![]() ![]() With his scope vastly expanded from his aerial photography days, Malin started turning to his growing followership for direction. He joined the platform in 2012 for "fun and silliness." By the end of 2013, pictures of his dog and travels had garnered him 10,000 followers. Malin's journey was in part dictated by his Instagram. He had photographed elephants and lions parading around the Parker Palm Springs, which opened doors for Malin to shoot at iconic resorts like Coral Casino and The Beverly Hills Hotel. Meanwhile, his photography began taking a different direction toward luxury properties. He soon began selling lifestyle products at boutiques and upscale retailers like Neiman Marcus and kicked off global partnerships with Le Meridien Hotels and Disney. ![]() The opportunity to print his photos on swimsuits, Malin says, "further expanded the notion that photography could come alive in unexpected places." It also led to future collections with brands like Sperry, Swell, and Away. Then came a collaboration with menswear brand Orlebar Brown. "I could cut out the middleman." He relaunched his website to sell framed prints his husband left his corporate job and took over the logistics of running Malin's website. "I thought sort of like 'What happened with taxis and Uber?" he said. In 2014, Malin set out to solve a long-standing problem with his business: that his customers had to frame his photos. "In one second, it can go from sunny to violently windy and it was just very dangerous," he said. Malin is particularly proud of the Antarctica collection because of the difficulties of shooting there. "It's part of composing an image, and I was inspired by the mathematical arrangement of form and rapid repetition of shapes." "When I got in the helicopter and saw those umbrellas and those chaise loungers, I saw geometrical patterns," he said. During a fateful helicopter ride in Art Basel in Miami in 2012, he took his first aerial photographs. Malin was about to accidentally discover what he's arguably most famous for: the beauty of math. "It was really the start of my whole career," he said. Within eight months, he said, he had sold 1,000 prints. When he stumbled across One Kings Lane, an emerging home design website, he sent them a cold email that led to a partnership. He used that revenue to create an online portfolio, but he wasn't selling anything digitally yet. Malin estimates that in his first year at the flea market, he sold 350 prints. "When I took this leap of faith, I had no idea that photography would become sort of the art form of this generation," he said. Depending on print size, his art ranges from $249 to $14,999. Ten years later, Gray Malin has evolved into a lifestyle brand that sells everything from wallpaper to beach towels in addition to photographs. The "conversational, whimsical nature" of this image became contagious at the flea market, he said, and the 10 prints he typically sold on a Saturday soon became 30 or 40. After the Beverly Hills gallery representing him shut down, Malin turned to a local Los Angeles flea market, where he began selling black-and-white film photographs he had taken while studying abroad in Europe. Malin, age 34, jumped into photography 10 years ago. On a recent call with Business Insider, Malin said the worlds he creates in his images are defined by "escapism, joyfulness, color." The LA-based photographer is best known for the sunny beach photography that functions, effectively, as millennial catnip. Gray Malin's world didn't start off in color. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.Malin spoke with Business Insider about how he grew his career from flea market to lifestyle brand, complete with a line of products and three coffee table books.Since then, his work has branched into his iconic aerial beach shots and scenes from luxury hotels. It all began 10 years ago, when Malin began selling black-and-white photos at a flea market.Travel photographer Gray Malin, 34, is known for his dreamy, whimsical photography.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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