05/20/13

Miami Photographer | Kate Benson | PDN’s 30 is out

Last year I wrote a post when PDN released their 30 awards. This year it’s even cooler. This is the first time the separated the awards into categories, which, I find, pretty cool. Maybe it’s because somewhere in me I think, more categories = more winners. But really it’s not like that from what I’ve seen. Many photographers won awards in multiple categories and this image, is by far, one of my favorites. From Nadav Kander, who won in Magazine/Editorial, Advertising, and Photo Books this won in Advertising.

Also very cool is Natan Dvir‘s personal project “Coming Soon”.

Also, super beautiful book by Caleb Cain Marcus, “A Portrait of Ice”.

There are so many this year it was a bit hard to get through. I would be interested to know of other readers favorites too. Enjoy!

05/17/13

Miami Photographer | Kate Benson Photography | Reflecting

You have to admit, it’s a bit amazing. Beautiful images are everywhere. Flickr, Pinterest, Tumblr, websites dedicated to collecting beautiful images. Recently I heard it mentioned that this has really changed the industry of wedding photography. Brides-to-be collect and fall in love with images of how they want their day to be and be remembered. This becomes an expectation that is passed onto the photographer, pushing them to be better and better. The same is for commercial, business to business photographers. But often, we aren’t being pushed by a client but by ourselves. One of my most loved friends (you know who you are) works for Adidas as an art buyer put it well, “we want to see how creative and exciting the work you do on your own is so our art directors can tell you exactly what to do” (okay, that may not have been the exact quote but it went something like that). This is what my portfolio lacks. I’ve been going through my blog to do some much needed key wording and in full honestly, cringed more than once at what images I posted. In my blog, I post quickly, I think “I liked that shot from today” and write up a little post and publish it. In my portfolio I sit and stare at my images for weeks/months/years and if I still love them after all that time, let is become part of my work that represents me. So naturally, the quality of images on my website blow away those on my blog. As they should. That is what the website is for. It is our portfolio. But the blog still has my name on it and thus, it still important.

So my goal has been (for a couple of years now) and continues to be, what do I want to shoot for me? Staring for hours and hours at an outstanding image doesn’t mean it is what I want to create. But it does mean that I recognize greatness in a shot (thank you RISD for that). Oh the amazing photo editor I could be (but for the right publication, I couldn’t go through editing pictures of horrific events to find the one that was just the right amount of shock without too much goriness to represent the publication). Once again, those editing skills I can thank RISD for. As I wrote about earlier this week, Mike Brodie really inspired me. But a huge part of starting a project is letting yourself off the hook. It is complete illusion to believe every image you create will sell and will represent you. I have to work really hard to let go of the voice in my head asking “how is this going to market? how is this going to represent me?” and start listening to that other voice, the one that is quieter and yet always there that identifies what I find beautiful. Then, just have a camera with me and shoot. I think by shooting more, constantly, perhaps, I’ll fall into what I love. Around me are amazing people who create beauty everywhere. They create beautiful food, invite me to beautiful places, are just plain beautiful inside and out, and perhaps by not shooting these moments I’m doing them and myself a disservice.

So that is the goal, let’s see if I can stumble upon that thing that I must shoot. Stand bye for hopefully some new images to come!

05/15/13

Kate Benson Photography Miami | Travel Photography | Wallpaper Wednesday

This was taken with my new fancy phone the HTC One. I’ll be honest, it is a really fun camera on that phone. I don’t expect to make the clearest prints in history from a cell phone but the best camera in the world is the one you have on you right? I did drop the photo into Photoshop and just cleaned up some of the noise and background (and added the watermark) but the color editing and everything else was in phone. What I really like about this phone is the camera comes with the ability to view live adjustments on the screen before shooting. So you can experiment with different contrast and color while looking at the image, when you like it, take the shot. Additionally there are other features available for editing after as well. Straighten, being my favorite (amazing how much your off just a tiny bit when you snap a photo with your phone).

Amazing how new toys always become the favorite toys. Of course, this is no substitute for the Canon, but it really is fun!

05/14/13

Kate Benson Photography Miami | Inspiring Photographers | Mike Brodie

Yesterday I saw his work for the first time and it took me back. As a photographer who finds herself almost desperately searching for her focus project coming across Mike Brodie startled me. I’m a little heartbroken upon hearing he put down his camera after completing the project though (we will have to wait to see if that lasts). Each image so clearly has a story. A story Brodie tells intimately and bravely. As I browse the images, I keep thinking, “For real? This is here, in the United States? Now? Really?” because the images pull up familiarity, but nothing we’ve seen in a long time. Some kind of current Americans, By Robert Frank (great NPR bit on that here).

For a photographer, finding that personal subject, the one that makes you want to hop on a freight train for 4 years and wander around the country documenting an underground group of runaways, is a rare thing. We love and admire images like these and think “if I had only been there back then, I would have shot that”. Yet here Brodie shows us that it still exists. Then things get crazier, parents of children who have runaway have been able to see their kids in the shots and know they are alive. The levels of this project just keep getting deeper and deeper. So today, hats off to Mike Brodie. I’m not surprised he put down the camera, how could another project come close to this one? And when a project is over, it’s over. You know it. At least, despite him stepping away from making new work, we have these outstanding images to reflect on. A few of my favorites are here in the post but visit Mike Brodie’s website for them all or check out his book, “A Period of Juvenile Prosperity”, if you can get your hands on a copy.

05/3/13

Kate Benson Photography Miami | Photo Sphere Viewing, via Google

This was too good not to share! The timing is perfect, my HTC ONE arrives tomorrow, just in time for a weekend full of tinkering with this!

Via: Emil Protalinski for The Next Web

“Google expands photo sphere viewing from Android and Google+ to the Web with new widget

Google on Friday announced the launch of a photo sphere viewing widget that you can embed in any website. This is a big change, as it means 360 degree panoramic images taken with Android devices are no longer limited to just Google’s services.

For those who don’t know, Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) features a photo sphere camera that lets you snap photos in any direction and piece them together into what the company calls “photo spheres.” You can then view these on your phone, share them to Google+, add them to Google Maps, and now also anywhere else on the Web.

Here’s how the new viewing widget looks:

The above example is from professional photographer Colby Brown‘spersonal blog. He worked personally with the Android team to make the feature possible, and thus his website is the first to use the new viewer. Go check it out for yourself (use touch gestures or mouse panning and the scroll wheel to zoom).

If you want to share your own photo spheres, Google has posted instructions for how to use the new viewer, which requires JavaScript. First, you’ll need to add the following JavaScript resource to your site:

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”></script>

Next, you can the actual photo sphere viewer by using the g:panoembed element:

<g:panoembed imageurl=”http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-kr97Eucg6sM/UKGEuvo_eBI/AAAAAAAAi0s/adq8uqyhm_k/photo.jpg”
fullsize=”4096,2048″
croppedsize=”4096,1380″
offset=”0,480″
displaysize=”600,400″/>

In addition to the required parameters (imageurl, fullsize, croppedsize, offset, and displaysize) there’s also an optional autorotate option. As Brown notes, many mobile devices let you take amazing standard panoramas “but the end results are always the same….a flat image that makes it somewhat difficult to really get a feel for what you are looking at.”

This new viewer helps solve that, while also promoting the feature all over the Web. Many people who stumble on these panoramic shots will want to know how the site’s author made them, and the answer will be: “well first… you need to get an Android device.” Smart move Google.”

Now, go have fun my fellow photo nerds. Enjoy your weekend. xoxox Kate

05/1/13

Kate Benson Photography Miami | Fine Art Photography | Wallpaper Wednesday

Getting on the blog early today! In the spirit of yesterdays post of the Florida Everglades your Wallpaper Wednesday is from that trip as well. As always, any Wallpaper is available as a fine art print (just send me an email at, Studio@katebenson.com for details). Also, for anyone in Miami, if you haven’t head/seen already ASMP South Florida is hosting a seminar tonight at Barry University with Seth Resnick, a wonderful photographer, very worth checking out! You can register here : http://www.sethresnick.eventbrite.com/ social time is at 6pm, Seth speaks from 7-10 with a break in the middle. Hope to see you there!

And now, your wallpaper.

04/30/13

Kate Benson Photography | Miami Fine Art Photographer | Everglades B&W

Opportunity, for a photographer, comes in many forms. In the beginning of my career, I wanted to take the camera everywhere. Today I know myself well enough to balance shooting. Professional photography, feels like it uses a different part of my brain than recreational photography did. Years ago, I read a study on professional athletes. The study had monitored their vitals while they worked out and observed that as soon as the athlete barely started to work out, sometimes just stepped onto a treadmill, their heart rates went up, their bodies started preparing for the workout before it started. Is it odd to say that is what it feels like to have my camera with me? I can do things but if I have my camera on hand, I am always a photographer. If my camera is within reach, I’m almost obsessively thinking about everything I see, asking, “is it worth getting my camera out for this moment?” But always, it isn’t till the camera is out that I know if it was worth it or not. When the camera is in my hand, I think differently. I’m organizing every angle of light, the world outside my lens blurs, my speaking, like my thinking, is concise, to the exact point. My husband, friends and family sometimes say I’m bossy. But the truth is, my brain just doesn’t work the same and it’s all about the shot. Not about anyone’s feelings, not about dangers, it’s about the light, the exposures, colors, compositions, it’s shooting. So I am careful. Recreationally, I rarely take my camera. I like that my friends and family like me and I don’t want them to disappear when I am making memories with them. Funny how a photo, recreationally captures a memory, but professionally it tells a story (true or not).

So a few weeks ago when I signed up to go on this amazing hike in the Everglades hosted by my friend Christopher (who works for the Florida Trail Association, which I joined, and highly recommend joining)! We would head a few miles south on one trail then due East, through the Everglades following not a trail but an old logging railroad until it met up with the Florida Trail a few miles later. Then we would head a bit more South to Roberts Lake (off trail but easier to find) hike around the lake, then back to the Florida Trail and a few more miles then back at the start. Confusing? How is this, we hiked a big Q shape where the bottom of the Q wasn’t on a trail. And I decided to bring my camera. The best shooting of the day was around Roberts Lake. The ground there, unlike most of the hike, was covered in water, and the swamp was just that, swamp. Yes there were alligators. And yes, snakes too. And a wonderful collection of other animals and plants. And yes, it was kind of scary to be walking around in the Everglades swamp, not being able to see what you were going to step on, or how deep you may sink into the mud and water, but it was beautiful.

I don’t know that I made any new friends on the trip. Holding my camera by default makes me way more serious. But fortunately most of the hikers were already friends (and family) that I know and love (and know me without a camera in my hand). So I believe they probably forgave me for any of my bossy/me first behavior that may have happened, and I suspect the hikers I didn’t know yet were perhaps distracted themselves by the beauty of the Everglades, or the direction of the compass when off course, or their cameras themselves. Some of these shots will likely show up as Wallpaper Wednesdays. But for the moment, here are two shots from around Roberts Lake, showing off the serious beauty of this giant park.

Two shots from around Roberts Lake in the Big Cypress Preserve in the Florida Everglades

04/17/13

Kate Benson Photography Miami | Wallpaper Wednesday

Also from my beach shoot a week and a half ago is this shot. I love the sea grass and because the subjects of the portrait were a family who really connects with sea grass, this wallpaper is dedicated to them. I hope it brings some warmth to them up in Toronto!

04/12/13

Kate Benson Photography Miami | Portrait Photographer | Fine art shots between looks

One of my goals, year after year is to shoot more fine art work. In a seminar I helped ASMP South Florida host this year on pricing and marketing your work, it was mentioned that if the genre of photography doesn’t make up a certain percent of your income, don’t focus on it. That said, I agree that maybe on your website you don’t focus on it, but when you are inspired to shoot something, whatever it is, shoot it. So that is what I did last week. I had a portrait session I was shooting at the beach. Usually, in the time while people change, I am busy reviewing shots, making quick edits, etc. However on Thursday I decided to do some shooting for those moments. I dropped them on my computer and really loved some of them. This is one of my favorite shots!

04/10/13

Kate Benson Photography Miami | Jewelry Photographer | Editorial shoot for Inspirato Magazine

In February I had the pleasure of working with Inspirato Magazine for the first time. They are a great team and need a Miami photographer to capture a group of jewelry pieces from designer Loren Jewels. Funny thing, when I went to her website I saw she was the designer of pieces I had been lusting after on Pinterest (cigar band ring, yes pleeeeease). So naturally I was very excited to be the photographer for the shoot.

Some of my favorite moments came from the challenges of the styling the image. The pieces were shot on large leaves that were not even close to lying flat, causing issue after issue. But the excitement of solving these issues (how to get earrings to look perfect while they are sloping down the side of a leave, without knocking over the ring or bracelet delicately balanced on the same leaf) made it a very fun shoot!

Here’s the shot!