Born to Franco-Italian parents in a palatial house on the banks of lake Naivasha in Kenya, Mirella Ricciardi had an idyllic upbringing with her brother and sister Oria who later married the African anthropologist, Ian Douglas-Hamilton. A photographer from her teens she quickly became a highly acclaimed magazine photographer, much in demand from anything from war reporting to fashion photography. The great critical success of her career was VANISHING AMAZON, a worldwide bestseller.
