Mia Farrow and Sinatra
Photo by Harry Benson

Harry Benson: “A good photograph can never be repeated”

HOLDEN LUNTZ
DECEMBER 21, 2017

Frank and Mia, their relationship took us by surprise in 1966. Burton and Taylor seemed to have set the standard for celebrity romance, but this was so different from that — Mia, the seemingly shy and retiring ingénue, a waif, hardly the Ava Gardner type, and Sinatra, arguably the most powerful man in show biz, the leader of The Rat Pack, a denizen of Vegas after hours, often seen in the company of “persons of interest,” and twenty-nine years her senior. Their relationship had about it the elements of mystery, and nowhere is that mystery better captured than in the great Harry Benson’s black and white photograph of the two of them at the legendary Truman Capote Black and White Masked Ball at The Plaza Hotel in New York in 1966.

 

Harry Benson

HARRY BENSON: “I’M KEEPING THEIR IMAGE ALIVE”

Ana Bogdan

SHORT PROFILE

Name: Harry Benson
DOB: 2 December 1929
Place of birth: Glasgow, United Kingdom
Occupation: Photographer

Mr. Benson, as a photographer for over 50 years, how do you reconcile the fact that your pictures can't please everyone?

If people don’t like the pictures, I don’t care. To me, there’s only one point of view: that’s mine. You know, what the hell, I need to record what I see at that time! I’m not there to be the promoter. I’m terrible! (Laughs)

Harry Benson

Harry Benson: 50 Years in 17 Photos

He has documented some of the most pivotal moments in history and people's rise to fame

AARP The Magazine, September 27, 2017 |

A gifted news photographer and accomplished portraitist, Harry Benson was the subject of an acclaimed 2016 documentary film, Harry Benson: Shoot First. In November, his latest book, Persons of Interest, is scheduled to be released.

• PHOTO BY: HARRY BENSON

  1964: The Beatles

  It was 3 a.m. after a concert in Paris. Their manager had burst in to tell them “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was No. 1 on the American charts. I had heard them talking about a pillow fight they’d had, so I suggested it. I thought it would make a good photo. John said no, it’d make them look silly. Then he slipped up behind Paul and hit him over the head with a pillow, and that started it.

Harry Benson / Shoot First / Celebrating the Man Who Photographed Everyone from Michael Jackson to Martin Luther King

Truman Capote
New Orleans, 1980
Photo by Harry Benson

Harry Benson

Celebrating the Man Who Photographed Everyone from MJ to MLK

Watch an exclusive clip from the new documentary 'Harry Benson: Shoot First.'

The Beatles and Muhammad Ali in HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Photo Credit: © Harry Benson.

Having been at more historic events and met more famous people at their most vulnerable than most, Scottish photographer Harry Benson has had a long and ongoing career. The new documentary Harry Benson: Shoot First immortalizes a man, now 86 years old, who has spent his life immortalizing others in photographs. Today you can watch a clip from the film, exclusively on The Creators Project. 

The film starts in 1964, the legendary year Benson spent with The Beatles on their first trip to the United States. “I didn’t want to do that job,” Benson says. “I was going to Africa. I was a serious journalist.” When his editor insisted, the 25-year-old Benson gave in. “I asked why was it me. He said because the other photographer was ugly, and the one thing you couldn’t be around The Beatles was ugly.” He adds, “I knew that photographer, and he was ugly.” 

Benson’s images of The Beatles are, without exaggeration, unlike any others. They are instantly recognizable: the pillow fight in the hotel, Paul with a face full of shaving cream, Muhammad Ali “punching” the band’s collective lights out. “There are endless images of The Beatles,” says art consultant Henry Neville in the film, “but there are no images of The Beatles that gain the intimacy that Harry’s photos have done; that understanding of four young kids changing history.”

Michael Jackson in HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Photo Credit: © Harry Benson.

But the film is quick to prove that Benson is so much more than his Beatles days. He has gotten beneath the skin of some of the most impenetrable icons of the 20th century: Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson, Johnny Carson, Sophia Loren, Dolly Parton, the list goes on. Then, he’s been invited back for dinner.

Martin Luther King Jr. in HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Photo Credit: © Harry Benson.

First-hand, Benson has witnessed moments that mattered: the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, and the Watts Riots in Los Angeles. He infiltrated KKK rallies in South Carolina, interviewed and photographed Lennon’s murderer, traveled to refugee camps in Somalia, and gone behind the IRA’s closed doors. He took portraits of every US president since Dwight D. Eisenhower, and was the photographer at Truman Capote’s famed Black and White Ball.

Ethel Kennedy in HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Photo Credit: © Harry Benson.

By capturing the bigger picture of Benson’s career, the film takes a look at the life behind the photographer’s legendary lens. It presents an honest portrait of a man who skips family Christmases to get the story, who breaks rules to make new ones, and who competes with everybody, especially himself. A man, in short, who puts his craft above all else; because, as Benson says, “a great photograph can never happen again.”

Hillary and Bill Clinton in HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Photo Credit: © Harry Benson.

A scene from HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Photo Credit: © Harry Benson.

Kate Moss in HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Photo Credit: © Harry Benson.

Harry Benson in HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Harry Benson: Shoot First will be released in theaters, OnDemand, Amazon Video, and on iTunes on December 9th. Find more information about the film on it’s official site and click here to find more of Harry Benson’s work.

VICE