When speaking to Insider, Galimberti wanted to make clear that he had no creative direction when it came to the products in the holiday campaign.
He said arrived on the Paris set in October for the shoot with his assistant and his agent, and he was greeted by around 25 staff members from Balenciaga.
"Everything was basically already made," he said. "I applied my documentary eye to the scene."
"I'm not an expert of fashion, so when they told me that the entire collection was punk inspiration, I take it for, like, 'OK, it's punk,'" he said.
"I personally thought that maybe those bags were ugly, but that's the only thing I could say," Galimberti added.
"There were 25 people working," he said of Balenciaga's presence at the shoot. "I trust these people that they know what to do. They know what their job is."
After the campaign came out, Galimberti immediately received backlash, and the photographer said he thinks people blamed him for the shoot's content in part because of how vague Balenciaga's initial statement was. He was also frustrated people initially connected him to the spring 2023 campaign, which he said he had nothing to do with.
Galimberti went on to say he's received thousands of hate messages and death threats on Instagram in the wake of the controversy, and his phone number was leaked on Twitter, which led someone to call him threateningly in the middle of the night.
The photog also said he has lost out on work opportunities as a result of the Balenciaga campaign. An exhibition of his work that was supposed to start on December 7 has been canceled, and an Italian musician he was going to photograph severed ties with him.
Galimberti told Insider he is struggling with what his work with Balenciaga means for the legacy of "Toy Stories."
"I sold my idea to the industry that created a scandal, and somehow the fact that they used my idea with their kids and their product, it seems like it has destroyed my entire project," he said.