“In 2011, I traveled to India for the first time. Within 24 hours, I had fallen hard for this charming, chaotic, complicated country. A land so enchanting and unpredictable it both soothes and exhilarates the soul simultaneously.
India is a mesmerizing jumble of the inspiring, the beautiful, the unusual, the heartbreaking and the divine. It gets under your skin and into your heart.
It is my hope that these photographs taken over the last nine years will successfully convey all of the above.
I have enjoyed a long and successful career as a fashion photographer but I have never forgotten that I started taking photographs when I was just a young student of journalism. Thankfully, India affords me the luxury of returning to my roots.”
Donna DeMari
BIOGRAPHY
International fashion photographer, Donna DeMari, the first woman to photograph Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition, has found success photographing her greatest passions - fashion and horses.
DeMari is an American born photographer, self taught, who began hercareer in New York City. Very soon after she would make a permanent move to Europe where she soon began to shoot for such prestigious magazines asItalian Vogue, French Marie Claire, British Elle, British Bride’s, French L’Official and German,Australian and British Vogue.
She spent over fifteen years living and working between Milan, Paris and London. During these years she traveled the world on location and working with such celebrities as Tyra Banks, Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista.
DeMari has also been photographing horses for over two decades. It was during her years living in Paris that she began photographing horses simply for her own pleasure. One off images shot on single rolls of film that one day would change her life.
Almost ten years ago, Ralph Lauren discovered her equine photographs and they have been decorating their stores in almost every country in the world. Her equine images have appeared life-sized in the windows of Ralph Lauren’s Flagship store on Madison Ave in NYC as well as the windows of Beverly Hills and the Hampton stores.
Back living in the States, DeMari began working for such clients as Neiman Marcus, Anthropologie , Natori and WWD.
DeMari has shown her work in numerous exhibitions and published six books, including “Eros and Equus” and “Heartbeat for Horses” by Willowcreek Press with celebrated author, Laura Chester.
She was commissioned by Anthropologie to kickoff their creative online site “The Anthropologist” with her inspirational tribute to her beloved labrador retrievers, Luke and Forrest. She soon published a written and photographic retrospective of their lives titled “Luke and Forrest, My Saviors, My Salvation”by Willowcreek Press. Her book won a prestigious IPPY Gold Medal Award forOutstanding Book of the Year in 2013.
DeMari has been featured on ABC and VH1 television and was the subject ofan episode of the TV series Equestrian Life “For the Love of Horses”.
Her travels to India over the last nine years have a prominent place in her heart and have resulted in her return to documentary photography as well as her continued work in fashion and equine.
DeMari resides in the Berkshire Mts, upstate New York with her lab golden Finn.
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Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition, has found success photographing her greatest passion
Donna DeMari
P.O. 125 Austerlitz, NY 12017
donnademari3@gmail.com