Still Life And Spontaneity By Damien Maloney

Maloney is currently based in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but it was during his college years at Arizona State that he became acquainted with photography. His first subjects were sporting events, students and still lifes, “There’s something really nice about making a point to simply look at something. It’s a very freeing idea.”created for the college newspaper, for which he had impulsively adopted the role of photo editor. Despite having no formal education in photographic or visual studies, Maloney shifted his career focus to suit something that he was naturally good at, and began assisting commercial and editorial photographers when he moved to San Francisco to seek new inspiration. Today, Maloney’s images still speak of a somewhat childlike inquisitiveness, as if each time he picks up the camera is the first. Alongside commissions for WIRED, Levi’s and The FADER, many images in Maloney’s body of work reveal to be frequently captured faces and familiar places. They disclose the photographer’s attentive, emotive view of his surroundings and ability to translate the banal into something to stop and consider. Regarding this perception of the world, Maloney explains that there’s “something really nice about making a point to simply look at something, a purely aesthetic pleasure. It’s a very freeing idea.”