Grey Collins was just 14 when he captured his first great photograph — two mule deer gazing at each other on a ridge in Yosemite National Park. Now 17, the Marblehead High School senior will showcase that image alongside dozens of others in his first solo exhibition at the Marblehead Arts Association in August.
Titled News and Nature: The Photography of Grey Collins, the exhibit spans Collins’ evolution from nature enthusiast to accomplished photojournalist, featuring work from national parks to local sailing regattas to the 2024 teachers strike that gripped his community.
“Grey’s exhibit is an eclectic mix of glorious photographs of wildlife and the environment juxtaposed with the gritty realism of urban life,” said Xhazzie Kindle, executive director of the MAA.
That balance — the stillness of nature and the urgency of everyday life — reflects Collins’ own creative philosophy.
“I just love capturing a moment,” Collins said.
Collins began photographing seriously two years ago, though he had dabbled since childhood while accompanying his mother, Laurie Swope, a former Boston Globe photographer, on shoots around the North Shore. His passion ignited in early 2023.
“I knew Grey had a great eye long before he picked up a camera,” she said. “The way he really paid attention visually and appreciated what he saw was the indicator that he was someone who knew how to see.”
The MAA exhibition will feature two dozen pieces split evenly between his nature work and photojournalism.
“Both things have had an equal impact on my journey as a photographer and both things have taught me different things about photography and about life in general,” Collins said.
Exhibit highlights
Among the highlights: a photograph from Mount Rainier where “this marmot just posed for me on this rock,” dramatic Christmas tree burning scenes and intimate portraits from his Marblehead Stories series at the Current. Swope particularly cherishes the deer photograph “Flower Buffet,” which “he took right next to me during my favorite hike on a family trip to Rainier National Park.”
“It is remarkable how much his photography has improved over that short time, evolving from pretty pictures to dynamic and strong compositions with story-telling aspects worthy of a pro,” Swope noted.
The Yosemite deer photograph marked a turning point. “The deer picture, the oldest one in the show, is a deer picture I took in August of 2021 that was one of the first moments where I really got invested in photography,” Collins recalled. “I think that was one of the moments where I really started realizing how special it is and how incredible, how amazing it is to be able to capture a moment.”
Complementary perspectives
For Collins, the two disciplines offer complementary perspectives.
“Nature allows me to kind of capture the beauty of just the natural world, but photojournalism kind of allows me to do the same thing, but with people,” he said. “I feel like it’s more real. I get to see how to document and capture how people are really feeling real-time.”
Collins’ work for the Marblehead Current has ranged from documenting sailing competitions to covering the teachers strike last November. The strike coverage particularly resonates with him as community journalism.
“Those moments taught me a lot about photojournalism, and they taught me a lot about how journalism and photo journalism impacts real people in my community,” Collins said.
His recent sailing coverage exemplifies his approach. “The sailing ones have been really special in the last few weeks because these are special moments for the people I photograph,” Collins said. “The sailors at the Marblehead-to-Halifax race and sailors at the yacht regattas. That’s been really amazing, because they’re all having a good time but they’re also competing.”
His rapid development impressed MAA leadership, who invited him for the solo show after seeing his work in competitive exhibitions. Collins has earned recognition at the Marblehead Arts Festival two years running and was accepted into the MAA National Variations show last winter.
“I feel it is imperative for, and incumbent upon, the MAA to not only showcase emerging talent but to provide a supportive setting in which emerging talent, regardless of age or background can learn, grow and flourish,” said Jim Murphy, MAA president.
“I think this is all more important now than at any time in the recent past given the assault that arts organizations, large and small, are experiencing through what I find to be capricious funding cuts and arbitrary decisions on what constitutes art.”
Collins spends considerable time perfecting his craft, often taking more than 100 photographs during assignments before using Adobe Lightroom. “I spend probably three times as much time editing as actually taking pictures,” he said.
This fall, Collins will serve as editor of the MHS newspaper — the Headlight — while continuing his Current internship.
The opening reception at the Marblehead Arts Association, 8 Hooper St., is Sunday, Aug. 10 from 2-4 p.m.
