerous photo shoots from venue, events and food photography. All being delivered on time and with a sense of life and depth. And to show how much I depend on her, she was the photographer at my wedding. The photos are simply breathtaking and we will cherish that day forever.
Clement Ogbonnaya
Owner of Prince of Peckham Pub (London - UK)
Monia is a passionate, skilled and highly creative artist. Her authenticity and radiant energy, combined with high professionalism make it an absolute joy to work with her. Anyone will be lucky to cross paths with Monia.
Magdalena Gladstone
Kundalini Yoga Teacher (London - UK)
I loved my shoot with Monia, much more than I thought was possible!
I’m not a model and have never felt very comfortable posing but Monia made me feel so at ease through the whole process and I think the images show that too. She also completely nailed my brief, I wanted photos full of personality to show who I am and that’s exactly what I got. I would definitely work with Monia again!
Hannah Evans
Acupuncturist. Humanitarian. Digital Marketer. Yoga teacher. World traveller (UK, Kenya)
Molti mi chiedono consigli per migliorare le proprie foto nei viaggi, portare a casa qualche scatto unico e speciale! Vivere un viaggio già una bella esperienza, con le foto che scattiamo poi è un modo per documentare e fermare nel tempo i nostri ricordi che ci permetteranno di rivivere ogni esperienza anche una volta a casa o farle vivere ad altri. Certe cose però che traspaiono da alcune immagini di certi fotografi non si possono studiare sui libri o con la sola tecnica, e purtroppo non si possono ottenere un viaggio di 15 gg, quando alcune immagini raccontano una parte sincera di noi un vero vissuto ed una esperienza che inevitabilmente è diventata parte della nostra vita , ed è questo che vedo nelle immagini di Monia ed è questo a mio parare ha un valore enorme quando un fotografo riesce a raggiungerlo. Complimenti!
Luigi Rota
Fotografo (Como - Italy)
Monia is an outstanding photographer who is talented and passionate about her work. She brings real skill and manages to capture the essence of a person in her photography. Her work overseas is particularly inspiring. It is a pleasure to work with her and I cannot recommend her highly enough!
Brita Fernandez Schmidt
Executive Director at Women for Women International UK (London - UK)
Acqua di Parma has been working with Monia for a few years. She has an eye for details and always manage to catch the right moment for product launches and glorify our products in an impeccable way. Her photos have been fantastic to use both for presentations and social media. She is also very flexible and sociable which helps build a rapport with guests during PR launches.
Stéphane Euzen
Northern Europe Regional Director, General Manager UK & Eire Acqua di Parma LVMH Group (London - UK)
I had the pleasure of attending Afreelight mobile photography workshop with Monia whilst in Lamu, Kenya. Monia’s passion for photography and capturing the beauty of people and life comes through in her deliverance of a well designed and beautifully presented workshop.
The material covered was relevant, interesting and useful for my personal use as well as for my online business and social media.
I loved Monia’s unapologetic approach to her own photography that is deep and sometimes dark and intriguing. She was however unafraid to share her knowledge and skills with us and was available for assistance at any time after the workshop. I look forward to more workshop with her in the future.
Faatima Ahmed
Orthopaedic surgeon (Johannesburg - South Africa)
Monia o la fotógrafa del alma.
Monia tiene la capacidad de fotografiar el alma, nuestro interior. No sé cómo lo consigue, pero lo hace. Siempre que me enseña fotos de gente que conozco bien, pienso lo mismo, ¿cómo ha podido reflejar tanto a esta persona, sin conocerla? Supongo que tiene que ver con su manera de acercarse a las personas, con su sonrisa que transmite alegría y confianza.
Sus fotografías son espectaculares, pero para sus retratos son fuera de serie. No se trata de salir más o menos favorecido, no es eso, Monia logra reflejar la esencia de las personas.
Lourdes Méndez
(Spain, Kenya)
Monia’s Mobile Phone Workshop was informative and fun. I learnt many new skills, giving images a new dimension and understanding. We learnt how to compose photos into something more creative and optimising our current mobile phone skills. Thank you for the opportunity to take this brilliant course and looking forward to the next course with you.
Sandy Bornman
Fashion designer (Lamu - Kenya)
I attended Monia’s mobile photography workshop expecting to get a few technical hints when using a smartphone for personal memories. But, most excitingly and without exaggeration, I left with a new ways of seeing the world and a renewed desire to capture its beauty and emotion. While learning simple skills on how to enhance images and correct errors, I also gained confidence in exploring my own visual language. The workshop was entertaining and stimulating. Monia proves to be a real artist at her trade: knowledgeable and talented as much as passionate, generous, honest and a great communicator. Thank you Monia for a beautiful workshop!
Silvia Ponte
World citizen, host (Lamu - Kenya)
Monia is well traveled and is at home everywhere. She has great social-personal skills and is an accomplished writer and photographer. All in all she is truly sophisticated-in the best sense- and is a great ambassador-as well as being dedicated to the completion of the task at hand. A very fine person.
Alphie McCourt
Writer, Speaker, Shower singer (New York - USA)
Tengo la suerte de conocer a Monia desde hace 2 años y a la hora de decir cosas buenas sobre ella no pararía. Es una mujer que transmite una felicidad tremenda y siempre está ahí (en persona o al otro lado del teléfono) para sacarte una sonrisa. Qué es fuerte y lucha por llevar la vida que quiere y que es fiel a sus valores. Que es muy trabajadora y perfeccionista, creativa y soñadora. Y que no necesita cambiar ninguna cosa de ella misma, solo valorarse todo lo que se merece, porque es estupenda.
Ainara Salazar
Paediatrician (Barcelona - Spain)
Monia is a very talented photographer with great people skills. I've had the pleasure to work with her on several occasions now, and I'm always happy not only with the result of her work but also with her professionalism. I'll definitely be hiring her again for future projects.
Johanna Endres Castillo
Interior Designer and Illustrator (London - UK)
Monia is an excellent creative professional.
I had the pleasure to collaborate with her on several projects - she invents, innovates and her determination is contagious.
She is strongly motivated on achieving her goals and brings positivity and passion to the people that she works with.
I would definitely recommend Monia. Her expertise in photography, foreign languages, social events and her interpersonal skills will be extremely appreciated in any working environment.
Alberto Ceccolini
Full Stack Software Engineer (London - UK)
I have had the opportunity to work with Monia a few years ago when Monia was leading and delivering sales training to our continental European sale teams in France and Italy. Monia was always a pleasure to work with, balanced and structured in her approach while flexible enough to adapt to the various levels of skills we had in the teams. In more recent times, Monia has been working with us as a photographer, providing the company with excellent corporate pictures. Monia is reliable, efficient and skilled. She knows how to adapt to different personalities and is always a pleasure to work with.
Melina Moussali
Global Head of Sales and Dealing Compliance (London - UK)
Monia is not only the best photographer I've worked with, she's the best one I've ever met. Her combination of passion and skill is a wonderful thing to witness, and her ability to put even the grumpiest clients at ease for a portrait was extremely useful to our
company. Her work ranges across many disciplines but we used her for some corporate office shots. The pictures she produced for us were superb - capturing the spirit and the essence of all the people here without losing that 'professional touch' that's so hard to get right in photos. She genuinely does have it all. People skills, a great approach, buckets of creativity and a really great 'final result' at the end of it. I'd recommend her to absolutely anyone and look forward to working with her again.
Stewart Gregory
Senior Product Manager at StepStone (London - UK)
Monia is a really talented and professional photographer, really creative and fun to work with. She has the ability of telling you a story with her photographs, her artistic work is outstanding. She helped me with my Linkedin profile photo and I am really happy with the result, I really recommend her services.
Almira Bartolomé
European Market Development Manager at Immudex, DVM, PhD, MBA (Spain, Denmark)
Monia, who I've known for many years now as both a student of languages and literature during my courses at the University of Parma, and professionally, as I've followed with interest her career in photography. She was an exceptional student as she is photographer, and it doesn't surprise me how she been able to recognise and develop her skills to the fullest - one of the qualities I noticed early on. Independent, ambitious, talented and informed, passionate and professional about her calling.
Glen Michael Alessi
Researcher / Assistant Professor in EFL, ESP, Discourse Analysis (Parma - Italy)
We were lucky enough to welcome Monia to our Organisation, Glad's House, in 2012.
Monia made all the staff and the children and young people we support totally comfortable in her presence. The photos she produced were truly wonderful and captured the work and the spirit of the organisation incredibly well.
We would welcome her back again and again!
Vicky Ferguson
Global Safeguarding Lead at Chance for Childhood (UK, Kenya)
Ha sido mi primer workshop de fotografía y estoy muy contenta. Además de dar un paseo por la historia de la fotografía, hemos visto trucos sencillos que pueden hacer un gran cambio en mis fotos. Cosas que muchas veces, por no saber, han estropeado fotos que me gustaban mucho y no he utilizado o guardado finalmente.
Gracias Monia por transmitir tu amor y pasión por lo que haces, y compartirlo con nosotros. Al salir de tu workshop dan ganas de ponerse a viajar por el mundo y tener ese maravilloso recuerdo que son las fotografías. Y de tirarse horas viendo fotos y apreciando detalles que antes, no hubiera apreciado.
Angela Mariottini Montes
Photography workshop participant (Spain, Kenya)
En cada foto capta el alma de las personas con una sensibilidad exquisita. Me encanta.
Irene Gonzáles Ruiz
(Granada - Spain)
A picture's ability to speak beyond its visual component is a rarity. But when one rises to the challenge, the impact is powerful. It drove me to acquire one of Monia's portraits, called "Cecilia", in which the light, the contrasts and the setting all combined to transcend the image of a poor vulnerable African woman in a hut into a proud and regal figure. Quite remarkable!
Jean-Christophe Blanc
Retired professional. Restless creative mind (London - UK)
Mirando sus retratos llegas a traspasar la imagen y a intuir el interior de la persona retratada. Captan la esencia y el alma, permitiéndote conocer un poco de la persona.
Fue un regalo de cumpleaños. Nunca antes había sido retratada por una fotógrafa profesional. La sesión fue relajada y distendida. Ella te habla de otras cosas y te transmite su risa contagiosa. Poco a poco empiezas a relajarte y a olvidarte de que estás frente a una cámara. Empiezas a dejar de posar y te dejas fluir tal como eres mientras vais charlando. Parece que ha ocurrido sin más, pero es un trabajo previo al “disparo” que ella hace a la perfección, de forma consciente y que consigue justo aquello que tienen de especial sus retratos.
Al principio cuando vi las fotos me veía rara, acostumbradas a vernos a nosotras mismas a través de la irrealidad de filtros y poses. Me quedé un rato mirándome a los ojos y me reconocí en esa mirada, pude ver mi interior a través de mis ojos y mi sonrisa. Entonces lo entendí todo.
Helena Navarro Gonzáles
Paediatrician (Spain, Kenya)
I was very impressed by Monia's blend of professionalism and relaxed friendliness...her air of being very secure in her own skills and yet able to be flexible in achieving the kind of looks I wanted was very reassuring and helped me to relax and actually enjoy having the photoshoot! Everyone loved the photos and overall it was a positive, professional and pleasurable experience! I would totally recommend Monia for any photographic requirements and I would definitely use her again for mine! Peace and love!
Sister Tibebwa
Environmental, community activist and spiritual healer (Kenya)
I genuinely don't even know where to begin. Monia is honestly amazing!
We couldn't wish for a better photographer. So professional and fun to have around on this small piece of paradise (Lamu Island).
Always smiling, never obtrusive and enjoying along with us… she captured natural moments and it's unbelievable how she manages to get so many fantastic shot on her own.
The photos tell the story of our romantic lockdown that couldn’t be better explained than with these breath-taking pictures.
We will treasure our photos for ever! thank you for blessing us with your amazing pics which speak million of our journey here in Lamu.
Monia asante sana! thank you so much! grazie mille!
Rossella Tamborrini
Studentessa (Kenya - Italy)
Portfolio
Acqua di Parma
Nakuna Helsinki
FOOD & HOSPITALITY
Food
Prince of Peckham
Queen of the South
INTERIOR & HOSPITALITY
Kasbah
Kinooni House
Nyumba Poa
Natural Lamu SPA
Apartment in Belsize Park
Nakuna Helsinki
FOOD & HOSPITALITY
Food
Prince of Peckham
Queen of the South
INTERIOR & HOSPITALITY
Kasbah
Kinooni House
Nyumba Poa
Natural Lamu SPA
Apartment in Belsize Park
