David Benoliel is a fashion and beauty Photographer originally from Paris and now based in the United States between New York, Miami and Los Angeles. He is famous for creating powerful images through his dramatic use of lighting techniques and his advanced editing skills. In order to get to know him better, we searched about him and came up with an interesting interview of him and we would like to share some details about this talented lens with you. When asked about his general philosophy of your photographic art, he replied as follows; “I don’t have any particular philosophy for the direction of my photography. I still consider myself “a young photographer.” I didn’t go to school for photography. I came to the United States to open a French restaurant eight years ago. I didn’t even have a camera six years ago! So I built my photographic style all around my personal tastes. What I’m influenced by now is current day photographic styles. I build my pictures around what I would put in my living room, and I build from that. I was totally over the top at the beginning. I work more from my taste than a philosophy. For example, if the model is giving me something that provokes me, we work from there. I am waiting for this moment to happen. Sometimes I have to provoke it. I don’t have a long history of learning photographic processes. I learned almost everything through workshops. I had few good mentors, who taught me things that I use every day.” When it comes to arts, we all wonder about the inspiration behind those impressive pieces and David Benoliel states his source of inspiration with these words; “There have been two big influences for me. The first was a Photoshop teacher that had a way of teaching how to retouch and approach an image that really changed my way of shooting. And then the photographer Marco Grob – who shoots celebrity and political figures for magazines. His style of shooting is incredible, very simple with maybe one or two lights. That’s where I’ve learned the most. Such as his portraits of 9/11 for Time Magazine (TIME Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience). I’m doing mostly fashion and beauty and he’s the opposite of what I’m doing. I might choose his path to switch to one day! I still do workshops. I’m still learning! As a matter of fact after our conversation, I’m going to a videography workshop.” The result of his work is a collection of images which have garnered David publications in most fashion magazines, as well as a trusted relation with major brands. Below you can see our selection from his portfolio. Each photo speak for itself, don’t you think?
