ABOUT ME / ARTIST STATEMENT
Depending on your point of view, you could say a child growing up in the high desert, mid 70's to late 80's, either had a lot to look at or very little. I had a lot. Riding in the back seat of my parents car, with my imagination running wild, I would stare out of the window at the desert scenery rushing by. I remember wishing I had the power to stop the car so I could get out and explore the areas we would pass by. Creek beds, abandoned homes, single dirt roads that seemed to vanish into the distance seemed plentiful and my dad somehow always knew the best spots for us kids. It was endless fun.
Being exposed to films is one of my earliest memories and by age 9 me and my brothers had been corralled to the movie theater by our parents countless times. There I was introduced to the power of storytelling through light and sound. It was my first love and ambition. When I was 13, I got my hands on a VHS camcorder and I started making short movies and skits with my brothers and friends. Then as a young adult, I moved onto performing music and audio engineering. Years later after taking time to raise my son, I started to study and fall in love with photography.
With each exposure it felt like I was going back to the beginning of things. Drawing on memories, emotion and love of cinema to produce an image. Now I'm in a relationship with light, and every moment an observer of it.
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BENJI STEIN PHOTOGRAPHY - Orange County, California