Sure Shot

My profile of photographer Harry Benson; plus the High Museum's new Viktor&Rolf exhibit, and a song that almost wasn't.

Dolly Parton putting on her makeup. The Beatles pillow fighting at the Georges V in Paris. Princess Diana crouching down to smile at a curly-haired little girl. These are but a few of the iconic images taken by Harry Benson, the Scottish-born photographer with a flair for capturing celebrities and politicians in their element – and some of the most pivotal moments in history. They are also among the shots on display at The Boca Raton Resort until Spring 2026 as part of the exhibition Harry Benson: Royalty, Rebels, and Rockstars, presented by the Sponder Gallery.

Benson has had a rollicking career on assignment for magazines that include Life, Time, Newsweek, Town & Country, Vanity Fair, Paris Match, GQ, W, Esquire, People, Vogue, and Architectural Digest. Frank Sinatra once glared at him because he was in the way when he and Mia Farrow arrived at Truman Capote’s Black and White ball in 1966. The very next year, Barbra Streisand berated him after he left an assigned area for photographers to get a better picture of her performing. Occasional abuse aside, Benson has always gotten close and gotten the shot.

“I don’t know what I would have done if I had to work for my living,” Benson says. “Because for sixty-plus years I have gotten to do what I loved.”

Born in Glasgow in 1929, Benson acknowledges that he wasn’t a good student in “regular school.” When his father gave him a Cornet Cub box camera one year for Christmas, he found something he really loved doing. He was about 12 years old then, he says, and a big fan of Jimmy Cagney movies and Life Magazine. War photojournalism was making an impression on him and he still remembers the front-page picture of a boy crying in front of the ruins of his house, which had just been bombed by the Germans. Sensing his son’s passion for pictures, Benson’s father enrolled him in the Glasgow School of Art. 

After graduation, Benson’s first job was as a wedding photographer.

“It wasn’t a bad way to learn,” he recalls. “It teaches discipline. There was a certain order that had to be followed [with the pictures]: photos of the bride and groom alone, then with their parents, then with the wedding party, followed by the guests and the first dance.”

Then, newspapers beckoned. Benson’s first published photograph was of a young roe deer, and he remembers the thrill of seeing the man next to him on the bus open The Glasgow Evening Times to his picture. He moved to London, where there were at least seven daily papers at the time, and plenty of pressure to beat the competition on news stories. Working for The Daily Express, Benson took whatever assignment came up, getting as close as he could to the action to get the best shots. He was about to go to Africa on assignment, when the night editor called him and told him he’d be going to Paris instead, and with The Beatles, to boot.

It was the beginning of Beatlemania, and Benson’s images of the mop-topped quartet came to define the madcap excitement of that time...

I can't tell you how fun it was for me to speak with Benson and his wife Gigi about his career for the current issue of art & culture. He is a incredible storyteller, and a bit of an imp, so that made it all the more fun to write about him. You can find the full feature by clicking here, which I hope you'll do. If the link doesn't take you directly to page 40, where the piece begins, please try to click through to it for Benson's extraordinary portraits and musings about his life and work.

Writing prompt: Write about a time when you were in the right place at the right time. What were the circumstances and what happened because you were so ideally situated?

Don't give up on yourself. So you make a mistake here and there; you do too much or too little. Just have fun. Smile. And keep putting on lipstick.

-- Diane Keaton

Endnotes

Wearable Art

Last week I saw the High Museum's extraordinary new exhibit, Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Statements. The Dutch design duo made a name for themselves by fusing haute couture with fine art, and then winning over an array of celebrity clients, among them Cardi B, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Tilda Swinton. There are at least 100 pieces in this show, along with concept sketches, photography, and a nod to their incredibly floral perfume, Flowerbomb.

The exhibit also included the porcelain dolls Viktor&Rolf created to wear some of their most iconic designs. They originally started creating couture for dolls when they were struggling to break into fashion and looking for a way to manifest their dream. Since then, the mini-mannequins have become part of their process. The duo works with a Belgian master doll maker to create them, then scales down whatever ready-to-wear or couture to fit the model. The process takes about three weeks, and at the end, each doll is named for a model that originally wore the piece on the catwalk. The process is a nod to an old French fashion industry practice of sending couture-clad miniatures around the world to show the latest collections. This exhibit is stunning, so if you're in or around Atlanta, definitely come see it before it leaves on February 8, 2026.

Take on Me

Forty years ago, A-Ha's "Take on Me" became a number one hit, but I was surprised to learn just how long and uncertain a slog it was for the band to make that become a reality. The latest episode of Song Exploder explores the four years it took to create the tune. There were two prior versions that were released in the UK, but flopped. A lesser band might have thrown in the towel, but this one not only got another shot at making it big, they decided to stick with the song that had been giving them fits. Throw an iconic music video into the mix, and, well, you know the rest. Anyway, if you get a minute, listen to this story for a reminder of why it pays to persist. It's a good one.

Where I hope you'll donate this week

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so please consider donating to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which is the largest private funder of breast cancer research worldwide.