kate benson, Author at Kate Benson Photography

Lifestyle Photographer South Carolina | Kate Benson for Beija Flor Jeans

by kate benson | Nov 7, 2017 | Fashion, Product, Uncategorized

A little under a year ago I joined A Wonderful Machine and have really enjoyed working with them. This summer I hired them to do some consulting work as well as a bit of a rebranding and have to say hiring that out has been a great decision. As photographers we get so emotionally close to our work that it’s hard to see just the image without the story of shooting it. This morning Wonderful Machine sent me a sweet note to let me know that they are using this shot from the current season of my shoot for Beija Flor Jeans as their homepage image for a bit. I’m pretty excited and flattered of course.

Beija Flor Jeans is one of my favorite clients, based in the Carolinas and I have had the blessing of getting to shoot a few seasons for them now. The shoots are always very diverse and fun. If you love amazing jeans, here is the link to their website: https://www.beijaflorjeans.com and if you haven’t checked it out, Wonderful Machine is pretty cool as well: https://wonderfulmachine.com

Abstract Fine Art Photography | Kate Benson

by kate benson | Nov 6, 2017 | Uncategorized

Bellow are three different collections of my fine art photography work. All of these are created in camera. My fine art photography is very abstract. I shoot so much literal work that when I create art photography, embrace the imagination. These collections are about finding your own story for what you view. The experience of looking at the images and imagining what they are and how they were created is as important as the strong compositions, colors and contrasts that are apparent from first viewing. These are all small samples of larger projects. More images are available on request from any of the three series.

Contact [email protected] for requests and commissions

Charleston Food and Beverage Photographer | Feeling Testy

by kate benson | Oct 30, 2017 | Charleston commercial ..., Product

A few weeks back, food stylist, blogger, editor and author Ashley Strickland Freeman reached out to me to grab lunch. She is joining the flock of uber talented folks that have fled city life to seek out beautiful quite land…. (how do I really feel about moving to Charleston?) Her story was not unlike my own when I took off to Miami in 2006. I made that move with the goal of throwing myself at fate completely and trusting that brave moves with no logic to them could have great rewards. So instantly, I admired Ashley’s bravery, of course. Along with that, during our conversation I learned that she has quite the resume of accomplishments and is coming into this town with an arsenal of knowledge and talent. I’ve dabbled in food before and felt inspired by her visit to do some shooting of my own in the f&b world. Plus, it meant I could cook a feast for my friends later that weekend (sous vide pork tenderloin with a bourbon/caramelized onion/fig/pomegranate/blackberry compote, roasted Mediterranean artichokes and purple sweet potatoes if I remember it all right…. no recipes sorry, I was just winging it)! What’s the good of being a food and beverage photographer if you don’t get to reap the rewards? Come on! Especially in Charleston where the culinary scene puts everyone to shame… I had to try!

So I thought this would be easy, and it turns out, it was (mostly). My biggest challenge after sourcing my props was getting away from product photography. No kidding. I bought all these crazy beautiful ingredients and couldn’t stop photographing the glassware and barware…. So this is how things progressed:

The first setup: Barware. I had a very tasty cocktail that I made for this, a thyme, lemonade, pomegranate, champagne drink. Luckily since this wouldn’t last a few days for me to get time to cook, one of my girlfriends Sharon stopped by to help taste test my work.

The irony of my test shoot of food and beverage becoming a light study on the barware does not escape me. This is totally one of those, “of course I would do that” moments. So happy with the above I decided to explore how some crystal glasses would look. At which point, I spiraled down into the rabbit hole again of exploring the light and shadows and never actually filled the glasses with anything.

At this point, I was hearing myself for the last several years telling anyone who asked if I did personal work a lecture on topics being to broad for me to do that and that I needed limitations if I was ever going to get anywhere. I know myself pretty well when it comes to images.

So the clock was ticking down and it was time (past time) for me to shoot some food and beverage. So I stripped away all the distractions that I could (shadows, accessories, etc) and just started playing with ingredients and light.

Then I allowed myself to put back in small accessories.

And after photographing the almost inappropriately sumptuous pears, I called it a wrap. That and by this point I couldn’t let Sharon drink by herself anymore. What kind of friend does that?

So needless to say, I am looking forward to our newest Charlestonian arriving around Thanksgiving. To check out Ashley’s work, visit her website: http://ashleystricklandfreeman.com hopefully we will have the opportunity to work together soon!

Charleston Fashion and Portrait Photographer | Kate Benson | Meet Lily

by kate benson | Oct 25, 2017 | Fashion, Uncategorized

If you follow my Instagram, you’ve likely already seen this new face on my feed over the last week. If you don’t follow me, what’s taking you so long? https://www.instagram.com/katebensonphotography/

Lily contact me a few weeks ago and had a pretty cool back story. About a year ago she was approached by two ladies (I bet I could guess who) from a local modeling agency DirectionsUSA and they asked her 3 questions, “how old are you? How tall are you? When are your braces coming off?” The answers were 15 (at the time), 5’8″, and in a year. Turns out, Lily had just had her braces removed when she called me. She needed a model test shoot and needed it ASAP. In addition to sending her images off to the agency, she needed to send them to Charleston Fashion Week for consideration for the upcoming event.

Shooting a 16 year old is a fun change for me, as is a first time model. There is something really amazing about fearless way a model will try different poses and expressions when they haven’t already learned what their looks are. Lily brought so much more character and fun to the shoot than I was every expecting. In this little series for example:

We shot these in the marsh in Mount Pleasant behind my friends house so for part of this shoot, we had an audience watching. Let me just add, in addition to being a new model, to have to model in front of strangers adds to the challenge. But she killed it. I intentionally started shooting her later in the day in studio so we could move out to the locations once the light was where it needed to be. With the help of my new intern Chelsea who was assisting this day, we didn’t spend more than an hour total on the marsh. I wanted to get a variety of locations in before the sunset (which is about 6:30pm now).

So we wrapped up the marsh and ran off to the beach racing the sun, because, did I mention, I have a thing about using natural light so we were going to be done no matter what once the sun was gone. We did two looks there, a swimwear look and another younger look.

Our last look was inspired by some beautiful erosion at Breaches Inlet on Sullivans Island. That and the fun beanie Lily had brought. As the last of the sunlight slipped away behind the island, we quickly shot one last round of images.

These had the most amazing Maxfield Parrish feel to them (one of my favorite painters of all time). I loved them so much I am pretty excited to get back out there and shoot again. Lily as of this shoot, was unsigned and starting to look for agencies. I have no doubt that she’ll find one and have many, many more amazing shoots. As for me, I hope to get another chance to photograph her soon! Extra thanks to Chris, Lily’s mom for being such an awesome assistant on set as well as to Chelsea for all the computer/lens/reflector wrangling, Phil and Sandi for letting us invade their backyard and always offering me their home as a location (again), and Sam for watching Moose extra late that night and making sure there were some takeout tacos for me when I got home. He knows the way to my heart!

Carolina Product Photographer | Kate Benson Photography | The Mad Olive e-commerce: photographer and consultant

by kate benson | Jun 29, 2017 | Professional Photogr..., Charleston e-commerce ..., Product

(Just taking a picture while I pour the beer for no other reason than to see if I can do both at the same time and make it work)

Tomorrow I’ll be shooting a creative still life shoot in studio and on location here in Charleston, SC. The client is The Mad Olive, a wonderful couple who reached out to me asking for help making the transition from an Etsy storefront to their own website. In an incredible story of entrepreneurship, the two started their Etsy shop selling custom engraving/etching on many different gift products. Quickly sales grew and they were soon giving up their other occupations, hiring help and full time. That store lead into another Etsy store which grew in success even faster than the first.

When Lauren called me, we discussed the art direction and I guided her through the steps of making choices on how to present the images to clients. We knew that this would be two shoots, an e-commerce shoot and a creative still life shoot with props and set. They love soft shadows and color pallets but wanted to move away from the Etsy style of images for their website and marketing photography (Etsy shots are usually prop and set heavy, as well as really busy). A neutral background color was selected and I sent them previews of the shooting as we went along. One of the cool things about being and e-commerce photographer is finding a way to keep images consistent and fit together despite the varied subjects and materials being captured. I also love consulting for e-commerce and helping guide my clients to find images that will reach their customers more effectively. What works for Etsy isn’t what works best on your own websites most of the time.

In the spirit of being excited for tomorrow’s shoot, here are a few of my favorite shots from The Mad Olive’s new e-commerce photography. All the product will have etching superimposed on it later. But shooting them blank allowed their team to have maximum return on their investment (love that ROI) for each image since it will be able to get used multiple ways. Here are a few beautiful wood products: