Marina Mónaco: A Leap Of Curiosity

Marina Mónaco: My forever favorite digital camera is my Canon 5D Mark III. I’ve had it for more than seven – maybe eight – years. A long time, and it’s still alive! I don’t know how. I’ve done so much with it.

Right now, the digital world is developing so fast that when I try out the newest digital cameras, I hate them. They just look so fake to me.

My favorite analog camera… holy shit, I have so many! I don’t know if it’s the favorite, but I love my Canon AE-1. It’s a 100€ camera, and I’ve had it for a long, long time – 10 years – and it’s just so great.

I would upgrade to a Contax G2 or something fancier, but I can take the AE-1 so easily with me to a concert, throw it in my bag, and it’s still alive. For the kind of photos I take, I need a camera I can rely on. And that’s that.

I visited Berlin in 2019 and immediately felt a strange connection to it. I felt nostalgic, like something was shifting every time I walked through the streets or took the train. There’s something here that I find incredibly attractive, even though it’s not traditionally beautiful. The city has this ugliness, this dark energy to it.

At the time, I was studying cinematography in Buenos Aires and had just started photographing youth culture there. Then the pandemic happened, and one of my biggest dreams – a kind of utopian dream – was to move to Europe. I didn’t have a passport, no money, and no idea how I could make it happen. But then I saw an open call for an exchange program – right in the middle of the pandemic. I applied, and suddenly, my dream became a reality.

During my time in the south of Germany, I met these 19-year-old kids who were so strange and cool to me. I can see how that experience directly influenced my work. Before Stuttgart, my photography was full of innocence and dreamy colors. But after a few months in Germany, my photos shifted to black and white and became grainy – especially once I eventually moved to Berlin.

I started going to local concerts. I was the only Argentinian there, but they became my playground. As a photographer, I had an excuse to explore. I’d ask if I could go backstage to take some pictures – and it worked. That was amazing! It felt like I was living in the ’70s or ’80s.

I find a lot of inspiration in that era – not just in the music, but also in how photographers portrayed underground scenes in Germany, the UK, and the US. My work became a conversation between the past, present, and future.

After some time, people started getting curious about my work. But I was still just living my little dream – meeting cool people, visiting cool spaces and concerts. I wanted to show what was really going on in Berlin.

For me, it’s not just about the aesthetic – it also allows me to be more present. One of my best pictures shows two kids at a concert, just shouting at the stage. I was completely drunk and don’t remember any of it. Still, it became one of the most important photos in my work.

I really enjoy not knowing what I’m doing sometimes and just letting everything happen. Of course, aesthetics are cool and all, but for me, it’s more important to have something physical to remember.

I also love the idea that I might be the only one people trust to document what’s going on. In that sense, analog photography feels really special.

I like to call this side of me – ll the work I do with big brands – my alter ego. I’ve done a good job showing the world what I do, what I’m good at, and what I love doing. All these big brands and names who’ve seen my work understand what I’m about. To me, it’s a huge honor to be seen. And for their campaigns, they want the same kind of energy they recognize from my personal projects.

I realized my work has this soul when there’s no brand, no client, no money involved. I discovered that as soon as someone hires me, I struggle to create, because most of the time what they want is so pure and different from what I do.

My personal and commercial work exist somewhere between those two worlds. If you hire me, it’s because you don’t want something purely commercial. They let me shoot analog photos and use my voice – and I see that as a compliment.

I’m really proud of I Saw You in a Song. That was one of my biggest achievements. I grew up with social media and never imagined my pictures would be printed or that people would actually come to see them in person.

I don’t know how long I’ll be staying here in Berlin. Moving here made me realize that your whole life can change in an instant. I kind of want to go back to that feeling of seeing everything with fresh eyes.

I even understand German now, so that’s why I’m thinking about moving to another city – at least for half a year. My dream is to go to New York or London, but right now, it’s the worst time to move to either of those.

Until now, all the money I’ve earned from commissions has gone directly into my personal projects. Sometimes I don’t even check my bank account – maybe I should do that more often.

I’m pretty niche, so I don’t get that many big commissions. I work in waves – when I feel inspired, I hold on to it. I might do three or four shoots in a week, then take a break. It’s a cycle; I’m not creating all the time because that would be too much for me.

I always carry a camera with me – whether I’m at concerts or just capturing daily life. Balancing everything is pretty easy that way. Of course, when I have a commission, it gets all my attention. Other times, I miss creating more for my personal work.

I’m not sure if I have a specific message – it’s really all about intuition. Like I said, I’ve had my 100€ camera for eight years now, and it’s still going strong. That’s one of the perks of coming from Argentina – if I wanted a new camera there, I’d have to pay three times the price compared to Germany. Growing up with those broken dreams and no money forced me to figure things out on my own. Now I finally have what I needed.

At the Film Academy, people were incredibly talented and great with technical skills, but sometimes I’d watch the final film and feel it was soulless, even though it was technically perfect. With my work, it can’t be like that – I want it to always have soul.

This was absolutely a coincidence. The brand’s team – and actually, Troye is their creative director! – called me for this job and asked me to send over some model options. I had already worked with Nele before; they’re amazing.

To be honest, I don’t think about it that much. But I noticed how people responded to the campaign—they felt seen. So, I think it’s one of the best commissions I’ve ever done conceptually. I was free to do whatever I wanted, and that’s exactly what we did with Nele and Mathilda. I was so happy they chose them instead of a “perfect,” heterosexual couple.