interview: allegra messina

For this assignment, I have chosen to interview my sister, Allegra Messina. Allegra is the owner of MessinaPhotos, and started by taking photos of me while she was experimenting with a camera. From there, she started a photography page on Instagram, started taking senior portraits for high school students, and eventually got booked for bigger paid work for magazines. Allegra has worked with many larger names including Lili Reinheart, Pacsun, Warner Music and Paper Magazine.

Q: What made you want to do photography in the first place?

A: “I think it was the intrigue of wanting to see people in different spaces and wanting them to feel comfortable in front of a camera. I had not always been happy looking at myself when I looked at images, so I wanted to flip my perspective and make people comfortable with who they really are.”

Q: How did you feel when you found out you had your first paid work gig?

A: “it was the most exciting thing! I had been working for a while without getting paid to work up my portfolio, but it was really realizing that someone liked my work enough that they wanted to pay for it; it was just the coolest feeling.”

Q: What do you see yourself working on in the next couple months?

A: “I really want to make a difference through my work. I want to make a social impact. So, still figuring it out but not just taking pictures of typical models, I want to cover everyone. That’s what photography is all about, right?”

Allegra continues to impress people with her amazing work. I think that her message is really important to keep in mind. I love taking photos to keep them as memories of what I have done but Allegra is doing more than just that; she is enhancing the way people think and the way society is moving.

image from messinaphotos.format.com/about