New Life

In the past two months, Jenny and I bought a house, moved and had a little girl. Here’s to new life!

LifeMatt BensonFebruary 18, 2020zion, newborn, baby, family, film, photography, leica, m6, black and white, grain, kodak, tri-x, Tri-X 400, iso, 35mm, gainesville, matt benson, blog, new life, adventure

Enter The Nikonos V

I recently purchased a Nikonos V and took it to the Juniper Prairie Wilderness to fill some gaps in my photography story.

The Woods is a Time Machine

This past weekend I did some time traveling. Not in the science fiction sense, where someone jumps into a DeLorean or a phone booth and leaps forward and backward in a dramatic attempt to rectify some injustice committed in an alternate timeline. No, my time travel was a little more tame than that.

The Things We Carried

They warn you about the bears. They warn you about the alligators. They warn you about the rattlesnakes and the water moccasins. But they never warn you about the two guys hauling an oversized bathroom mirror miles through the brush and the thicket into the wilderness. Probably best to stay clear of those two.

Tick Talk

It was the 4:15 a.m. alarm that finally succeeded in yanking me from the silence. I rolled out of bed and onto my feet.

Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt BensonMarch 3, 2019mamiya, rz67, medium format, film, black and white, photography, analog, kodak, 400tx, pushed, tri-x, florida, wilderness, adventure, journal, documentary, explore, map, leica, m6, video, kayak, wilderness systems, river, fun, summer, juniper prairie wilderness, wilderness area, nature, woods, outdoors, matt benson, alex catalano, 6x7, 120, 120 love, 35mm, 110mm, f/2.8, grain, sunrise, sunset, pine trees, ocala, national forest, corn snake

Life and Death in The Prairie

I grew up in Florida. My family moved here from Cape Cod when I was seven. But I’ve always seen Florida as an unfortunate circumstance, a stain left in the carpet of my parents’ old dreams. This is the second post of my Contact Sheets series.

Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt BensonJanuary 21, 2019photography, black and white, film, 120, kodak, 400tx, tri-x, 400, 120 love, juniper prairie wilderness, ocala national forest, the real florida, red filter, 110mm, f/2.8, 50mm, uld, mamiya, rz67, pro, II, wide angle, water, landscape, seascape, waterscape, feathers, bear, nature, wildlife, zine, analog, matt benson, 6x7, grain, florida, public land, home, contact sheet

Contact Sheets

One of my goals for 2019 is to create a zine about the Juniper Prairie Wilderness area of the Ocala National Forest. In conjunction with this zine, I’m creating a blog series called Contact Sheets, where I post the entire contact sheet for each roll of film I shoot for this project. I spent yesterday developing and scanning three rolls from a recent Juniper Prairie Wilderness trip, so what better day to kick off this project than January 1?

Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt BensonJanuary 1, 2019juniper prairie wilderness, ocala national forest, florida, mamiya, rz67, pro, II, Kodak, 400TX, Tri-x, 400, black and white, landscape, red filter, #25, 50mm, uld, 110mm, matt benson, photography, photo, contact sheet, scans, grain, 120, film, medium format, 6x7, taking root

11 Tips for Photographing Strangers

Everyone has a different approach to taking pictures of strangers. And the more you shoot, the faster you will discover what works and doesn’t work for you. It’s a skill like anything else, and it needs to be practiced as often as possible. Here are 11 tips I use when I’m out photographing strangers in the street.

PhotographyMatt BensonJune 19, 2017tips, inspiration, photography, black and white, leica, m6, how to, photograph, people, documentary, photojournalism, candid, moments, kodak, tri-x, 400, zeiss, biogon, matt, benson, analog, street, orlando, florida, list, grain, 35mm, D-76

Style Points

One of the biggest compliments you can receive as a photographer is somebody telling you that you have a unique style. It's a holy grail we all seek. But what do I mean by "style," and how can finding it help us connect with ourselves on a deeper level?

PhotographyMatt BensonJune 9, 2017Photography, thoughts, advice, inspiration, black and white, leica, m6, zeiss, biogon, film, street, orlando, florida, matt benson, photo, meaning, understanding, connection, grain, kodak, tri-x, 400, pushed, 800

Patience and Restraint

I want to share with you an experiment I’ve been working on for the past eight months in hopes that it will inspire you to do the same.

PhotographyMatt BensonJune 3, 2017photography, experiment, inspiration, black and white, film, leica, m6, 35mm, scans, plustek, matt benson, photo, new york city, waiting, how to, advice, images, photos, pictures

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