BEFORE THE GAME is the name of the picture and it shows us the private moments of young sportsmen shortly before they are ready to go out on the field. Cennamo takes his photos calmly and without voyeurism. He doesn’t ask his models to strike a pose; he simply watches them, waiting for the perfect moment to press the button. His works are magical portraits of the moment—sensitive and inartificial, aesthetic and erotic.

The strength of Cennamo’s pictures is that they do not create an illusion, no trendy, polished high gloss happiness, which leaves nothing but a flat aftertaste. Instead of that they rather impress with their authenticy and their natural beauty. You can clearly say that Cennamo’s models—who by the way are all non-professional—meet at eye level with the photographer. BEFORE THE GAME is an impressive first work by a talented artist. We surely do hope for more to come.

Domenico Cennamo was born in Naples, Italy, and grew up in Rome. He started drawing at an early age and studied at the art college in Rome. Working as a booker in a model agency, he realized that he had his very own ideas about how to photograph the models— and without further ado he decided to become a photographer. His pictures were published worldwide in fashion magazines such as L’Officiel, Hommes, Pref mag, Mate and Zero.