ben
Ben was a cool guy - that was my general feeling after getting to hang out with him for a very short time. He is one of the partners at Insa in Brooklyn - his title online officially being “Contractor and Partner”. When I met with him I was there to photograph all three partners together - he didn’t really have time for it but he hung on for me and smiled his was through 10 minutes of group shots.
I managed to keep him for a few minutes longer to get some singles of him sat at a table I’d eyed up whilst getting through group shots. We shot for around 90 seconds before I let him go. He stood up smiled, shook my hand and said something along the lines on “I like him. Decisive and the point either way this shots”. I forget exactly what it was but it felt like of the the nicest compliments I’d ever had in photography.
I interviewed the other two partners afterwards and they both said how humble he is in regards to his input into the whole “building a super cool and successful restaurant in a cool part of town” thing. They told me about how it was basically an empty shell before he turned it into a beautiful, thoughtful space for both amazing food and fun with your friends. I like these images - it was a very dark space and I wanted to try and capture some of this vibe and essence he had built himself. Trying to expose pretty dark to get the variety of tones in the woods. It’s not perfect but they came out ok for a quick session with only practical lighting.
