Creating Your Own Minimal Photographic Style with Benjamin Hardman

Breaking down Benjamin’s go-to gear for when high-resolution imagery is of utmost importance.

Versatility is always a necessity, but sometimes weight can be a hinderance. This is what you would find Benjamin shooting with whilst on a mountaineering ascent when having lightweight gear is key.

A comprehensive look into the necessities that Benjamin carries with him on his expeditions.

Walking through the specialized aerial photography equipment that has revolutionized Benjamin’s work in recent years.

“There is no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing” as the quote says. The Arctic is no exception. This is what Benjamin wears and uses, making him ready to take on extreme conditions.

Planning is important in a volatile arctic environment. Pre-planning and back-up plans could mean the difference between a successful and unsuccessful shoot.

Ben is searching for Icelandic wildlife to photograph - demonstrating how composition and framing angle can affect the intensity of wildlife portraits, lining up the background frame, and what lenses you may need for this.

You must shoot RAW to take advantage of Lightroom’s colour adjustments and full image dynamic range. This episode helps students understand RAW.

Benjamin is shooting details of the ice, showing sometimes the most impacting images are in the smaller, often overlooked details of a scene.

Find out how lens choice brings out the detail of ice - tele vs macro and creating a visual story using a combination of both.

Learn how to effectively create a multi-image stitch… even if it ends up being a 294 Megapixel image to get there.

Finding a clean aesthetic in a busy scene, low angles, and placing the animal with a consistent background, using foreground elements for bokeh.

Composing a mountain peak with negative space, analyzing the light, and using adverse weather to create texture and emotion.

Sculpting light to isolate centralised subjects, using Selective Adjustments (Radial, Brush, Grad ND) to balance the light & weight and draw the viewer into the subject.

Benjamin will demonstrate how to find and isolate subjects with a drone - getting close to mountain faces or finding a clean scene with a bird's eye perspective (often using snow).

Using nature and its patterns and shapes to draw focus to a subject - leading lines such as mountain valleys and river streams.

Style is like a fingerprint - it’s the personal aspect that makes your work uniquely you. The importance of finding and continuing to develop style is not only for personal taste, but for making yourself stand out against others in the highly competitive photography world.

Benjamin shares how other photography isn’t his biggest inspiration, but rather the landscapes, music and emotion, and the patterns of weather and the changing earth.

Starting first by recognising what inspires you - it can be photography, fashion, architecture, music. Gather what inspires you and have it somewhere it can be looked at (moodboard, posters, phone background).

This episode shares Benjamin’s emphasis on creating a cohesion across his images, and how this works to his advantage. His main platform is Instagram - so this relates to that.

Having organized and well-executed social media can lead to job opportunities, exhibition opportunities, everything. Learn how Benjamin built his social media from the ground up.

Benjamin shares his experience and some tips to help you start the journey of running your own business. He speaks from the perspective of taking on a business alone and the major considerations when working from home.

Having a complete set-up and covering all aspects of your business (website, social media, email address, physical portfolio, logo, business card, references, account stats, client list, etc).

Wrapping up and Benjamin’s favorite noteworthy advice to take your craft to the next level.

Ben & Alex reflect and recap over the strongest points that have been shared in the workshop. Congrats, you finished, now get out there and shoot!