WHIMSICAL WONDE R
“Valet,” ‘Gray Malin at the Parker’ collection
by Gray Malin Gray Malin takes us on a journey through his imagination, shows us how he adds magic and quirk to everyday life.
By Sharmita Summugam
THE G R AY MAL I N PHOTOGR APHY PH I LOSOPHY My style of photography is colourful, whimsical, and joyful. The message of the brand is definitely an inclusive one. Everyone is welcome to join and share in the moment, especially with my beach and mountain focused series. I find those to be extremely collective in that it brings you to the masses who are all enjoying the same activity. The beach is the global communal happy place, whether you’re in Santa Monica, Cape Town, or Dubai.
CONCEPTUALI S I NG I D EAS Most of my ideas are pretty wild so they take time to research and execute. However, each concept ignites an incredible adventure. The aerial series such as À la Plage and À la Montagne had no instruction ahead of time. I’m simply flying above these moments and capturing the ones that catch my attention. Whereas for the Gray Malin at the Parker series, I certainly had very specific shots in mind. I pretty much created an entire storyline ahead of time and cast the characters for their roles.
“Dream,” ‘Dream’ series by Gray Malin
ANOTHE R WOR LD Antarctica was the most terrifying location to shoot. It was such a difficult series to capture given it's one of the most treacherous places in the world. Each image is filled with compassion about the changing landscape of our earth, and the multiple near-death experiences that I faced make it a body of work I still have a hard time assigning a price tag. However, it is also the series I am the most proud of accomplishing.
B I RD’ S - E YE V I EW My first aerial concept began without me knowing it. I was on a hotel balcony and I had a bird’s-eye view directly onto the swimming pool below. It was packed with people and the sun was lighting it up beautifully. I just loved how playful the perspective was. Six months later, I was at the Art Basel in Miami and asked a bunch of hotels if I could go on their roofs to photograph their pools. When they said no, I found a helicopter rental service in the Miami area. I started shooting the swimming pools again, and then noticed the uniform patterns of the chairs and umbrellas on the beach from above. Almost instantly, I became drawn to that.
FAR AND AWAY I recently went to Bhutan to shoot a project around the idea of happiness which debuts this month. I used balloons and colourful tassels to represent the iconic prayer flags that blow in the wind all over the country.