At a recent Sony street photography meetup I had the opportunity to meet one of my favourite photojournalist and Sony Artisans, Benjamin Lowy.
Ben is a New York based photographer who has spanned the globe to bring us images from some of the most dangerous places imaginable including Iraq, Darfur, Afghanistan, and Libya (where he travelled with Tim Hetherington).
Having considered a career in journalism, and been enthralled by the HBO TV series ‘Witness‘ (as well as ‘Vice’ and similar shows) I have only the highest regard for conflict photography and photojournalism, the work that these people do, and the skill and ability required to do it well.
So I’m already a big fan of PJ’s in general.
But I think the thing that speaks most to me about Ben is that he’s not just a conflict photographer. He’s not the lone, solitary, Nachtwey-like figure that so many PJ’s are – he’s also a family man with a loving wife and children. He doesn’t just shoot conflict photography (especially now that he has children) but has covered domestic events such as Hurricane Sandy (see his Time Magazine cover here), international tragedy such as the Haiti earthquake, Indian Kushti wrestlers, glaciers in Iceland, and sharks in Mexico. He shoots digital. He shoots mirrorless. He’s been known to shoot with an iPhone. He’s versatile. He’s progressive. He’s ‘Photojournalism 2.0’ and I can’t wait to see what he does next!
Above: Ben Lowy hamming-it-up ‘Zoolander style’ in front of the camera.
More on the street photography event to follow next post.
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