1.Personal Background
Matthew Benson was born in Treasure Island FL to a retired Foreign Service officer and an actress. He graduated from Augustana College in Little Rock, Illinois and then proceeded to get his master's in journalism from Columbia University. Benson is a contributing editor for Organic Gardening Magazine and has his photographs are regularly featured in various magazines, books, catalogs, and folios. He is also an author himself writing both Growing Beautiful Food and The Photogenic Garden. He is married to the lovely Heidi Petelinz who is an editor and writer at Martha Stewart Magazine in New York.
2.Style
All of Benson's photographs are based around nature and have some aspect of nature in them. All of his pictures are either landscape/nature or still lives. He really likes doing monochromatic still lives or ones with just a slight pop of color. When he is taking either object photos or still lives he focuses in tight to the subject with a matching background out of focus.
3.Philosophy
The major ideas of Benson's work go hand in hand with the style that he possesses. He is trying to show the world just how beautiful nature is and how delicious organic locally grown food is. I also trying that he is trying to encourage other farmer or gardening to show the world all of the life they have brought into this world. He wants them to take a "leap of faith" and "think like a camera". The majority of people don't or cant appreciate nature in their day to day lives and pictures help to bring the nature to those people.
4.Influences
Benson has influenced my work in the way that I'm inspired to take more pictures of my food and nature. Using interesting backgrounds in conjunction with interesting subject matter will also be in my work. I love to make food and get super fresh food and it will be so much easier to share what I've bought or made with the photography skills I've learned and observed in Benson's photographs. He truly inspires me to capture my food creations and forever immortalize them.
5.Sources
Cinnamon and Sugar
The obvious difference in this picture is that the cinnamon rolls do not have the same shape or size and therefore can not be in the same positions. That being said I feel as though my picture is good for what I have. The background in my photograph is just a brick wall, but in Benson's it's more cinnamon rolls which I feel is good for adding interest to the picture and is very relevant.
The obvious difference in this picture is that the cinnamon rolls do not have the same shape or size and therefore can not be in the same positions. That being said I feel as though my picture is good for what I have. The background in my photograph is just a brick wall, but in Benson's it's more cinnamon rolls which I feel is good for adding interest to the picture and is very relevant.
Corn and Jalapeno
Instead of using a wood cutting board to place my bread on I used a glass one. The planks of wood are horizontal in my picture and vertical in Benson's. The light is different between these two pictures and seems as though Benson's picture was taken in the shade around 4 o'clock or so though the way the shadow is placed. In my picture the day was a little cloudy and there is no shadows casted by my bread. Over all Benson's photograph is warmer and has deeper richer shades than my photo does.
Instead of using a wood cutting board to place my bread on I used a glass one. The planks of wood are horizontal in my picture and vertical in Benson's. The light is different between these two pictures and seems as though Benson's picture was taken in the shade around 4 o'clock or so though the way the shadow is placed. In my picture the day was a little cloudy and there is no shadows casted by my bread. Over all Benson's photograph is warmer and has deeper richer shades than my photo does.
Lemons and Garlic
The picture that Benson took the colors are warmer than in mine. Over all I think the composition is very similar and looks aesthetically pleasing. The purple in the garlic is more prevalent in my photograph compared to Benson's photograph. Although the purple is more prevalent in my picture the two hues-- violet and yellow-- work well together. The central focus of Benson's photograph is the garlic, but in mine it is the lemon slices.
The picture that Benson took the colors are warmer than in mine. Over all I think the composition is very similar and looks aesthetically pleasing. The purple in the garlic is more prevalent in my photograph compared to Benson's photograph. Although the purple is more prevalent in my picture the two hues-- violet and yellow-- work well together. The central focus of Benson's photograph is the garlic, but in mine it is the lemon slices.
All of these images are sourced from matthewbenson.com, and all of them are from his eat portfolio and don't have names.
7. Personal Artist Statement
I got very excited when Mrs. Giltner told be about this food photographer because I love food. I ended up putting the cinnamon rolls up before any others because my grandma would always say " Life's too short eat dessert first". I cropped around the cinnamon rolls to draw attention away from the background and to cut out the background noise. The next two pictures had to be taken from above, this viewpoint is the best for showing of the food. I really quite like the way my photographs turned out and.