VOLUMES — BENNY

Interviewed by David Sharp (VOL.1 PRINT)

Brooklyn, New York

Benny Harps is sitting in a tan chair in the bedroom of his Bed-Stuy apartment on December 21st, 2021. Periodically, thru the window behind him, the J train can be seen rushing past. Benny is relaxed, wearing a grey hoodie, jeans, and round frames. Leaning against the wall next to him is a framed photograph, his favorite image of the year.

Sharp: Who are you and how is life right now?

Benny: (waits for train to pass) My name is Benny. I’m a photographer, creative director. I would say my life right now is in the middle. I’m blessed, but shit is shitty.. I can’t even hold you (laughs)

Sharp: Some artists express, some artists release, some want to teach, others want acclaim. What purpose does your art serve for you?

Benny: Everything surrounding my art.. It includes therapy, teaching, and my expression. For example, a lot of people have been telling me that they feel my art. Now, especially the stuff that I’ve been putting out recently. I’ll always get messages like that: “I feel your art”. I feel like its my duty as a visual artist to create visuals that make people feel good things like peace, calmness, therapy type shit. I feel like it’s my job to do that, to make people feel, all in all.

Sharp: Why Photography?

Benny: I feel like photography is a gateway to more things. When I started off, which was directing, then getting into actual visual making myself with my hand.. it’s another gateway to create that therapy, that feeling for other humans to see. In the way that I want it to go, I want it to be creative direction, I do the photography, and then I have an understanding of what I want to see so much that I can now ask other people to create the visions for me. And that’s going back to directing and filmmaking, so just a gateway.

Sharp: Talk to me about traits of a perfect model, what are they like. Are they receptive? Are they energetic? What is the type of person that you enjoy working with?

Benny: I think everybody is a perfect subject, but at the same time.. I think openness. Someone who is open to being the subject. Someone who is open to experiencing new things, so it can be an easier process. The more open a person is when creating the better the work is, the better the energy is. Especially when the energy is right because us as artists have to realize the art we put out, especially on these social media platforms, everybody has to be in a great energy. If everyone is in a great energy then the people receiving the work on those social media platforms will feel it. That’s what it has to be for me, it just has to be openness.

Sharp: What’s the biggest difference you notice in shooting male and female models?

Benny: Men are willing to do anything. It’s easier because I’m a man, so it’s easier for me to just be like “do this.” Usually a dude will come to a shoot and they’ll be like “so what do you want me to do?” That’s the first thing they say every single time. Because they don’t know what to do, so that gives you leeway as a creative to be like aight “do this!” and they’ll do it (laughs). That’s the funniest thing. That’s one thing I realized about men and women. Now as a male photographer I feel like it’s my job when I’m shooting women to make them feel comfortable and to make them feel open enough to shoot with me. I hate photographers that are like that “Alright this is my shoot. We gotta do what I want to do.” It’s like nah “What are you good with? What are you not?” We have that conversation and then we do what we do. Sometimes the model comes thru and they’re like “Bet! I want to do anything.” Or sometimes it’s more closed off and you have to build you way up to whatever you want to do to create what you want to create.. But men are mad easy (laughs)

Sharp: How much freedom do you give your models? Do you have something in mind already that you are trying to get to? Or are they free to do what they want and ya’ll reach that point together?

Benny: I had a recent shoot where I personally feel like I didn’t get what I wanted out of it. Its to the point now where I feel like I have to be more strategic and structured in my shooting, because the way that I shoot, I’m very free. I like to just work along the way. I don’t like to have a certain structure like “You’re wearing this, you need to pose like this.” It’s like whatever you do, I’m going to.. make it the best thing possible. Recently I realized that I have to be more stern in being like “alright pose this way.. I need this shot”. Or drawing up shots and poses. I hate mood boards so I feel like I have to draw things up. How I want your hands to be, how I want your feet to be, your body should be contorted this way.. You know what I’m saying? It all depends on what your vision is and the story you want to give off.

Sharp: How difficult is it communicating that to them? Your images aren’t just “stand in front of the camera, look straight into the camera.” You have a certain style and form to your images that is unique, how do you go about learning to communicate that to the people you’re working with?

Benny: I think that happens in pre-production. So before the shoot, as the photographer, you can’t be scared to express yourself, especially when it’s your vision. I think that’s my problem. I’m afraid of what they might say. For example if I want to shoot you nude or topless, I feel like as a man I can’t say that to a woman. You know what I’m saying? I have to have everything in place, finding certain shots that match that vision that I have, but it’s hard to do that because the things that I think about don’t exist. But it’s all about pre-production. It’s all about the energy that you give off in the beginning and what you say to that subject. Especially for women.. for men it’s just like “aight” (laughs)

Sharp: What’s your pace like when you shoot? In a shoot are you *click click click click click*? Are you slow? And what’s your pace like overall? How often do you need to shoot or how often do you want to shoot and how often have you actually been shooting?

Benny: My pace is basically depending on what I’m shooting. If I’m shooting movement then its click click click click click. But if I’m shooting straight up it’s more like click… click… click. It depends on the motion. When it comes to my shooting pace I like to stretch it out. Depending on if I haven’t had work in a while, like when I first moved here to New York I had like 3 shoots and then that was that. I try to stretch it out. I think I need to start stretching it out longer. Stretching them out in the sense of not oversaturating myself, like my work. I don’t like that. I like popping out at certain times. If I shoot one time and it’s a good shoot I want to just wait.. have that joint sit. Then probably in the next two months I’ll have another one. My personal projects, they sit. Then my other works, they can do whatever they want. In the process of personal projects there has to be like a month to two month wait time. Because that’s the stuff that really hits, for me.

Sharp: What’s your relationship like with inspiration? When you don’t have it do you know where to find it? Do you have to wait for it to come to you or do you have a go to method to spark it?

Benny: My inspiration comes from.. I don’t even know anymore, to be honest. I can say this year my inspiration has come from conversations that I have with my peers. As of recently my inspiration has come from diving back into Gordon Parks.

Sharp: Did you watch the documentary?

Benny: I sure did. I believe that Gordon Parks is one of the greatest of all-time in visual making period, but it’s his work ethic. To me his work is great, his work is like a timestamp, but in different time periods. But his work ethic, him going from where he came from, then going to time, and then getting his opportunity, and then going to making movies. His timeline is insane. I’m very inspired by that. I just recently watched The Learning Tree and I was like damn. He was really doing his thing and I didnt know that he was the inspiration for our John Singleton, Spike Lee.. that is big. I had to go back into history, the history books of youtube and re-watch everything that he’s done. Oh and then Bell Hooks. So after Bell Hooks passed away, I don’t read books like that, so I didn’t know who she was, number one. Number two I didn’t know that she was such an inspiration to my life forreal. My girl has the All About Love book and I was like “I didn’t even know you had this.” She’s been up on Bell Hooks (train rumbles past in the background). So was reading and everything that she writes in the books is what I say in real life.. But my inspirations have been coming from conversations and diving into different things.

Sharp: Do you digest a lot of art? And how in tune are you with current photography?

Benny: Its funny because the new photography that I see -and this is just my opinion, everybody can have their own opinions, but I feel like photography now.. no one cares. I can see that no one cares about actually making images that change a generation. No one is bending photography how I feel like they should be, or could be. Especially with the new technology now. I feel like this visual making community isn’t really doing their thing. So I really haven’t been consuming it and I really don’t like half of the things that I see, in my opinion. Especially when it comes to movies.. even photography. Some people are just following trends. The whole DMV is really on that wave right now. “Oh you shot like this? Imma do the same thing.” And that dont do nothing. That doesnt change anything. I feel like a rapper right now where I’m like I only listen to myself (laughs). That’s really what it is, I’m only worried about my shit. Cause I know that the things I have in my head, ain’t nobody have in their head, personally. I don’t know, thats cocky.. but fuck it (laughs) I don’t care.

Sharp: Me and you have talked about the benefits of intention before. Intention when creating, intention specifically in photography. Going out with an intention, whether that’s a feeling or a concept, instead of just winging it. Talk on that for a second

Benny: Intention in the creative realm is very important and at the same time its a hard concept to grasp. Especially with social media being your avenue for portfolio or releasing stuff. I feel like a lot of creatives nowadays go off the intention of “I’m trying to get big”. I feel like that’s every artist’s intention especially when you’re trying to create to make money. When you are trying to create to make money you have to have the intention of okay I want to get big so I need all these people who follow me to see that this is what I do and I do it well. With that intention, yes it will get you to where you need to be, but you are now putting yourself in a box. And this is just me talking to artist. Artist put themselves in a box when they do the trend thing.. but that’s not you. If you don’t feel like that’s you, then don’t do it. You don’t have to do it, you will be accepted in other ways. For example everyone loves Lil Baby, everyone loves all these new rappers that come out.. if you don’t rap like them, you don’t have to rap like them to make it. You don’t have to rap like them to get on, just do you. I feel like that’s very important. I can tell when an artist isn’t being themselves. With this social media world it’s a whole personality thing. We can see you now, we know when you’re not being yourself.. Intention is definitely key when it comes to visual making. What do you want out of this forreal? Do you want to just take space? Or do you want to be great?

Sharp: What does that greatness mean to you? I feel like that’s your vision and that’s your goal. What does that look like?

Benny: Greatness to me is lineage. Greatness to me is legacy. The work that I produce, I produce it for the legacy. So my kids can look at it and be like “that means a lot”. Generations after me. Just like how we look at Gordon Parks, just like we read Bell Hooks. Those words still mean something, those images still mean something to this day. That’s great. They’ll always have that and everybody will always go back to that. Thats what greatness is to me. When the generations after you can see it and be like “Damn. These still mean something to this day.”

Sharp: Who is the most interesting person you’ve created with? Somebody who had a certain energy about them that separated them from other people that you’ve made stuff with

Benny: The most interesting person I ever shot with has to be Dula. Dula was the beginning of my transition into growing. And that’s the photo that I think is the image of the year (points to the framed piece beside him). It was so interesting because he’s not a model, he wants to get into it, but he’s not big into that scene. I just know him from being around the way, he lives where I used to live in MoCo. Shooting him, I didn’t know what was about to happen. I had no idea that he was muslim, I had no idea that he didn’t play basketball in highschool. Looking at him, he’s 6’5 and he’s built a little bit. Looking at the images its wild, I knew you as this bony tall boy and now.. He’s an all around great individual. The way he talks, the way he comes off.. he’s not standoffish, but he is quiet a little bit if you don’t really know him. I didn’t even know he was going to be down for what I wanted to do. I thought it was gonna be a standoffish type thing, because usually when I talk to dudes like him it’s like “nah I ain’t doing that”. But he was open to do everything. Him being open made it like the greatest shoot I’ve ever had in my whole entire life. That was cool. This shoot actually opened doors for me in 2021. I appreciate that shit forreal.

Sharp: Do you notice a difference in yourself when you’re creating vs. when you’re not creating? How does it affect you?

Benny: I don’t think theres a difference. I’ve grown to a point where creating is second nature. I don’t get mad if I don’t create because I think that me not creating is creating more opportunity or something big is coming. I’ve treated it like that and I’m right. When I first started shooting I felt like if I didn’t shoot then I wasn’t going to make it or I wasn’t going to be where I needed to be and that wasn’t the case. Certain things don’t work out because it just needs time to build, it needs time to grow.. If anybody ever wanted to shoot with me and I was like I cant right now or I just never responded it’s because I’m in this process of turning it up a little bit (another J train speeds by). I’m in the process of building ideas, because I need time to build ideas. Rushing shoots is not a good way to create, is what I’ve learned. It’s too much, you’re not going to get what you want. It’s like writing a book, you’ve got to really go in detail of every single thing that you want, especially if you have a clear vision.

Sharp: What skill do you have that you were either born with or you cultivated that you think has helped you be most successful when it comes to creating?

Benny: Vision making. Ever since I was little I had a lot of vivid dreams. Thats been the most important thing to me when creating and making images. Having those dreams and I can see color when I close my eyes. Thats why I feel like I have the advantage. No one has created what I’ve thought of so it’s easy for me to have the advantage and have my own “style” because I’m always thinking about ideas and I’m always dreaming about ideas and thinking of new things. And also being a person who lets people be open. I don’t judge anyone. I don’t look at anyone like weirdos, everyone is human at the end of the day. Come as you are. You can be who you are and I can be who I am and we can create some dope things by sharing energy.

Sharp: Conversely is there a flaw that you had to fix or work on in order for you to grow to this point?

Benny: Being open. Me being open. Moving to New York, being open.. you really have to grasp that. It’s not going to happen if you are just in the house. You have to literally go out there, show yourself, be open to meeting people, don’t be scared of meeting strangers. It’s all about being open.

Sharp: How long have you been in New York and whats your relationship like with the city?

Benny: I’ve been in New York for a month and a half now. I haven’t grasped the fact that I live here yet. I don’t think I’ll ever grasp that. I want to keep that grind going. Everytime I came to New York from DC I was working, so if I keep that same mindset I’m going to continue to work. Moving here was a beautiful thing and a blessing, but at the same time the job is not done, you still have work to do. And now that you are in a space where you can do the work and you can get more work, keep going. It’s just a part of the journey, just another stop on the train.

Sharp: How do you gauge growth and progress in your work? Is it monetary, reception from the public, reception from people close to you?

Benny: The conversations change.. When people start asking me more questions about what I’m doing that’s how I know I’ve grown.. Also headspace. Where your mindset is, where you want to go. Because when you start to think about that, that’s when you’ve grown too.

Sharp: Does reception change how you feel about certain photosets? Do you adjust in the future based off how things were received?

Benny: I’ve gotten to a point where I understand that energy is very important. The energy that I give out, if it’s a great energy then I’ll get a great response. That’s happened every single time. It doesn’t matter what I create, if my energy was right creating it, I’ll get a great response. That’s how I feel about this photo (points to the framed photograph next to him). Why I say it’s photo of the year is because when I put that out it took off. It got me every single thing that I wanted. If you’re energy is right when you’re creating, if you’re intention is right when you’re creating you will always get the good reception that you need.

Sharp: How well do you deal with how fast things are moving? The speed of the times. There is always a new platform or technology, how well do you navigate that?

Benny: It’s kinda funny. Our generation, the millennials, it’s gotten to a point where we don’t really give a fuck. Some millennials do, some millennials are like “what the hell is this?”. Its changing so much and so fast.. Sometimes that makes me feel like I’m out of the loop because I don’t want to be still posting on instagram when niggas are like at CashApp with NFTs. You have to do your research and you have to grow in that sense.

Sharp: Is there anything you’ve learned business wise that changed things for you, that you wished you knew earlier?

Benny: Yes (laughs) I learned it from you. Usage.. Usage, being an photography assistant, and a digitech. Those three things are the things that are making money. Those are the things business wise that you really need to understand, especially when you move to a place where the demand is so high for photography.. What I’ve seen with my own eyes is photographers and videographers move to New York thinking its the same thing as DC. Because you had a demand in DC so you think that that demand is carried over to New York, when no one fucking knows you (laughs) no one has any idea who you are. You move out here thinking “Aight bet, I can just get booked and we lit!”. No. That’s absolutely wrong. You will come out here and you will be assed out. You have to adjust to what’s going on out here, or wherever you are. If people say the money is there, go there. Go. And run. Because a lot of people out here want that spot. And that’s how you get into the rooms with the people that you really want to get in rooms with. Making yourself available.

Sharp: Give a little info on those initial three things you spoke on, I don’t even know what a Digitech is.

Benny: Assisting is holding a light, gauging what the light is, paying attention to if the model is okay, food, whatever. That’s assisting. With Digitech you pay attention to what number the light is on, the ISO, the F stop. A lot of photographers use software to connect their cameras to a computer, the digitech will pay attention to that. All the technical stuff. Usage and licensing is if you take a picture of a product and they [a brand] choose your image, you can charge them your rate for however long they want to use it.

Sharp: Name a specific brand, artist, model, or company that you want to work with in 2022

Benny: I don’t want to jinx it, but I also want to manifest (laughs). Let’s start with a company. I want to do something with Converse. I want to do something with PGLang. I want to work with PGLang and I will work with PGLang. I don’t give a fuck if its 2022 or whenever, but PGLang call me. Please (laughs). An artist that I want to work with; Q Jamal. We already working, Q Jamal & Hyro. But big artists I don’t know.. Reggie. I want to shoot Reggie. I want to shoot more with Mecca. I love Mecca, I want to shoot more with her.. And yea, that it. Hire me.