About me...
At the age of 27 I returned to school to pursue a degree in graphic design. Along the way I was required to take a photography course. My experience with photography up to that point had been limited to being the subject of my mothers endless photo collection. I had no idea that the course would change my opinion of photography, but also my life.
I started taking photographs like everyone starts taking photographs. I tried my hand at people, places, documentary, still life, crappy night shots, and snapshots. I really wasn’t that good at any of it. I realized early on that as much as I had come to love photography, if I couldn’t be good at it, why bother?
So I floundered for a bit until one of my professors for a color photography course told me about a graduate assignment he had been given. The students in his program were given an odd task. They were handed a roll of film, three sheets of white paper, three sheets of colored construction paper, and locked in a studio for twenty-four hours, with a roll full of images due the next day. The assignment was about constructing an image from essentially nothing, but it was also about reflected color, and how the subtle nature of light and shadow can be toyed with to produce eye-pleasing results. I took this lesson to heart, and have been making images this way ever since.
My process...
My photographs are not Photoshop images. What you aren’t seeing are the tables I work on or the lights affecting the photo. I layout miniature tabletop dioramas specifically for the lens, and I light them with around thirty to forty flashlights. The colors are added in the studio during the shoot using liquid soaps, gels, and colored paper. Most recently I have been making use of the reflected color from an overhead projector. I use this color as a base coat to paint over my constructed image. My exposure times are rather long to give me enough time to paint light where I think the image needs it, but also to allow certain colors to become dominant in the image.
My photography is a direct extension of my life. The images I create are an expression of my feelings and are a reaction to the events on my journey thus far. The majority of my photographs start out as a vague scene in my mind. I sketch them out as best I can, and then I obsess over them while I try to figure out how to portray what I want the image to say. I view the whole process as some kind of self-therapy. It may not change anything for me, but I do feel better when it's all said and done.
Questions or comments feel free to contact me at benschphoto@gmail.com
