Curious about his creative world, we reached out to Ben Zank. He shared that his journey with photography began at age eighteen, with a spark that ignited his creative path. "It most certainly started as a fun hobby for me that I didn’t think too much up. It wasn’t until my time in college as a journalism major that I began to realize photography was something I wanted to take more seriously."
When asked if he works with a team, Ben shared: "The outfits in the images are suits I’ve thrifted over the years. I sometimes change the color of them in Photoshop which may give off the illusion that I have a larger collection of suits than I really do. There are no sets as I either shoot in my apartment, outside on location, or at vacation rentals."
Since Ben mentioned that he shoots in his apartment, on location, or at vacation rentals, we were curious about how he selects his specific spots. "I’m quite picky when it comes to what inspires me. Living in NYC though means a lot of public locations can be challenging to shoot at without being disturbed. So I often have to accept what comes my way."
In response to our question about the messages behind his work and his personal influences, Ben shared: "I’m not too concerned with how viewers receive my work. What I mean is that all feedback, negative or positive, I consider to be a good thing. My work is often quite personal to me, so while I try to leave breadcrumbs, I tend to be sparse in talking about what I think each image means."
