photos Daniel Boud and Cybele Malinowski
The beginnings of the photographic lives of Sydney couple Daniel Boud and Cybele Malinowski’s are very similar - both unsurprisingly involve a camera. For the most part that is where the similarity ends. From their first shots Daniel and Cybele’s photographic careers have developed in very different ways - pun possibly intended.
Daniel’s manages to squeeze in a meeting at a little noodle place in The Galleries Victoria while on lunch break from his nine-to-five as Chief Photographer at Time Out Sydney. His career, he reveals, started with his first digital camera. He went digital after being put off by the slowness and expense of the only point-and-shoot he ever owned.
Once digital Daniel began taking his camera everywhere, shooting everything. His first published photos in 3D World were one of the many small steps that helped him on his way to professional photography.
It was his blog, Boudist, (now a share-household name for music nerds and scenesters from Bondi to Enmore), that first provided Daniel an opportunity to display the full extent of his photography mettle. These days Daniel can generally be found front-and-centre in the photo pit of Australia’s big-name music festivals – Splendour In The Grass, Big Day Out, Homebake, V - or cruising the city, snapping all manner of varied subject matter for Time Out.
Cybele’s working hours are stacked with the work she does as Principal Photographer at Blue Murder Studios, covers for JMag and the like. Flicking through her portfolio is a little like perusing a visual who’s who of Australian musicians. Silverchair’s Daniel Johns has been captured by Cybele’s lens as have Pnau, The Presets, The Midnight Juggernauts, Ladyhawke and countless others. Then there is the fashion side of things too. On her blog, Bang Bang Dot Cybele likes to focus on the relationship between these industries.
Cybele describes vividly the first photo she took using a little red Kodak point-and-shoot. "A swan on a lake in Bowral. Big brown lake and little white bird under a weeping willow," she says.
Also incredibly busy - clearly this city needs more Dan and Cybeles - she explains the intricacies of her photographic life via email. Unsurprisingly she refers to her first industry experiences as the "scariest time of [her] life". Cybele started out in studio photography under instruction from her brother, Justin Malinowki, also a photographer, who taught her the drill before throwing her in the deep end.
Both Daniel and Cybele appreciate the steps they have taken to get where they are today, as well as the places they have ended up. Dan also acknowledges they are by no means at their final destination.
"If you chart my progress as a photographer on a graph I am still very much at the beginning of the trajectory," Daniel explains.
![Unsurprisingly she refers to her first industry experiences as the 'scariest time of [her] life'](images/cyb-quote.gif)
Daniel and Cybele’s responses, when asked where they would most like to see their work, are humorously different; both seemingly linked to the cameras on which they started. For Daniel, a magazine cover shot would be the ultimate affirmation of his work. His explanation of the chosen medium is simply that it is the cover photo that sells the magazine, advertises the magazine. Top of his wish list is Vanity Fair. Daniel says, "Once you are getting photo spreads in Vanity Fair… that's when you can retire!"
For Cybele the answer is something less immediate: KunstHistorische Museum in Vienna. She's taken by the idea of having a "relic" of hers hanging on the walls inside this 19th century monument. Cybele cheekily reveals her selection is inspired by the potential of allowing people the opportunity to look at the work in 200 years and say, "Wow, they were so fucked up in the 21st century".
Daniel and Cybele have built themselves successful photographic careers, Cybele with Blue Murder Studios and Daniel as a photographer for Time Out magazine, not to mention all their extra-curricular photographic activities. They note that it is important to learn from those around you - Daniel says he devours other people’s work - and also understands the importance of asking questions, seeking answers and learning things from those in your field. In respect to this, Cybele speaks glowingly of her brother, "the technical wizard", and the knowledge he shared with her.
By the couple's own admission their photographic relationship can be competitive. Daniel says that he is quite a harsh critic and will more than likely find fault in almost all work put before him. He often praises Cybele’s work though, although he doubts she would concur that this is the case.
Cybele admits that photography is one of the foundations of their relationship. The pair started out at the same time, she says, so it has become something of a journey they have undertaken together. As she eloquently explains, "He is my competitor, my lover, my inspirer". Nowadays the pair try to avoid working together too often because, Cybele explains, they’re quite happy in their relationship, and want to keep it that way.
Daniel and Cybele end off with the knowledge that to succeed you have to have a huge amount of passion and drive for what you do. As for what excites them outside of photography? Apparently any answer they give would still involve photography.
