Donna DeMari is an American born photographer who began her career in Milan, Italy. Self-taught, she bought her first camera at the age of eighteen after signing up for a course in photojournalism at the University of Maryland. Instead of pursuing journalism, however, she spontaneously moved to NYC upon recognizing her immediate love of photography. Inspired by Sarah Moon, she took her first trip to Milan at nineteen, where she was introduced to Olivieri Toscani who encouraged her to pursue her passion for fashion photography. DeMari spent several more years in Manhattan and then made a more permanent move to Europe. She would then spend over fifteen years living and working between Milan, Paris and London. DeMari began working straight away for such prestigious magazines such as Italian Vogue, French Marie Claire, British Elle, Paris L’Officiel, Australian, German and British Vogue. Other clients included Neiman Marcus, Natori, Laura Ashley, Macy’s, Margaret Howell, WWD among many others. During these years she traveled the globe working in such countries as Thailand, Sri Lanka, Australia, Japan, Morocco and all of Europe. She has photographed many well known persons including Kate Moss, Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Carla Bruni. Returning to New York, she became the first woman to shoot the "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition," shooting in Bali and Hong Kong in 1995 and Costa Rico in 1996. She was featured in the ABC television special, “The Making of the Swimsuit Edition,” and was the focus of a special segment on VH1 Fashion Television, which explored her views as a female fashion photographer. At that time, there were very few women photographers. DeMari has also been photographing horses for more than two decades, a love affair that began very early in life. More than 12 years ago, Ralph Lauren discovered her equine photographs and they have been decorating the walls of Ralph Lauren stores around the world ever since, in every country from France to Korea. Her life-sized photographs have appeared in the windows of Ralph Lauren’s Flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York, as well as Beverly Hills and the Hampton stores. DeMari has continued to focus on photographing horses, bringing her fashion aesthetic and intimate style to her equine subjects. DeMari has shown her work in numerous exhibits and published six books of photographs, including "Luke and Forrest, My Saviors, My Salvation," her written and visual retrospective on the life of her labrador retrievers. Spanning the last 40 years, DeMari’s photographic work and accolades included extensive fashion and equine editorials, a documentary, “The Way of the Horse,” by Bettina Drummond, short fashion films, extensive trips to India resulting in 2 documentaries and her book “ Breaking Dust,“ which is currently in progress, as well as private commissions, gallery shows and fine art sales. Most recently, her equine photography was exhibited and honored throughout the months of June and July in Paris and Monte Carlo. This curated event, called HORSES 2025, focused around DeMari’s work and included a large scale exhibition at the Longine’s Global Champions Tour Eiffel, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This event is the most distinguished and notable showjumping event worldwide. Her fashion and equine photography is represented by 1905 Contemporary, a New York City based fine art gallery.