Golden Summer

I spent the summer shooting exclusively on Kodak Gold 200 and my Hasselblad 500cm.

Photography, TravelMatt BensonOctober 7, 2024outdoors, ocala national forest, florida, wilderness, real florida, photography, matt benson, adventure, travel, hasselblad, 500 cm, prince edward island, canada, kodak, gold, 200, 120, film, analog, square, 6x6, color

Red Dot

I sold my Leica M6 and have been working primarily with the Fujifilm X100V. This post is all about change.

Photography, LifeMatt BensonApril 28, 2023photography, matt benson, fujfilm, x100v, leica, m6, film, change, red dot

Day Off - Kayaking the Ocklawaha River

With a rare morning to myself, I kayaked a section of the Ocklawaha River and created a video of the adventure.

Making A Photography Zine

I made my first photography zine using the film I shot in California.

Photography, DesignMatt BensonMarch 8, 2020zine, print, design, graphic design, photography, photo, fanzine, production, how to, in design, layout, editorial, medium format, 6x7, mamiya, mamiya 7ii, analog, film, 120, kodak, portra400, ektar100, negative, c41, richard photo lab, DIY, matt benson, landscape, california, golden gate bridge, trinidad, san francisco, portrait, story, storytelling, visual, graphic, inspirational, color, process, editing, photography editing, 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.

California On Film

Jenny and I went to California for our anniversary, and I recorded the entire trip on my Mamiya 7ii and 15 rolls of film.

Photography, TravelMatt BensonAugust 11, 2019mamiya, mamiya 7ii, film, analog, photography, landscape, 120, kodak, ektar100, portra400, portra, ektar, 6x7, medium format, color, california, san francisco, city, trinidad, woods, forest, redwood national park, redwoods, giants, trees, pacifica, beach, ocean, skyline, golden gate bridge, journey, adventure, west, west coast, travel, blog, matt benson

The Blue Square

I have a love-hate relationship with light painting. It never goes as planned, and although my ideas are tactful, the execution is consistently inadequate. This past weekend I took to the woods to explore the role the physical process plays in art and how that affects our perception of it.

Moon Flower Blues

We drove to the Juniper Prairie Wilderness Friday evening with the goal of photographing white pond lilies beneath the glow of a rare “blue flower moon.”

Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt BensonMay 21, 2019juniper prairie wilderness, ocala national forest, adventure, matt benson, nikon, d610, digital, photography, stars, moon, blue, water lily, lily, flower, 24mm f1.4, iphone XR, florida, the real florida, juniper, woods, LED, lighting, night, DJI Spark, drone, nemo, hornet, 1p

Let There Be (F)light

There have been two trips that have definitively revolutionized our Juniper Prairie Wilderness project. The first was when we started bringing GPS devices to the woods. The second occurred this weekend.

Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt BensonMay 5, 2019juniper prairie wilderness, DJI, Spark, drone, Nikon, D610, 50mm, photography, nature, ocala national forest, florida, matt benson, the real florida

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

Why I Shoot Film

In this post I reveal a little sneak peak of my new camera and dive into why I still shoot film in an almost exclusively digital world.

PhotographyMatt BensonSeptember 24, 2018film, leica, m6, mamiya, rz67, proii, 110mm, sekor, kodak, portra, 400, ektar, 100, acadia national park, portrait, grain, boxer, matt, benson, photography, photo, image, analog, 35mm, 120, medium format, unboxing, opening, film vs digital

Color Matters

When it comes to shooting film, I’ve always preferred black and white. But I recently shot eight rolls of Portra 400 over the last three weeks and wanted to share with you some of the images I made as well as my thoughts on shooting color film in general.

PhotographyMatt BensonJuly 9, 2017color, portra, 400, kodak, film, photography, inspiration, tips, advice, thoughts, leica, m6, zeiss, biogon, 35mm, matt, benson, blog, post, florida, ocala national forest, orlando, street, candid, moments, documentary, photojournalism, egmont key

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

Two Free Videos to Get You Motivated

Let's be honest: We all need a little motivation once in a while. As much as we love going out and taking pictures, sometimes the going out part can be a bit difficult. So I'd like to share with you two free film photography videos in hopes they will inspire you to get off the couch and go shoot some film!

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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