Harry Benson

Harry Benson is THE quintessential, preeminent photojournalist of his generation. And my generation. And any generation in between those two eras. I met him at a recent book signing event in West Palm Beach. Turns out, he’s good friends with my boss. Benson is from Scotland – so, of course, he perked up immediately when he heard my last name. (Mackie was originally “Mackay” – which smacks of tartan and bagpipes.) I didn’t realize he was such a big deal until I saw some of his photos. You’ve probably seen his work in Life, Vanity Fair, People and The New Yorker. He’s very polite, very soft spoken and has a razor-sharp wit about him. Every one of his stories has a story behind it. You name the celebrity – he’s shot them. Once I realized he’d photographed Dolly Parton back in the ‘70’s, I didn’t want to talk about anything else. Go figure.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 am and is filed under Brush With Greatness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.