Fine-art photographer Sam Glorioso is creating images which tell stories of Mallorca and take people on a whole new journey across the island and immerse them in a totally fresh experience. Sam is half Danish and half Italian and comes from a very artistic family background of photographers and artists. Having spent the best part of 20 years studying, working and living in London, she moved to Mallorca to embark on a new artistic adventure three years ago.
She describes herself as: “A fine-art photographer and digital artist whose work moves between memory, imagination, and the cinematic space in between. Drawing on a foundation in traditional photography and contemporary digital techniques, she creates imagery that feels both familiar and otherworldly - quiet, atmospheric scenes that invite reflection and emotional resonance.”
Influenced by artists such as Edward Hopper, her work blends stillness, mood, and subtle storytelling into images that feel like fragments of a half-remembered dream. Her debut photography book, Snow in My Soul, presents this visual language through a meditative exploration of winter and introspection. “I’ve always been an artist but more recently I’ve been branching out into photography as my main profession,” she told the Bulletin.
“I think moving to Mallorca has given me the next step towards moving my internal practice of photography into the public eye. I recently published a book of one of my collections and I’m currently working on my Mallorca collection as well - which is the next step that could be a second book or collaborations with existing artists; I’m open to the various different steps,” she said. “Here in Mallorca I’m setting myself up as a fine-art photographer and I’m already collaborating with a number of hotels and I would love to eventually host some exhibitions on the island. I’m in talks with some galleries, so it’s a work in progress,” she said.
But why Mallorca; what brought her here? “I think change is obviously always good for any artist. But when it comes to Mallorca, I think the stillness, the cinematic landscapes for me are great. I see everything I want to capture here in an effortless way. I don’t have to go up to the Scottish Highlands or specific spaces to seek solitude as I used to in the UK. It’s all here in one place.
“My work is very artistic. I’m very much fuelled and inspired by artists like Edward Hopper or Andrew Wyeth. I’m looking for the eerie, the stillness of the composition where images tell a story. There’s a lot of introspection. It’s not just a pretty picture, there’s a story behind each image and my aim is to capture images which are almost dreamlike, that space between reality and dream. And Mallorca is the perfect landscape for it, especially in the winter.
“Obviously the light is much stronger in the summer; there are many more people and the energy is different. But I’m more interested in the dramatic changes in the weather, the snow, and the quiet solitude which, contrary to what some people may think., Mallorca has a lot of. You’ve got to go out and find it,” Sam, who is based in Palma, explained. “I don’t have a particular message to convey though my work, I think of it more as quiet meditation. I want people to look at a picture and question whether it’s a previous experience. Are they looking at something familiar, it perhaps can be a sense of déjà vu?
“That stillness and calm can be found during the busy summer months as well. It can be up in the mountains or early in the morning. It’s about finding the right space at the right time. Even the beaches, it can be at sunset or sunrise; Mallorca is the perfect place to work. Sometimes I have a preconceived idea of what I want to create but obviously you have to work the elements and I love the adversity in the weather here. I like bad weather, stormy weather, I like a bit of drama unfolding before me. So if there is some bad weather on the horizon, then I would plan for that. Otherwise, I will go with the flow,” she said.
“And that’s why I’m concentrating on fine-art photography because I found with the more traditional approach, more often than not, you’re copying work or styles. It’s a very conventional business. Some of my family members have had photographic studios for years. My aunt and uncle have a photographic business in Italy and I grew up with that - you know, weddings and baptisms. Which is beautiful, it’s when people and families come together and there’s a real skill behind photographing and capturing those special moments, but as an artist and having been a writer as well, for me a picture has to have layers behind it. It needs to have the specific element I’m looking for,” Sam explained. And while Sam travelled all over the UK and Europe for the images in her first book, her focus is very much now trained on Mallorca.
“This is where I want to cement myself as a fine-art photographer, perhaps embark on more collaborations, connect more, and like I said, exhibit. But I need to work on getting myself and my work out there more and let my pictures tell their stories. Prior to moving to Mallorca I had been to the island a couple of times. But as we came out of Covid, people were looking for new opportunities, knowing that they could pretty much work from anywhere, and I thought Mallorca was an amazing place. The island life and the perfect place to embark on a new career.
“There’s something fresh you feel here in Mallorca. Perhaps it’s the sense of opportunity, the energy. There’s a constant wave of new people coming from different countries. Some people stay a little, some stay longer. The expat community is always growing and as an artist you can sense that and be inspired by it. Hence why so many artists in all fields have come to the island over the decades.
“Beauty is always around you in Mallorca, so it’s such an inspirational place to be,” Sam said.
“And of course there is social media, which has its pros and cons for photographers. It’s definitely accelerated some people’s careers, it’s now much easier to get your work out there. But on the other hand its taken some of the charm out of being a professional photographer who has studied and trained. Everyone can do it today, everyone’s a photographer, or at least they think they are.
“But the professionals have that extra angle and we have our signatures. And now we have AI, which I don’t see as a threat. We always have to embrace change and what there is in front of us and make the best of it. I remember working with film before the digital age and, yes, to a certain extent I miss the old film era. Developing your work was much more complicated and risky although more exciting: it was a whole process. Then the digital era came along and changed all that, but things develop and move on. Just look at how the film industry evolved from silent to talking. At first people though it was the end of cinema. So, AI has to be worked with, there’s no point trying to fight it and I think if it is used correctly, it can make a positive difference. And providing there is a clear directive focus behind it, we’re not going to be taken over by machines.” Sam said. For more information: www.samglorioso.com