After much insistence Scottish photographer Harry Benson was persuaded to join The Beatles on their first tour in the US in 1964. The pictures Benson took became legendary: they were all lively and at the same time intimate photos and the start of a career filled with iconic images. Bensons lens witnessed historical moments, such as the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and John Lennon, and got very close to the most inaccessible artists of the 20th century, such as Andy Warhol, Truman Capote and Michael Jackson. But Benson also traveled to refugee camps in Somalia, infiltrated and witnessed KKK meetings and managed to sneak behind the gates of the IRA. However, the photographer paid a price for his full and exciting career.

 

The story told by his pictures is a story of historical moments and characters, but also the story of Benson's life and personality. With a considerable pinch of self-mockery, empathy for others and self-reflection, Benson browses through recent history using his controversial work.