Attention to detail in his photography earned him a gallery show

By Mara Soloway

So many things can be inside a picture if you just look close enough,” observes Malkolm Irving, who uses his mastery of his digital SLR camera to capture close-up shots of nature and natural settings, time-lapse night images, and city and people shots.

He started developing his eye for a good image and his camera skills at the age of 6 with an early-model pocket digital camera. The 16-year-old junior at Hightower High School further honed his skills in the school’s Digital Media Academy. He now works with a Canon 60D.

In January, he hosted his first art show called “Visions of Nature Photo Exhibit” at the Gite Gallery in Houston, making him the first student in the digital academy to do so. About 40 friends, relatives and teachers came by to see the works and support Malkolm. His parents, Ted and Brandi, helped him get the large, high-resolution images printed and framed.

“It was really fun to show my work at the gallery. The experience was crazy because the people who come out were very supportive,” he said. “It made me feel like I can do even more.”

Lloyd Gite, owner of the Gite Gallery, is impressed that someone so young has such a creative take on his subject matter. “He has a very keen eye. He takes subject matter that people don’t necessarily see with the naked eye, and he gives it life,” Gite said.

Malkolm finds close-up photography “pretty incredible,” and his shots give viewers a sense of discovery, like seeing the subject for the first time. You expect to see the seeds in his dandelion head to start blowing away. You sense the intensity of the spider waiting in her web for prey. Viewing his image of a church through the strands of wheat puts you at ground-level in that field. He never relies on the autofocus settings, preferring to control the camera himself. “Manual is where you need to be,” he said.

To make his photographs unique, Malkolm considers if he has seen a similar image before and then works to get something new and fresh. “I want to get an image no one has seen before. If someone has taken it, I want to get a different look. I want to go out of the box rather than do the generic thing that’s been done.”

One of his teachers at the Digital Media Academy, whom Malkolm cites as a mentor, confirms Malkolm’s artistic potential. “He is very creative and always puts in the effort to ensure his work is inspired and detailed. Malkolm works hard and always does a great job,” said Devin Dozier, who also heads the Career and Technology department at Hightower.

Malkolm would like to work in 3-D animation – preferably at the Cartoon Network – and as a freelance photographer once he finishes college at his choice, Texas State University in San Marcos, where he wants to major in graphic design and minor in government. For Malkolm, this is a natural combination. While he loves art, music, photography and animation, he’s also intrigued by history and how “one thing can change the entire world or an entire nation,” such as Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal, John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Malkolm’s creative energy is fueled by his imaginative and entrepreneurial friends. “What really makes me tick is my friends — they encourage me to go out and do things, and I do the same for them,” he says. His friends include other photographers, one who owns a clothing line, and graphic designers and animators. When he gets back from a trip to Vietnam this summer with his parents, he will no doubt have thousands of images to show them.

“I have a lot of stuff going on. I like it,” Malkolm said. “I like it a lot.”