John Rabe
March 25, 2008
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Harry Benson has photographed the Beatles, Amy Winehouse, every sitting President since Ike, Greta Garbo in the 1970s, Liz Taylor after brain surgery, and the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Benson, who was born in Scotland and came to the U.S. in 1964, has a new retrospective exhibit in West Hollywood. He sat down Tuesday with KPCC's John Rabe to talk about his life's work.
John Rabe: What do you look for in a photograph?
Harry Benson: Something unusual. You're looking for, maybe a bit of a crisis. Usually you're just hoping for the best.
Rabe: Cartier-Bresson said if you're not taking any good photographs, you're not close enough. Do you agree, and how close do you have to get?
Benson: I mean, you're moving in close. OK, there was the Bobby Kennedy assassination. That is history you've got there. Your whole instinct is to run the other way, is to go the other way. Because not only is the scene hellish, out of control, crisis, nobody knows the perimeters, and you've got to take pictures through this. Also, it's historic. Photograph everything you see.
And that's what, to me, what photojournalism is. You photograph everything you see, and what you see should inform. And, you know, I want to photograph a life, I don't want to die for it. You learn to take film, and you get it out your camera once you've done a few shots as quick as you can, because if a policeman comes to you with a gun and wants your film, he knows how to get it.
Rabe: Boris Yaro of the L.A. Times was also there that night, at the Ambassador. He can't talk about that night anymore.
Benson: I never had that problem. The only thing in my head, really, was after was, did my pictures come out? I know this sounds cold, but this is what I was in the business for.
Rabe: And there's that famous story about Capa after D-Day. He goes and starts developing his film, and one of his helpers damages the negatives because he exposes them to light. Have you ever had a moment like that? Is there a great shot that you remember that you lost?
Benson: Yes, there are, but I forget about them very quickly. There's nothing I can do about it. I mean, there are stupid things I've done. I'll tell you a real stupid thing I've done. I went into the darkroom once because you had to, on the Daily Express in London, you had to develop your own film. So I go in there, and you're supposed to turn off the lights. Well I went in there and closed my eyes with the lights on! (laughs)
