Scottish born photographer Harry Benson CBE came to America with The Beatles in1964 and never looked back. He began working for LIFE magazine in 1967 and became its most published photographer during the next 30 years.
His photographs have appeared in countless publications including Vanity Fair, French Vogue, Paris Match, Forbes, Town & Country, Architectural Digest, Time, Quest, Fortune, New York Magazine, Newsweek, and The London Sunday Times Magazine.
Harry is the only photographer to have photographed the last 12 U.S. Presidents — from President Dwight D. Eisenhower to President Donald J. Trump.
In 2009 Harry was appointed a CBE, A Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for service to photography. He has received three Honorary Doctorates: Glasgow University and the Glasgow School of Art; St. Andrews University, Scotland; and Glasgow Caledonian University.
In 2017 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Internation Center of Photography (ICP) in New York. Honors include two Leica Medals of Excellence; a LUCIE Award for Lifetime Achievement; two NPPA Magazine Photographer of the Year Awards; and is an Honorary Fellow of London’s Royal Photographic Society. His photographs are in the permanent collection of several museums including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C. and The National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland.
HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST, the documentary released by Magnolia is available on Netflix. With 40 solo exhibitions of his work and sixteen books published, an upcoming limited edition signed book MICHAEL JACKSON will be published in 2019 by TASCHEN followed by one on Paul McCartney.
In addition to The Beatles, Harry’s fine art photographs include Andy Warhol: Francis Bacon, Truman Capote, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; Michael Jackson; Halston; Jacqueline Kennedy; Alfred Hitchcock; Bobby Fischer; Jack Nicholson; Frank Sinatra; Elizabeth Taylor; Kate Moss; Amy Winehouse; Dolly Parton; USA for Africa; Ray Charles; Barbra Streisand; Sir Winston Churchill; President Charles de Gaulle; Princess Diana; Muhammed Ali, The Who; James Brown; and The Rolling Stones. Harry’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland and is their official portrait of the Queen.