How many Brooks Institute of Photography students does it take to:
- Be chosen as one of one hundred photographers for one of the leading photojournalism workshops in the country?
- Intern for one of the more creative magazine photographers in New York?
- Win the top award Brooks presents to its graduating seniors?
- Win a scholarship to one of the most prestigious photography workshops in Jackson Hole, Wyoming?
- Follow graduation with an internship with a National Geographic photographer?

If you’re 2005 graduate Matt Mallams, it only takes one. Mallams is someone who came to Brooks Institute and made the most of his opportunities while in school. Mallams did all this in his usual low-key, it’s-just-life-happening-at-its-own-pace style.

When Mallams interned at the Ventura County Star, his boss was Director of Photography, Juliette Coughlin, who noted Mallams was the fist intern to complete a photo page for the paper, complete with pictures, reporting and writing.
Coughlin said Mallams cared about everything he did as a photographer. “He was passionate not just about the work he was producing for the page, but passionate about his personal work as well. He carried this little book that was filled with photos, scraps of paper, anything found that he liked. It was imagery and texture and graphics and light.”

Things jump-started for Mallams when he was chosen for the 2004 Eddie Adams Workshop. The free four-day experience for beginning professionals has a highly competitive application portfolio review, and Mallams was one of 50 college students chosen. He was assigned to a team lead, in part, by New York based photographer Clay Patrick McBride. The energy and the up-by-the-bootstraps attitude of McBride clicked with Mallams, a photojournalism major with a strong artistic streak. After the workshop Mallams assisted McBride in New York.

The three month assisting experience gave Mallams a good deal of insight into how one survives as a New York-based photographer. The experience was an evolutionary one, starting with observation and basic assisting tasks on assignments. By the third month, Mallams was doing the more serious work of a first assistant as McBride got assignments photographing musicians for magazine covers and inside spreads for publications such as Rolling Stone, Spin, Sports Illustrated and XXL. “For three months I observed how a professional photographer operates a studio and then I incorporated that knowledge into my own business,” said Mallams.

As part of his own special approach to photography, Mallams looked to see what he could take from McBride’s lessons in the studio and incorporate it into his work outdoors. “I wanted to learn portrait skills and bring that into my street photography,” said Mallams.

Winning the Brooks Institute student Photojournalism Scholarship to the Photography at the Summit seminar in Colorado was another milestone for Mallams, as it put him in contact with some of his photographic heroes. At the seminar he worked with veteran globetrotting photojournalist David Burnett, well known color photographer Jay Maisel, and fine art photographer Sylvia Plachy - most recently known for her work as a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine.

“It was really cool (to be around) David Burnett and Jay Maisel, two of my favorite photographers,” said Mallams. “It was great to connect with them.”

At the workshop Mallams would experiment to see if he could shoot using the approach of one of his mentors. He walked into the town of Jackson Hole, for instance, looking for “shapes and colors and things that would play with your eye.” By doing so, Mallams was attempting to see from Maisel’s perspective. “Jay looks for weird things then just photographs. Maisel says, ‘Shoot what you enjoy. You don’t need a human in the picture,’ as you would in most photojournalism.” For Mallams, this type of coaching was liberating and endorsed his own point of view.

With someone like Plachy, who is a celebrated photographic artist, Mallams was able to form another bond through his personal journals, one of the many side projects Mallams has going at any one time. “She really enjoyed my work, which was uplifting, giving me greater confidence ,” said Mallams. Some of his journals can be viewed at http://www.mattmallams.com. Of late, Mallams has arranged to assist National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig in Los Angeles. This has brought him back in touch with the straight-ahead storytelling style of editorial magazines - a different experience entirely from McBride’s New York operation. “Every photographer has a different style, a different pace,” says Mallams. “Gerd and Clay are totally different extremes.”

In addition to helping run the studio, Mallams recently helped Ludwig prepare for a six week assignment in Siberia. “I saw how a National Geographic photographer gets ready for minus 30 degree weather in Siberia,” Mallams said. “I saw how the budget comes together, how the contacts come together.” He also helped Ludwig pack his eight bags of location gear, complete with double and triple back-ups in case of equipment failure.

As a photographer fresh out of school, Mallams own photography projects are never far from his mind. He is getting his freelance business rolling and appreciates the time between assignments and assisting jobs to plan his own projects. “I’m just starting out,” he says, “so this is more of an investment for me. I’m working on about four stories right now,” hoping to get them produced and published. This summer Mallams will spend three weeks in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa on a project he has been promising himself for some time.

In the meantime, recent gigs like assisting McBride on Kid Rock’s album photographs help fill his days. “Kid Rock and Clay are good friends. Clay has been photographing Kid Rock for a long time, so he gave us the time we needed” said Mallams. In this case , we had a rare two days and were allowed 10 different set-ups – truly an unusual level of cooperation between a celebrity subject and a photographer.