Daniel Cilia has pursued photography since the age of thirteen. Self-taught, he maintains that photography is shaped not by equipment but by light, which defines form and perception. His first major exhibition was at the Museum of Fine Arts, Valletta, in 1986. He lectured photography at the College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Oslo (1989), and headed the photography department at the Art Institute of Florence, Lorenzo de’ Medici (1990-95). Cilia specialises in editorial photographic design, with more than 160 photographic books on the Maltese Islands to his credit.