Awareness: Ben Zank

http://www.benzank.com/

Ben Zank was born in the Bronx, NY and started taking pictures when he was 18 after finding a Pentax ME Super. He went to college for journalism, but ended up doing professional photography instead. Despite this, he believes that he learned a lot from his college experience, specifically about telling different sides of a story. During college, he realized he wanted to become a photographer and began making youtube videos, and since then he has refined his work. Currently, at 27 years old, he lives in New Zealand, where he focuses on posting on both his website as well as his instagram, where he has over 90 thousand followers.
 
His work has been labelled surreal, but when interviewed he says he didn't mean for it to turn out that way. Instead, he started out with more portraiture and funny pictures, and he still finds some of his pictures to be funny, but has recently accepted the label of surreal work. He has also mentioned that he is mildly colorblind, and as a result he does many of his photos in black and white. While he does take posed pictures, he often uses photoshop to touch up and re-touch up his pictures for hours. Zank has also spoken about how he finds his type of work to be based on trend, especially based on the amount of views he receives. He also understands the difference between today's social media culture and photography and believes that his pictures, or self-portraits, convey the truth about his subjects. In past interviews, he has warned new photographers not to fall susceptible to internet trends, because then their work will become saturated and they will run out of inspiration. He also advises new photographers to constantly take pictures, no matter if they turn out well or not.

Although he began with a film camera-- which brings me to my connection with his work-- he now uses a digital camera because he believes it can capture more form and composition, whereas a film camera emphasizes more people and emotion. His work is minimalist, and--as he has mentioned--surreal, and that is what attracts his main audience. His focus on identity throughout his work and linear patterns is something that interested me, especially considering my latest project that will try and take one aspect of my subjects' identity and relate it to a bigger picture. His dramatic sets and interesting compositions come from his years of experience, and although I am not looking to become a professional photographer, I think his experience of going to college in a non-art related field yet continuing with his interest is something that I can learn from. His work makes the viewer consider what his content is and how the different parts of his pictures go together, which is something I strive to do in my project as well. Overall however, I was really interested in Zank's color schemes and juxtaposition between natural and unnatural objects, and the fact that he was able to use simple sets to create discussions of identity.

Keep reading below for a list of his exhibitions and features:

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Current Exhibitions
Unbalanced Weightlessness - Hongdae, Seoul
Solo Exhibitions
March 2014, We Are Dust, Catalonia, New York, NY
February 2014, When Words Fail, Littlefield Performance+Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
Group Exhibitions
October 2016, SUR LE FIL, Opiom Gallery, France
January 2014, Broadway Gallery, New York, NY
Online & Publications
2017 Get Inspired Magazine, Issue 33 Print/digital
2017 Professional Photographer Magazine, Subtracting the Human Face
2016 Harvard Business Review (Image usage)
2016 D-Photo Magazine, When Words Fail, Print
2016 Vaga Magazine, Ben Zank Captures Minimalist and Surreal Scenarios
2016 Metal Magazine, A Surreal Visual Experience
2016 Feature Shoot, Choreographed Visions of Faceless Figures in Suits, Digital
etc.
My favorite quotes from his interviews:
"Talk us through how you normally achieve an image, from conception to completion."
"It always starts with a lot of frustration. Then I panic because I haven’t been creative lately and I’m wasting my life. I’ll play video games for several hours or maybe take a walk. Then I’ll see something kind of interesting and return to it with my gear, and that usually involves one or two ruined articles of clothing. I’ll edit for up to 3 days to make sure I don’t miss any problems. Then I’ll be really happy with my new work for a few days. Rinse and repeat."
Where do see yourself in 2 to 5 years? Hopefully not in New York City. And someplace that doesn’t get cold. California. I really want to travel. I think that's how I’m going grow as a photographer, because I think when you stay in the same place it just really limits what you can do.
What are a few places that come to mind?I’d say the mid-west. Definitely some of the desert. 100% Iceland, Iceland looks amazing. Definitely Germany, I really like the architecture in Germany. Japan, I've seen some forests in Japan that are pretty cool. These are like dream locations though, I’d probably start within the US, but hopefully I’ll travel internationally.