About

Ben has been photographing bands for the last 10 years.

His experiences of playing in bands himself, and the knowledge gained from designing and operating lighting rigs, gives Ben a unique approach to the art of gig and band photography.

However, Ben has had an interest in photography from an early age, being fascinated by the wildlife and landscape images he saw in magazines and publications, and the photographs taken by his father at local air-shows and family holidays.

Starting out with a Kodak Instamatic and moving on to 110 and 35mm compact cameras, Ben got his first 35mm SLR, a fully manual Cosina C1, as a present for his 17th Birthday. The move to 35mm SLRs was somewhat of a watershed, and Ben started to cut his photographic teeth at local air-shows, nature reserves and the forest that bordered the town where he lived. The air-shows in particular helping to develop a innate understanding of the basic techniques of photography, such as exposure control and camera handling.

Having helped run his school's drama department lighting team where he had a major role in designing and running the lighting rigs for concerts by the student rock bands, and subsequent work with local theatres and dramatical societies, Ben then spent a number of years playing guitar with local rock and blues bands. During this time Ben developed a love of the classic images of the Jazz greats and iconic bands of the sixties and, after starting to attend various music festivals and concerts, it was a logical progression to start photographing the bands at these events.

About this time, Ben traded in the Cosina and moved across to Minolta using their Dynax 7 35mm film camera and later moving partially to the digital format with their Dynax 7D digital SLR.

At the beginning of 2008 Ben decided that, having had various images used by BBC Coventry and Warwickshire through his involvement in the Coventry music scene, it was high time he got serious with his photography. This resulted in a decision to upgrade his camera equipment and take a more active role in promoting himself as a photographer.

Ben has now switched over completely to digital capture, using top end Nikon digital SLRs and lenses, and shoots predominantly using available light - Ben believes using flash loses the atmosphere of the gig and is an unnecessary distraction for the band members and audience alike.

Ben is currently working with several bands in his local, Leeds, music scene as well as several nationally recognised acts, and still has an active involvement in the Coventry music scene. This has seen his images used on several album covers and numerous websites. This has also led to Ben branching out into staged photo shoots for PR and album artwork uses, and Ben is currently looking at obtaining his own studio equipment to further this side of his photography.

Equipment List

  • Nikon D3
  • Nikon 24-70mm f2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor
  • Nikon 70-200mm f2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Nikkor
  • Gitzo Explorer Tripod with Gitso G13756M Off-Centre Ball Head
  • Lexar Pro 300x UDMA Compact Flash Cards
  • Lowepro Compu Trekker AW Camera Rucksack
  • Lowepro Top Loader 75 AW