2017 Infinity Award: Lifetime Achievement — Harry Benson

Harry Benson, CBE, came to America with the Beatles in 1964 and never looked back. The award-winning Scottish photojournalist marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement; photographed the Watts Riots; was embedded in the Gulf War; was next to Robert Kennedy when he was assassinated; and has photographed the last 12 U.S. presidents from President Eisenhower to President-Elect Trump, as well as countless luminaries including Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Kate Moss, and the British royal family, including a private sitting with Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace. In 2009, Benson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for service to photography. He received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from both St. Andrews University and Glasgow University, Scotland, and is an Honorary Fellow of London's Royal Photographic Society. Benson has twice been named NPPA Magazine Photographer of the Year. Under contract to Life Magazine for 30 years, he has photographed for major magazines including Time, Vanity Fair, W, Newsweek, French Vogue, Quest, Paris Match, Forbes, Town & Country, Architectural Digest, People, and The Sunday Times Magazine. Harry’s photographs are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC and in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. There have been 40 gallery/museum solo exhibitions of Benson’s photographs and sixteen books of his photographs have been published. Most recently, the documentary Harry Benson: Shoot First (Magnolia Pictures, December 2016), which chronicles his 65-year career, was released to five-star reviews.