Meet Paul Malinowski

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

Hi Paul, what is the most important factor behind your success?
In one broad word – openness. I’m a lifelong learner who not only uses all of the traditional learning methods of videos, books, classes, workshops, etc., but I seem to have an innate drive and ability to “reverse engineer” everything I observe in life. That’s something I can do as a solitary activity either in real time or after the fact. For example, in my chosen creative endeavor of bird photography, that means sitting and watching patterns of birds for hours without even lifting a camera some days. Then I apply those observations to taking photographs – hundreds or thousands each day – and then analyzing the best for what worked right and why and the worst for what didn’t and why. Eventually, you build up a mental bank of “best practices” and those become muscle memory without having to think as much about them each time.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have been fortunate to always have had some unrelated creative outlets while I had my “day job”. First it was acting in theater, then writing a full-length play that I self-produced and directed. Sandwiched years before and after these activities was photography that morphed from any genre to 95% birds. During the initial extreme lockdown period of the pandemic, I was relegated to sitting on my patio as a “recreational activity”. I found bird watching fascinating and one I really hadn’t opened myself up to before. But I had no interest in photographing a “bird on a perch”. I was only interested in stories those birds told through their activities like eating, courting, raising young, etc. I became hooked to the point of obsession (still guilty to this day!). Although I indeed believe I have become proficient in bird photography such as recently having won a national bird photography competition, I knew I wanted to do more than just post pictures of birds. So I developed a new website that tells those stories rather than just displays photographs. I’m able to use my old creative writing skills on that site and wed visuals to bird stories. I call it “Bird Street Photography” because it’s the same concept of “street photography” except with birds! And my goal for 2025 is to again use my creative writing skills with my bird photography and publish a book that I have titled “A Wing and a Tale: Stories By and About Birds.”

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First, I’d make them go on a walking tour of my home town of Littleton because I am a docent for Historic Littleton, Inc. and I conduct walking ours of our historic downtown on the First Friday of every month from May through October. If I haven’t bored them to head back home by the end of the tour we would stop at Kate’s Wine Bar there, a long-time favorite of mine. But since their visit is for a whole week, we’d obviously explore the state. I have been fortunate to also have lived in Grand Junction for ten years in addition to the Front Range and I probably know almost every square mile of Colorado from Burlington to the Utah border. I’d make sure they saw the Grand Mesa and my favorite location in the state, the San Luis Valley. There is just such incredible diversity in the Valley – of people and topography and wildlife. I’d want this to be not just a food and drink experience but a spiritual one, too, so we’d be in Crestone for a few of those days, absorbing the power and solitude of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Valley floor. And I’d try to time it so that we are there in February or March to witness the annual migration of the Sandhill Cranes, an event that never gets old. I have witnessed it almost every year for the last 15-plus years. Then we’d drive back to the Denver area on Highway 285, stopping off at every small town along the way.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I was most inspired by a workshop! It was held at the Madeline Island School of the Arts in Lake Superior, Wisconsin about a decade ago. Although I had been doing photography on and off for over 30 years at the time, I vividly remember coming out of a coffee shop after it was over and literally breaking down sobbing with inspiration because I knew this was where the next chapter in my life was going as a passion. To this day I remain close to the others participants in that workshop as well as the instructor for not only my photography support group but as lifelong friends.

Website: www.birdstreetphotography.com

Instagram: @paulmalinowskiphotography

Other: Blue Sky – @paulmalinowski.bsky.social

Image Credits
All photographs of Paul were taken by Dave Purcell. All photographs of birds were, of course, taken by me, Paul Malinowski