In Augusta to photograph James Brown, these pictures were taken when he suggested we go for a ride. He told me he would show me his town. So we jumped into an old car and drove around. He would stop the car when he saw someone sitting in their yard, run up, do the split, yell out, I feel good, and jump back in the car and drive off. It was all so spontaneous and hilarious, and it took the onlookers by such surprise. Brown was a fun-loving character and a good sport. - Harry Benson, Harry Benson Photographs, 60 Years of Photograph, powerHouse Books
Harry Benson James Brown, Atlanta, 1979
Archival Pigment
Edition of 35
Size : 24 x 30 in. Harry Benson
Harry Benson's exquisite portraits and incisive photojournalism bring the world to a standstill, breathing life into slices of history, while at the same time preserving them for history. In order to capture these moments, Harry has spent over 60 years making sure to be in the right place at the right time. More than anything, Benson guides history with his pictures by getting at the center of the story, not the edges. Born in Glasgow amid the drama of WWII with bombs dropping overhead, he managed to escape through the lens of a camera. Benson's curious fortune struck when he was given a particular assignment in 1964: to capture The Beatles in France and on their first journey to the United States. This experience not only made for some of the most famous Beatles photography, but sent Benson's life in a completely new direction. Once he came to America, he never went back. His 60-year career as a photojournalist included a contract with LIFE Magazine and photographs on the covers and inside major magazines worldwide, including: Life, Time, Newsweek, Town & Country, Vanity Fair, Quest, Paris Match, G.Q., Esquire, W, The London Sunday Times Magazine, People, Vogue, Architectural Digest and Vice Magazine. During the civil war in the Dominican Republic, he was captured by both sides in one day. He caught the horror on Ethel Kennedy's face in the Ambassador Hotel after her husband Senator Robert Kennedy had been shot.