Features

PHOTOBOOTH: Ben Turner

Ben Turner basically appeared out of nowhere – suddenly there was an email with a bunch of awesome images in my inbox. I was stoked! His photos have a great look to them and the more I saw from him the more I was intrigued.

From reading his story, it seems he’s a busy boy indeed, shooting various commercial projects, but always makes time for BMX. Good man.

Read on to find out more about what makes Ben tick, what inspires him and what gear he uses…

Full Name: Ben Turner
Age: 27
Occupation: Photographer
Hometown: Stourbridge, UK
Current Location: London, UK
Instagram: @ben_turner_photo

– What’s going on in your life right now? What’s your day to day like?

“My life is definitely far from routine. Every day is different, and that’s what I love about my career.
On Monday I could be on a flight to work on a commercial in Switzerland, Friday I’m shooting for an interiors magazine in a French chateaux. Early starts, even more late finishes and contact with thousands of interesting and inspirational people.

Being freelance allows that variation (which is great as I’m a guy that gets bored with routine!) but also means I have to keep a solid diary, and stay on top of rolling edits. But I always make time to shoot the things I love – mostly BMX.”

– How long have you been shooting photos and how did you get started?

“I guess I’ve been working professionally for around five years now and, honestly,
getting into it was a mixture of passion and luck.

When I was 16 I was doing a course at college I hated. I was bored, and just wanted to be outside, so I started skipping lessons and hung out where people were riding.”

“I’m always looking to learn more – about myself and from other people – so I’m up for almost anything that sounds interesting.”

“My attendance dropped so low I got hauled into the school office, and told I was basically getting kicked out… Until they found out I’d been shooting for BMX magazines and ad campaigns. They decided to keep me on, which I’m thankful for as it meant I could go on to study photography and fine art at University. I kept working, kept getting published and things snowballed until I could make a living from it full time.

I’ve always been thankful to those BMX riders – as the images I got in the early days really determined who I became.”

– When it comes to photography, what grabs your interest? What do you try to capture in your images?

“I’m a technology geek, so love getting all my gear out and experimenting. It might sound weird, but what really gets me going is light – how it totally transforms and image from something pretty standard to something really beautiful. I like to play with it, and use big spaces to shoot, so people can get psyched about a whole environment.

Portraits are my other passion. Faces tell all the stories!

I work really hard to capture the final shot in camera. It means there’s less artificial improvement in edit, and when clients look on the back of the camera, they see what’s going to be sent to the magazine.”

– How would you describe your style of photography? What else do you photograph outside BMX?

“Relaxed. Chilled vibes, nice light is the ideal for me, I like to portray the culture of BMX as well as the action.

I like people to review the photo and notice how different it is to real life.

Outside of BMX I’m involved in a lot of commercial projects; shooting for fashion brands, camera companies and TV, and recently finished working on a horror movie, which was a totally different kettle of fish!

I’m always looking to learn more – about myself and from other people – so I’m up for almost anything that sounds interesting.”

– What’s your current setup, what camera gear could we normally find in your bag?

“Nikon D810. Elinchrom ranger. Elinchrom ranger Quadra x 2. Nikon 105. Nikon 85. Nikon 50. Nikon 28. Nikon 10.5

I also have stacks of little lighting modifiers, gels and stands, but this my main kit. If space is an issue, I can always condense down to a camera and my trusty 85mm. That’s all I take when we go riding.”

– Finally, any shout outs?

“Plenty. All the riders out there who I’ve met over the years, the old BC Crew, Billy Rim Grind, Canon Si, Homer, FBD, Chicken, Jimmy, The Vegan, TFL Carl, The gays, Elinchrom, TFC Birmingham and lastly, my home girl, Laura.”