ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER ABOUT THE IMAGES

Joe Benton has chronicled life in every corner of the American South as a staff photographer for Southern Living magazine and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before establishing his own freelance business in Atlanta. 

Joe has traveled extensively illustrating stories for publications such as Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, The New York Times and Golfweek as well as shooting Major League baseball and professional golf for the Associated Press. His national advertising clients included Coca Cola, IBM and The Home Depot in addition to photographing numerous marketing campaigns for colleges and universities nationwide. 

Retiring to his hometown of Charleston, SC, the former Pulitzer Prize nominee for photojournalism now turns his eye toward photographic art and his beloved Lowcountry.

I’m often asked, “Are your images art or photography?”  The answer is “both”. It is photographic art. After 45 years as a photojournalist, I wanted to combine my hobby of painting with my experience in photography. The result is what you see here, photographic art.

As a journalist, my job, indeed, my duty, was to report accurately and honestly what my camera saw.  Oftentimes, that was a stark reality and not always pretty. Now, as an artist, I choose to soften that world and concentrate on the inherent beauty within it. 

All inanimate objects possess their own character. Every object has its own unique beauty, and all have their own story to tell.  My passion is to tell that story.  

There is no one, single process I employ. One size does not fit all.  Every scene I see is different, and I search for a visual technique equally unique. That’s what makes it art. It couldn’t be simpler, or more fun.  It’s my world. I hope you enjoy it.