Contact.

I’ve been trying to carry around this little Olympus film point and shoot with me. I found the camera at a second hand store on a weekend trip to Beacon last fall. I’ve mainly been shooting black and white with this little camera. It’s been fun to have it with me. I hope to make it a habit to always have it, or another camera with me. I have been getting a little tired of iPhone images. It’s nice to have something that could be useful off of the screen. Anyway, I thought I’d share part of a contact sheet from the first roll I developed from the camera. I’d say all of these images were taken in February.

Ben

John Jannuzzi for W27

last month I photographed John for this month’s issue of W27. We shot one evening on 5th ave and along central park. John is an editor at Lucky Magazine and runs a great blog. If you don’t already know about Textbook make sure to check it out. Here are a couple images from the shoot. Be on the lookout for the print issue.

Ben

Natalie | Brooklyn, NY

I recently photographed Natalie from Red Models. Here are a few images from the shoot.

Ben

Radish | Williamsburg, BK

I photographed Radish for my project on Williamsburg. Stop by Radish for some delicious, in season prepared food and fun provisions. Make sure to try their house made ginger ale, it’s quite tasty. For more information on Radish check out their website.

Ben

New York Distilling Company

I stopped by New York Distilling Company in Williamsburg earlier this week. Bill, their co-founder and production manager, was kind enough to show me around and give me a little bit of education on the distilling process. If you haven’t had them already, be on the look out for their great gins and in a couple of years their rye whiskey that is currently aging to perfection in these barrels. Stop by the Shanty to give their gin a try and check out some great music on Wednesdays or Sundays.

-Ben

The Brooklyn Bridge via Instagram

I have been walking to Manhattan a bit lately and always take the Manhattan Bridge. When there is not a Q train rumbling by it’s quite a nice and quiet walk. One of my favorite things about the walk is the view of the East River and Brooklyn Bridge. These are a couple of images that I took with Instagram (Look me up there. I’m @benspell)

Enjoy,

Ben

A Portrait of Mark

Mark is a writer, director, musician and all around great guy who’s lived around the world. I photographed this portrait of Mark working on a new script in his small room in Brooklyn. This was photographed for part of my newest project on Brooklyn artists in their homes and workspaces. Be sure to check out Mark’s work at http://markbethune.com

Ben

South Williamsburg

This mural had just been finished as I walked by. It always amazed me seeing hand painted signs like these. I came across a mini documentary about the guys that paint them a while back. It’s definitely worth 12 minutes of your time if you haven’t seen it.

And the link to the film on Vimeo is here.

Colin Ruel in his home studio

I photographed Colin for a project on Brooklyn artists that I am working on. Colin is a self taught painter and sculptor working in Greenpoint. Check out Colin’s work at http://colinruel.com/ and be on the look out for his current and upcoming shows.

I shot a good bit of 4×5 Polaroids ( one being this image above) be on the lookout for more images from this shoot and also more from the series.

2012 Red Hook Criterium

Last night was the 2012 Red Hook Crit. The Crit is an unsanctioned fixed gear bicycle race that takes place in the streets of Red Hook. Although it was on a closed course this year it still was quite a crazy race. The race consisted of 100 riders racing 24 laps on a 1.25 kilometer course. Dan Chabanov won the race by about 10 seconds with an average speed of 26 MPH. I took some photos on the last of three 180° turns. Unfortunately there were quite a few crashes and with the lap out rules only 28 racers were able to finish the race. Good thing the forecasted rain was late to show up.

Enjoy,

Ben

You might recognize my buddy Chris Pino in the yellow shoes. Chris raced hard in this race. I’d say it was a pretty crazy race to be your first race ever.

Dan Chabanov out on his own in the lead

Dan Chabanov approaching the finish line.

I also thought I’d share a film from the 2010 race. The race sure has grown since then.

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