About me

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My name is Stefano Balma, I was born and raised in Turin in 1988, and I have been living in Genoa for a few years now. I have always nurtured a deep passion for art, which I developed from a young age thanks to my parents: my father, an amateur painter, and my mother, a pastry chef with a passion for opera and literature.

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As a child, I loved drawing and painting, but during my teenage years, music became the focus of my life, leading me to sing in a heavy metal band, with which I recorded albums and toured across Europe.

Sports have also been a great passion of mine. I practiced powerlifting for 12 years, competing at national and international levels, even representing Italy in a European championship.

Sports taught me fundamental values such as perseverance and patience, qualities that have influenced every aspect of my life.

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I have always been an avid reader, especially of philosophy and spirituality.

At the age of 30, I became interested in Buddhism, starting to practice mindfulness meditation and participating in retreats in natural settings.

This practice has profoundly influenced my approach to life and art.

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Photography entered my life through the travels  with my wife; the desire to share the wonders of the world drove me to explore this form of expression, which soon became a passion.

Composition, the pursuit of the perfect moment, and post-production made me fall in love with this art, which combines artistic expression with a deep connection to nature.

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Over the years, photography and travel have merged into a unique experience, leading me to seek out extraordinary places capable of evoking emotions and concepts close to my heart, such as wonder, silence, and the changing of things.

For me, it is through silence (in a metaphorical sense) that nature tells its stories: you can hear them in the whisper of the wind, find them in the flow of water, and see them in the shapes of rocks.

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My photographs rarely include human figures, as I associate human presence with the mind's agitation, contrasting with the concept of "silence."

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Currently, the focus of my work is on water and its many forms, symbolizing life but also the climate crisis we are facing. Through its presence and absence, we can understand the concept of "impermanence," that is, the flow of all things: every moment we live is unique and unrepeatable.

With my photographs, I hope to raise awareness on these issues.

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Awards and collaborations

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My photographs have been awarded in numerous prestigious photography competitions, including the Grand Prix de la Photographie in Paris, ILPOTY, TIFA, APA, and IPA.

I am represented by the Cinque Rosso Arte gallery in Bologna, which manages the sale of some of my fine art paper prints, available in limited and numbered editions.

In 2023, I began collaborating with the FotoCorsi school as a tutor for their photography trips, guiding passionate photographers to discover unique and photogenic locations such as Greenland and the island of Madeira.