MALLORY
My Mission
I strive to positively affect the mental health of those who view my work by bringing a sense of calm, escape, and beauty to their space.
Our mental and physical health are linked. As our mental health improves, so can our phyiscal health. I desire to contribute to a person’s path to healing with my skills as a healer and an artist.
Starting Pointe
Here I am showing off in my ballet outfit. I started ballet when I was 4 and I ended up dancing for 24 years.
In my young teen years, my dad taught me photography. It was such a great hobby for me as a shy kid.
While in college, I started photographing dancers. It was a perfect fit for me.
I had the access, I spoke the dancer language, and I had build in trust among the women I was shooting, being a dancer myself. Plus I fell in love with chasing their fleeting emotion-filled movements with my lens.
Diving In
As I continued my exploration of photography, I found the stage and studio to be too restricting. I wanted the dancers to jump and just stay there.
That's when I realized gravity was the problem!
Water was my solution.
As I tried out this new environment, I found that it not only opened up a new world of possibilities technically, I was drawn to it for the ability to story tell, create another world, and choreograph my dancer subjects to create underwater dances expressing my thoughts through their body language.
Talking is my least favorite form of communication and dance was how I felt I could more accurately express my feelings.
Through my 15 years of shooting underwater, it has also become a study of the power of body language, the power of our breath, and power of human connection without words.
See Behind the Scenes
Healing
On my journey to sustain living in Los Angeles as an artist, I got certified as a massage therapist in 2016. I quickly took to this modality. I drew connections between massage therapy and my experience as a dancer and the artwork I create.
I am driven to help people along their healing process. I found so much fulfillment in educating, supporting, and listening to help someone figure out to help themselves on a daily basis. Whether that's with their physical body or their mental health, it feels like a true expression of my gifts to be in that role.
Breath has also been a connecting through-line. Whether I’m training to increase my breath holds for shooting underwater, using a calming deep breath in my yoga practice, or teaching a massage client the proper way to breathe, it's a central focus in my life.
Through this experience with breath, massage, and healing, I tuned into my true life’s mission and how I can be of service to others.
Learn from me
If you are a photographer who's interested in learning how to shoot portraits underwater, check out Mallory Morrison Academy for my online courses.
