Kate Benson

Wallpaper Wednesday

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:27:49 +0000

This week the photograph for our wallpaper was taken while I was driving in the Florida Keys (Islamorada to be specific). The day was beautiful of course and dusk was no exception. This is one more reason to love the Golden Hour.

Instagram: Morning Walk

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:45:32 +0000

Sam and I have been really enjoying Instagram. Old news for most people but us Android owners are just getting to start playing with the app. In the mornings at the Benson Trotter house, our dog Budapest is up with the sun (sometimes slightly before it). He’s a good dog and won’t wake you up but his anticipation is in the air and besides once you crack your eyes open, if that sun has started rising, there’s a slim chance you’ll be getting back to sleep. So somewhere in this routine Sam and I started a little game where you try and sneak yourself and the dog out of the room without waking up each other. While on the walk we take pictures and post them in Facebook and/or Instagram so the other person gets to see (once they wake up that is) what they missed on the walk. It’s a cute game. Budapest makes it harder than it sounds by shaking as soon as he gets up (he’s got a very noisy collar) and rubbing his face along the bed. So we have to get him out of the room before he does that. Then when he sees you grab his leash his excitement boils over and the barking begins. I’m sure that is also a fun game for our upstairs neighbor and friend Eva. However, occasionally you do get out the door without waking your better half and get to take some pictures. This is one of mine from this morning. Sorry for the low quality, they are cell phone pictures after all. Enjoy!

Wallpaper Wednesday

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:46:32 +0000

This photograph is also from Sam and I’s epic trip to the west coast, I took it as we drove from LA to San Fran with two of our favorite girls! Somewhere before wine country, but after Santa Barbara.

Why hire a professional photographer?

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Sat, 05 May 2012 14:00:16 +0000

It’s no secret that anyone can get hold of camera and take some decent shots these days. But why is it often so important to use a professional photographer instead? If you are considering commissioning a shoot with a professional, then here are just a few points which you may want to bear in mind.

It is worth remembering that almost all images used for advertising or illustration purposes have been taken by a professional photographer. Whether you’re wandering around a shopping centre or playing games of online Binguez, the images which you encounter are more than likely to be of a professional standard, even if they seem relatively simplistic. Customers and clients are used to seeing images which are of this level of quality, and if you want your business, organization or product to be able to match up, then using a professional photographer can be important.

Even if you think you have a good grasp of how to use a camera and achieve top quality images, it is worth bearing in mind that a professional photographer will also have studio experience. This includes a good understanding of how lighting will affect an image – something which can have considerable impact on the finish photograph. For images that are likely to be used as marketing materials, this can be extremely important.

Professional photographers are likely to have worked with other businesses and organizations similar to your own, but this means that they will have a good idea what the latest trends are within that area of photography, and can make creative suggestions on how to make your own images stand out from the crowd. Such advice can often prove invaluable if you are looking to establish a brand image. These are just a few of the reasons why more and more professional businesses and organizations can often benefit from using a professional photographer.

Dear other photographer named Kate Benson… thank you for not being a crazy person.

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:15:26 +0000

No seriously, thank you. Because as much as it sucks to have another photographer with the same name as me (we’ll both agree it kinda sucks), it doesn’t suck as much as it could. I appreciate that you are a normal person, not a crazy person. I count myself lucky that your working in a different genre than I am, living in a different part of this country, and I’m really lucky you are a great photographer so when we are confused for each other at least no one is walking away. So for the times I’ve gotten upset about the mixups that have happened. I apologize. You are awesome. You are nice. Thank you for that.

Here is a string of emails I received this week from a photographer who shares the name as another photographer. I think he wanted me to take down a link I have that goes to the other guy. But the other guy is a great photographer, and not at all crazy, so I am not taking the link down (besides, bullying is just wrong)… but here’s the conversation. It started last weekend and just in time for this blog post he sent the last one. Hope it gives you a good laugh this Friday! I took out the name of the photographer, but see if you can guess who it is…

This is 2012. Tradition is dead.

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:18:00 +0000

A great NY Times Post about Ben Lowy who uses his cell phone and Hipstamatic app to create some of the most compelling war photography we’ve seen. He is published by the biggest names in news, and the winner of the some of photography’s most prestigious awards. Well played Ben. Well played.

image copyright Ben Lowy

Wallpaper Wednesday

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:55:49 +0000

My husband and I just finished an epic series of trips. We flew to Scottsdale, AZ for our future God Daughters baby shower (Elle should be here this month! Very excited!), rented a car and drove to LA (got to see so many of my awesome friends and family), drove with one of my best friends and her sister to San Fran (where we got to meet so many new friends), flew home, had a visit from the awesome Cousin Pete, flew to Portland, OR (and totally fell in love with it out there). I think we completed all these trips in less than 4 weeks. Now I could promise that I’ll be better at posting Wallpaper Wednesdays and I was just flaking on these posts because of the nature of being on the road, but one quick look in the archives would dispell this myth fast. I’m terrible at it. This time last year (shhhh don’t tell anyone) I had my awesome intern (and super talented) photographer turned, assistant to the city planner, turned romancer of my little sister (she’s moving in with him this fall) Matt Mornick write all my blog posts. Go to his website and check out his blog posts. If he wasn’t distracted by his new socially responsible path of hopefully becoming a city planner someday he could deviate and make an amazing photographer. So now it’s up to me. To try and focus (ambitious). Can I do it? Can I actually buckle down and dedicate one blog post a week to an image that dear reader, you can post as your wallpaper? I hope so but won’t’ be holding my breath either.

My husband Sam posted this image on Facebook just after our trip, guess he was too excited to wait to show everyone (given my history with posting wallpapers I will let him off the hook). He’s had this as his background image since then (3 weeks?) he loves it and so do I. Making this a great image to start with!

Lighting setup, 3 lights, 3 ways.

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:44:47 +0000

Sam makes an excellent light testing model. This is a basic light setup that I like to use for portraits in my studio. It’s 3 lights, 2 on the background and one key light on the model. By simply turning the background lights on and off or turning them towards the model we get 3 entirely different light setups. Love it!

Biscayne Park vintage car show

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:23:00 +0000

On Saturday morning my shoot canceled. Always a bummer. But the good news was my friends and neighbors were bringing their car (and tiny chihuahua Taco) down to a car show in the center of our little town. So I walked down there and brought my camera, took some fun shots of their car (a Lamborghini named Hazzardo that looks very similar to the Bat Car) along with some of the other cool cars there. Maybe it was because of my love for UK Top Gear or growing up in a car family (thanks dad) but it was way too fun shooting these classic cars. In all the shooting excitement, I forgot to put on sunblock, which left me a nice burn. I think the pictures were worth it (and yes, that is Taco standing on Hazzardo).

Update on the fine art prints for Imoto, Palm Beach

Kate Benson Photography Studio — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:17:16 +0000

My prints for the Palm Beach new restaurant Imoto were due to be finished today, I drove down to Color House in Miami to do one last quality control and two of the three prints looked great. But the third print was a little off (they caught the mistake before I got there but this is why you have to check over everything you do) they had already started removing it from the plexi mounting. There is a reason they tell you it is a permanent adhesion to the Plexiglas when you frame this way. Removing the print completely ruins it and takes 3 guys. It was awesome. This was one of the rare times I actually had my point and shoot Panasonic Lumix with me and so I grabbed some photo’s and a little video of the process to show how messy it is.

Removing print from plexi from Kate Benson on Vimeo.