STUDIO JOOF
Ida Joof is a fashion and portrait photographer from Somerset, now based in London. Her work is rooted in visual storytelling and intentional representation, with a strong focus on how identity, presence and dignity are shaped through image making.
While her practice is deeply informed by her Gambian and British heritage, her portraits extend beyond a single narrative. She centres people with care, allowing space for individuality rather than type, and approaches each subject without urgency or spectacle.
We are proud to introduce Ida Joof as our eleventh guest.
A photographer whose work shows that clarity and restraint can be just as powerful as scale.
One detail runs quietly through everything she makes.
Her work is largely shot on an iPhone...
Way of working
Ida’s photography sits somewhere between fashion and documentary. The images are styled and intentional, but never overproduced. There is a sense of ease in how people appear in front of her camera.
There is often a lot of space in her frames. Space around the body. Space around the subject. This gives room for presence rather than performance.
B&W Collection
Greyscale
Ida categorizes her photography into two main bodies: B&W and colour. The greyscale work allows her to strip an image back to its essentials, focusing on form, posture and presence before context or environment come into play.
Below, we focus on her black and white work, where attention naturally shifts to the body and the gesture.
Her black and white portraits are reduced to their core. Without colour, attention moves to expression, light and composition.
The images feel calm and steady. Subjects are not pushed into a narrative or framed as symbols. They are allowed to simply exist within the frame.
Coloured Collection
RGB/CMYK
The colour body keeps the same intent, but opens up more room for atmosphere and storytelling. Colour becomes part of the structure, not just an aesthetic choice. Backgrounds, light and tone help set the emotional temperature of the image.
Some work feels quiet and grounded in place. Other images are more conceptual, where colour and composition do a lot of the talking. Fashion can be present, but it never overrules the person or the idea behind the frame.
Relevance
Taken together, Ida Joof’s greyscale and colour work show a practice driven less by format and more by intention. Whether an image is stripped back or layered, direct or constructed, the focus remains consistent.
It is always about how a person is held in the image.
How space is used.
How meaning is built without forcing it.
That approach strongly resonates with how we think about Zongoville. Not as a brand built on surface aesthetics, but as a space where identity, memory and presence are carried rather than styled.
This shared sensibility is what makes Ida’s work feel at home here.
Discover more
This post only shows a part of Ida Joof’s practice.
There is more work, more layering and more context than we can share here.
To explore her full body of work, visit her website.
For new projects, ongoing series and updates, follow her on social.
→ idajoof.com
→ IG: studio.joof
