JURY
Rui Palha
Photographer, Lisbon
Rui Palha is a Portuguese photographer and one of the most widely recognised voices in contemporary street photography, known for his black‑and‑white images that portray Lisbon with a language suspended between reality and poetry. He approached photography at a very young age and, after a long professional experience in other fields, decided to devote himself fully to street photography, which for him is above all a way of living and relating to people and to the city.
In his photographs, light, shadows and urban architecture become the stage for small human stories: faces, gestures and silhouettes emerge from a often melancholic Lisbon made of alleys, squares, rain and reflections, where every passer‑by is a protagonist for a brief moment. His book “Street Photography” received in 2011 the “Best Work of Photography” award from the Portuguese Society of Authors (SPA), and his work has often been cited by international blogs and magazines as a key reference in street photography.
He has exhibited in numerous festivals and galleries, has long collaborated with Leica by leading workshops and masterclasses dedicated to black and white, and serves on the jury of prestigious international contests, including awards specifically devoted to street photography. Many photographers regard him as a point of reference for his ability to combine strong composition, empathy and a deep respect for the dignity of the people he photographs.
Pau Buscató
Photographer, Barcelona
To the casual passerby in London, New York, or Barcelona, Pau Buscató is often just a guy standing suspiciously still on a street corner, hoping for a pigeon to briefly align with a stray beam of bouncing light.
Originally trained in architecture, Pau realized around 2012 that buildings rarely do anything funny, so he shifted his focus entirely to photographing the absurdities happening around them instead.
After many years in Norway, the Barcelona-born photographer returned home to continue his journey into candid, creative (street) photography, seeking out the city’s fleeting, unscripted moments.
His work, which aims to encapsulate the playful beauty of everyday life, has earned him international recognition, including features in acclaimed photography festivals, books, and various publications.
Over the past nine years, Pau has also shared his passion through street photography workshops, where his teaching method mirrors his own photographic style: intuitive, exploratory, and deeply personal.
Buscató’s approach is rooted in the art of the unplanned. He steps into the city with no itinerary, allowing its natural pulse to dictate his direction. To him, the absence of a plan is the ultimate strategy, and a way to “give chance a chance” and leave room for poetic accidents.
Marked by a distinctive blend of spontaneity and intention, his photographs show a genuine interest in the overlooked and the undervalued, demonstrating that the simplest subjects, when viewed with curiosity and fresh eyes, can reveal the extraordinary moments hiding in plain sight.
Barbara Di Maio
Photographer, Salerno
Barbara Di Maio is a photographer from Southern Italy who, after a long career as a conference interpreter and translator, gradually chose to devote more and more of her time to photography. Her training includes studies at the International Center of Photography in New York, where she focused on technique, portrait and fashion photography, and a Master’s in Photojournalism and Reportage in Rome, which brought her decisively closer to documentary work.
For about ten years she has concentrated her research mainly on anthropological and social photography, documenting religious rituals, folk traditions and local cultures, starting from Campania and then widening her gaze to other regions of Italy. In her projects, black and white emphasises the emotional intensity of faces and gestures, conveying both the collective and intimate dimension of the moments she observes. Barbara experiences photography as a form of responsibility towards collective memory: a way to preserve, through images, stories, practices and identities that risk being forgotten.
Liliana Ranalletta
Photographer, Rome
Liliana Ranalletta is a photographer from Rome with a degree in Italian Literature, who studied photography in Rome with photographers and teachers such as Dario Coletti, Augusto Pieroni, Dario De Dominicis and Claudio Palmisano. A street photographer by vocation, before committing herself fully to street photography she explored different genres – from macro photography to social photography – refining a gaze that pays close attention to details and human relationships.
At the core of her research lies a particular interest in the relationship between metropolitan spaces, architecture and the people who inhabit them, in images where curiosity, empathy and a strong sense of timing play a key role. In recent years she has received numerous awards in international competitions and has published several books, including “The fabulous destiny of Dainaly”, “I sogni li spendo per strada” and “La domenica mattina”, which confirm her as one of the most interesting voices in contemporary Italian street photography.
Mario Mencacci
Photographer and architect, Pontedera
Mario Mencacci was born in Pontedera (Pisa), where he lives and works as an architect. He approached photography in the 1980s and over time developed a personal visual language in which lines, colours and symmetry play a central role. In street photography he mainly looks for curious and poetic details, those small elements that often escape a distracted gaze, turning the urban scene into a game of visual echoes and relationships.
His images have been selected in numerous international competitions, published in magazines and photography‑related websites, and presented in exhibitions and collective projects. He is also one of the organisers of the Pisa Street Photography International Festival.
Arez Prod
Photographer, Livorno
Arez Prod is a photographer from Livorno, born in 1982, who spent twenty‑five years working as a fishmonger before giving more space to his creative side through hip‑hop and street art. In 2017 he became passionate about street photography and since then he always carries a camera with him when he is not working, searching for extraordinary moments within ordinary everyday life.
His images bring together street culture, urban environments and the artistic influences he has absorbed over time, with the declared aim of “putting himself into photography”, telling the story of what shaped him and of the character that emerged from it. In 2022 he founded, together with Mario Mencacci, the Pisa Street Photography International Festival, making a significant contribution to the Italian street photography scene.
Claudio Palmisano
Photographer and post‑production specialist, Rome
Claudio Palmisano is a Rome‑based photographer specialised in digital photography and post‑production, fields in which he has become a reference point for international photojournalism. For many years he ran a printing and post‑production studio in Rome, working with major agencies and photographers whose images have appeared in magazines such as National Geographic, TIME, The New York Times and many other outlets.
As an author, he has developed personal work mainly focused on the Mediterranean and underwater photography, producing projects on fin whales and marine life around Lampedusa, which have been exhibited in museums and exhibition spaces in Italy and abroad. He combines this with an intense teaching activity on visual culture and on editing and printing workflows.
Dario Coletti
Photographer and educator, Rome
Dario Coletti is a photographer from Rome who, since the 1980s, has been working on reportage and long‑term projects with a strong social focus, collaborating with newspapers, institutions and humanitarian organisations. His work explores territories, communities and rituals over extended periods of time, with particular attention to the Mediterranean and Sardinia, where he has produced several series that are now considered key references.
Alongside his authorial projects, he has long been deeply engaged in education, coordinating courses and schools of photojournalism and leading workshops dedicated to visual storytelling and visual anthropology.
Sonia Simbolo
Photographer, Rome
Sonia Simbolo was born in Rome in 1985, graduated in Literature and obtained a master’s degree in Counselling before discovering photography almost by chance in 2014. For several years photography coexisted with her main job, until in 2022 it became her full‑time occupation, with a particular focus on events and portrait work.
She ran a photography workshop for two years for young people with psychiatric disorders at the day centre “La fabbrica dei sogni”, which led to a collective exhibition within the mental‑health festival “Ro.Mens”. In 2022 she discovered street photography and began a more openly authorial path, studying with photographers such as Franco Fontana, Gustavo Minas, Susana Barbera and Stefano Mirabella and receiving numerous awards in national and international competitions. She is a member of the international collective “Women Street Photographers” and is one of the curators of the “StreetAvengers” page.
TheStreetRover (Gianluca De Dominici)
Writer and photography editor, Sicily
TheStreetRover is the project of Gianluca De Dominici, a Sicilian photographer and author who graduated in Photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania. Alongside his photographic practice, he has distinguished himself as an editor and writer on photography, collaborating with magazines and independent platforms and focusing more on authors’ work and photographic culture than on purely technical or gear‑related aspects.
He works as an editor for CITIES Magazine and writes about photography for several outlets, including Eyesopen, Two Italians Rascals and Effe 4.0, and is a regular guest and speaker at festivals and photography events. In recent years he has collaborated with festivals such as the Sanremo Street Photo Festival, the Photo Happening in Palermo, the Pisa Street Photo Festival and the Italian Street Photo Festival, and has served as a juror in various street photography contests, consolidating his role as a key figure in the reading and promotion of photographic projects.
Gallery
Snapshots capturing the vibrant spirit of Roma èfestival moments.
