Digitalab Featured Photographer: Marshal Gray
At Digitalab, we appreciate the power of photography, whether it’s personal or professional. We asked Gary Lashmar (aka Marshal Gray) for one of his images and posed a couple of questions to find out exactly what it is he loves about photography and what he’d say to any enthusiastic photographer hoping to make a career out of their passion.
Tell us a bit about this image and why you chose it to be featured.
This image was taking on a pre-wedding photography shoot. My intention is always toward stepping outside of the groove of what is expected of wedding photographers and I think this photograph reflects that.
Which styles of photography most interest/inspire you?
I am inspired by both street photography and fashion. Mostly conceptual fashion. I love the work of Paolo Roversi, Don McCullin. I actually think the biggest influence on my work is Astrid Kirccherr the young german photographer who photographed ‘the Beatles’ in Hamburg in the 1960s. Her imagery was so raw and yet she stopped taking photographs at the age of 29. I always thought this was a real shame and at the same time somehow poetic.
What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?
Dare to do it different! Especially you wedding photographers. I run a workshop called Dare and the whole process is designed to support photographers to step outside of their comfort zone, the need to have all the answers, and begin to photograph from a place of letting go of ‘the need to do it right’. This is the place where true originality resides.