elephant black and white photography, shallow depth of field, high contrast, by Francesco Merlini

Scrapbook A photography project by Francesco Merlini

In Scrapbook, Francesco Merlini introduces us to a world of harsh and disturbing reality. A reality made of ordinary and mysterious situations, confronting us to cityscapes, black and white pictures of people and desolate natural environment. With the same provocative aesthetic and visceral strengh Merlini explore the themes of sexuality, death and the moral decay of society.

“For me, taking pictures has always been a way to collect visual notes about reality and particularly about my perception of that. Reality and photographer’s emotional and visual fund mould together in order to create a personal interpretation, according to my belief that photography’s capacity lies in its evocative power more than its narrative factor. My works have focused on different aspects and stories but I’ve always accomplished them as diaries imbued with a fascination that has made me focus mainly on the themes of death, sexuality and formal and moral decay in our society.” – Francesco Merlini

Call for entries

fashion fine art studio portrait of woman by Ivana Sunjic
© Ivana Sunjic
2025 Portrait AWARD

Win $2700 Cash Awards & International Exposure

Can you tell a story with a single glance? – in May, we invite all photographers to share portraits that narrate compelling tales, whether captured in the controlled environment of a studio, the vibrant chaos of the street, or the rich landscapes of travel.

  • Win $2700 in Cash Prizes
  • International Exhibition
  • +870k Instagram Feature
  • Free Online Portfolio

Recent Articles

More Articles

Privacy Overview
The Independent Photographer

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website or helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.