Malina Mindell rocketed to fame as a photographer around the age of nine when her grandfather, a Boston-based wedding and portrait photographer, bought her a Konica FC-1 manual 35mm with a Konica Hexanon 50mm f1.8 lens for her birthday. Shortly thereafter, Mindell won the contest for Best Black and White Close-up (a shot of leaves illuminated from behind by the late day sun) in a summer course for budding shutterbugs. Granted, the competition wasn’t very stiff – she also placed second for a different photograph of her pet parakeet – but the award provided just enough encouragement for Mindell to keep on snapping.

After earning a B.A. in English from Cornell University, where her dorm room walls were lined with the requisite Doisneau, Annie Leibovitz, Phil Stern and Leo Fuchs posters (Fuch’s still of Paul Newman on the Israel set of Exodus is one of her favorites), Mindell received her MFA from University of Southern California School of Cinematic Studies, where she pretty much spent all of age 22 either in a darkroom or an editing bay (She sucks at editing, please don’t ask her to edit anything).

Mindell’s photos have appeared in Oheedoh, Chabad.org and the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles. She loves snapping headshots of actors and hopes her pics help propel them into stardom so one of them can introduce her to Ewan McGregor. Her favorite subjects to shoot are grown-ups, kids and any sort of prop that involves tulle, balloons or a magic wand.