A Conversation with Photographer Diego Campomar

Born in Uruguay and (currently) based in Melbourne, Diego Campomar shot our most recent IRVRSBL campaign. We are obsessed with his highly staged, 90s inspired photography style.  We spoke to him recently about his creative influences and current inspirations.

GG: Hi Diego, tell us a bit about yourself!

DC: I'm quite obsessive and critical of my work, I also have a strong opinion about everything. I'm from Uruguay, I love surfing, in fact, it was the only thing we did with my mates when we were teenagers, it was fun just surfing, the ocean, the beach and friends, nothing mattered. I am very curious to be honest, I read a bit of everything, and I like to experiment, I was always attracted to fashion and photography, but I never took it seriously. I remember finishing high school and having to choose what to study… I looked into a degree in photography at the Uruguayan art university but when I saw that it was 5 years of studies I said no, I started studying philosophy that was just 4 years and obviously I didn't finish it...

GG: What's your star sign?

DC: Gemini, I have the angel and the evil and everything at the same time.

GG: What has been your most memorable shoot?

DC: I like to feel that my most exciting session will be my next project, I use it to stay focused. But I remember in my first year as a photographer, I collaborated with the Pablo Gimenez design school and H&M on a capsule collection designed by Jeremy Scott that was supposed to be a local campaign, but the photographs ended up on Moschino's Instagram.  It was crazy, everyone wrote to me and I was in another country shooting an editorial. I remember being told my photos were on Moschino's Instagram, my cell phone was blowing up. I remember that I was a little stressed that day; we were a team of a little more than 30 people, more than 6 models, influencers, a big team of art, production, makeup and I had just started shooting with no experience.

GG: Which photographers do you admire?

DC:  There are many photographers that I admire, I feel that each photographer has something unique and special that I can learn from. I cannot deny that I am very inspired by Steven Meisel's point of view of fashion; his extremely complex productions, and his particular point of view just blows my mind. I can also mention Luis Sanchis with his incredible lighting schemes that take my mind directly to a surreal world, Mario Testino and his ability to portray celebrities,  Nick Knight and the concepts he develops. I love everything he was developing in the late 90s and early 00s and his collaborations with John Galliano are next level. To be honest, I could be talking for hours about photographers.  Currently I feel that my generation is full of incredible photographers who are doing amazing projects as well.

GG: What's inspiring you right now?

DC: I have many inspirations which change all the time.  Music is a big inspiration for me, I have been listening to the Moby album Play all week.  I am quite a David Lynch fan, I also like other directors like Sam Mendes and Kubrick every time I see a movie by any of them my mind lights up.  American Beauty is that type of movie that I try to see once in a while so as not to get bored because it is a work of art, as with Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin there is always a space for them

GG: How has your time in Australia inspired your photography?

DC:  It made me much darker.   I live in Melbourne, it is a very dark city it reminds me in some way of my time in London maybe because of the weather, but it also inspires me how multicultural Melbourne is, it was my first approach with this part of the world I love it

More of Diego's work is viewable on his website here