Meet Will Malone | Fine Art Photographer & Creator of The Small Town Photo Project

We had the good fortune of connecting with Will Malone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Will, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
Since I’m in the business of creating images and selling them as fine art home or office decor, there’s a lot of misconceptions about what I do. It’s the less travelled path in the photography industry, because photographers often think it’s impossible to make a living this way, while consumers tend to assume that it sounds maybe too easy, like they could do that themselves probably.

But like any business, selling fine art photography requires sales, marketing, networking, and patience. I love creating images, but that’s only a small percentage of the job, not to mention the task and work or bringing a digital image into the real world. Much of it comes through time, experience, and trial and error.

To answer the question, more succinctly, I think one thing outsiders are probably most unaware of is that while it looks glamorous, “following my passion” looks a lot like the behind the scenes of any other business that requires a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.

But man, it’s a ton of fun!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Before I went full-time on my own, I worked in about every part of the photography industry that exists: product, real estate, weddings, landscape, fine art printing, and even school photography. During that time, I was often taking pictures in a town in South Georgia called Thomasville, GA, and realized that no one had any new, modern images of this town that was really beginning to grow quite a bit.

I thought it would be cool fine other “Thomasvilles” and photograph them, but I wasn’t quite sure how to make it work as a business full-time. I was selling large prints to different businesses here and there, but in order to really give the work its due, I needed to just jump fully in. When COVID really started, that was a good opportunity for me to get in my truck and take pictures in other towns like DeLand and Mt Dora, FL, Opelika and Auburn, AL, Fredericksburg, TX, Laurel, MS, and more.

Now I’m building up the Small Town Photo Project little by little, town by town, and creating products around them such as stationery, postcards, prints, and more.

Everyone can get prints of the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower, but there is so much history in these beautiful small towns that people love. People are huge fans of the town they are from, and I’m just highlighting what they are already so proud of.

Of course it’s tough to start a business like this, since there’s really no road map. It would be nice if I had a wealthy family member funding what I’m doing, but I don’t, so some months have been a real grind. Other months have been very good. The best way to overcome those challenges is to just ride the waves and be patient.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My Shoutout could go on for days. The fact is, it’s hard to make it through this life without a community backing you up. At the top of that list, however is my wife, Anna. She supports me like no one else, is an enormous wealth of great ideas as well.

Website: https://www.willmalone.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/willmalone

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willmalone

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willmalone365

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZBEVeINrRXUIYqZInmoeEA

Image Credits
Photos Taken by Will Malone