The Scot who captured America on camera

Right Place, Right Time

Harry Benson, CBE, once said the art of photography is 'putting your camera in interesting positions'.

In an outstanding career spanning over five decades, Benson has captured on film every US President from Dwight D Eisenhower to Barack Obama. His powerful and touching images have become what many people now see in their minds when they think of recent key points in the story of America.

Benson was metres away from Bobby Kennedy the night he was assassinated. He was in the room when President Nixon resigned.

He was on the civil rights marches with Martin Luther King junior in Mississippi in 1966 and covered the aftermath and devastation of both 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

His lens captured the cruel story of the first American to be killed in Bosnia and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Every Picture Tells A Story

Awarded with a CBE in 2009, Benson is not only a photojournalist, he has also won the respect and trust of the stars.

He was invited to Neverland by singer Michael Jackson to photograph his son, Prince. Elizabeth Taylor asked him into her hospital ward to take tender shots of her following brain surgery in 1997. George Bush posed for him whilst swinging an antique wooden golf club. Ronald and Nancy Reagan allowed him to take a memorable studio shot of them dancing in the White House in 1985.

Benson's front covers from Vanity Fair, Time, Life and Forbes have been so numerous they could decorate a room of the Presidential building.

So why did this intrepid Scot, whose father worked in a Glasgow zoo, find the beating heart and conscience of America through a lens?

Scottish Roots

When Benson arrived in the States with the Beatles in 1964 to cover their American tour, he already had the tools and personality to succeed in his adopted country.

His determination and work ethos stemmed from his upbringing in Scotland. Even when shooting for the leading titles, on generous expense budgets, he never lost his desire to get the top picture before anyone else.

Fellow photographer Bill Eppridge, with some resignation, recalls Benson's single-mindedness when on assignment, saying that every time he identified where the best spot was, Harry Benson would already be there.

Burning Ambition

His ability to throw himself into his subject began early. His first published picture was of a deer taken at Calder Zoo in Glasgow, where his father was curator. He progressed to photographing weddings, developing his pictures from a garden shed then returning them within three hours.

Even when doing '8 to 10 jobs a day' at a weekly newspaper, the Hamilton Advertiser, he was sending images to The Sketch at Fleet Street in London on the overnight train.

In many ways, Benson's rise represents the American dream. He was a hard working boy with an ambition to reach the top.

Tips from Lord Beaverbrook

When he moved to Fleet Street and the Daily Express, it was the paper's owner, Lord Beaverbrook, who taught him another of his vital lessons; flattery.

Benson's ability to charm people has been a vital ingredient in his success, helping him win the esteem of America's leading political and cultural figures.

He persuaded Cassius Clay, in February 1964, to be photographed with The Beatles in Miami and convinced John, Paul, George and Ringo to go through with the famous shot in a gym on 12th Street, even though they didn't speak to him for some time afterwards. It remains one of the most memorable shots in Benson's portfolio along with the celebrated image of The Beatles' pillow fight in a Paris hotel room in January 1964.

The Path Less Trodden

Benson also had the ability to see a shot others weren't aware of. He famously said that if the pack were heading one way, he would go the other.

He worked on instinct and worked fast. He once hid up a palm tree to photograph Liz Taylor on location. Sometimes he refused to eat when on assignment in order to stay focused.

Having been trained always to bring back a picture, Benson always managed to find one. On most occasions, the result captured the very essence of the subject, whether it was capturing the kiss between Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary in 1992 at the Governor's Mansion in Arkansas or Nixon as he announced his resignation in 1974.

Two years ago, Benson was asked what he would have done if he wasn't a photographer. He shrugged his shoulders. Looking at the work left behind, the answer would probably be a journalist. His former Picture Editor at the Daily Express, Frank Spooner, clearly thought so.

"Harry made things happen," he said. "That's what happens to good journalists."