Bristish, b. 1952
David Malin was born in England, studied chemistry and explored photography very early on. For many years he worked for a multinational chemical company as a chemist in optical and electron microscopy using photomicroscopy.
Malin went from exploring the infinitely small to the infinitely far away when he joined the Anglo-Australian Observatory as its photographic scientist in 1975. In his photographic laboratory in Sydney, Malin has invented new ways of extracting information from astronomical photographs, which lead to the discovery of two new types of galaxies. The novel image enhancement techniques, hypersensitization, unsharp masking, photographic amplification, image subtraction and addition, have been incorporated into a method of making unique three-color photographs of previously unseen deep space objects.
His photographs have been widely published in books and magazines such as LIFE and National Geographic, and have been praised for their scientific value for many years. More recently they have been recognized as art and received the admiration they deserve in solo exhibitions.Malin has written many articles and papers on the subject of his discoveries. He is still lecturing around the world and is managing the numerous requests for his pictures. His work is part of the collection of museums, institutions and private collectors internationally.
Of the rarity of these images, he writes:
"There is a relatively small number of images that are candidates for exhibition. In 20 years I have made about 150 deep space images, mostly for scientific purposes. About half of them I consider to have aesthetic merit. In addition, there are perhaps 20 'nightscapes' (e.g. star trails) made with ordinary cameras.The limitations on the number of deep space images are severe, and are largely the result of very limited access to telescopes. The Anglo-Australian Telescope, for example, is 4-5 times oversubscribed and applications are considered on scientific merit only -- it's a research instrument -- so picture-making is a rare privilege. I have not made a new, deep space image since 1993.
Finally, the special photographic plates on which most of the images are made are no longer produced by the only supplier, Eastman Kodak. This is an area of color photography that Kodak had completely to themselves. The alternative materials are much less suitable, so the current portfolio is unlikely to be expanded."