Snow Kisses Sky is one of my "oldest" flickr friends, and is one of the first people who made a significant artistic impression on me. I remember it so clearly...he had posted a picture of a landscape - it was kind of barren and looked somewhat winter-like in its appearance. The sky was an orangeish-red. I liked it. It… Read more

Snow Kisses Sky is one of my "oldest" flickr friends, and is one of the first people who made a significant artistic impression on me. I remember it so clearly...he had posted a picture of a landscape - it was kind of barren and looked somewhat winter-like in its appearance. The sky was an orangeish-red. I liked it. It was an interesting shot. A couple of days later, he posted the same photograph, but this time without the tones in the sky. Although it was the same picture, it had a totally different effect - this one was emptier, more desolate. Having now seen the "original" (without the red), I wondered why he had added the tones in the sky of the first post. When I asked him, he explained that he was angry when he took the picture, and added the tones to convey the emotion he felt at the time. The landscape in the picture consisted not only of the trees, grass, and fields, but of his state of mind as well. He was, in essence, making the picture a truer expression of self. That blew me away. Up until that point, I was very much on the conservative end of digital editing, and felt that a picture needed to be as "real" as possible, not a creation of Photoshop. His simple explanation made me realize that it was possible to use digital editing as a creative tool to enhance ones ability to express ones self, and to use it as a means of authentic self-expression. And thus, he helped to rearrange my view of Photoshopping, and, for that matter, photography in general. I think the thing that I admire most about him is his humility. He shoots and posts because he enjoys it. He's a damn good photographer, but never comes across as thinking that he is. I get the sense that he is an artist who does "art for art's sake", not for approval or praise, and without expectation or pretense. Integrity is a word that comes to mind when I think of Ben's work. My favorite pictures of his are his candid black and white shots of children at play or on the street - he just has a certain knack of catching the right smiles on the right faces at the right times. I don't know how he does it, and I suspect that he doesn't either. He just does, and I'm glad that he does. Although we are on opposite sides of the planet, the honesty in his pictures has enabled me to get a sense that I "know" him just a tiny bit, and I'm enjoying the discovery of Snow Kisses Sky. I don't remember how we met, but I'm glad that we did. My experience in the flickr community has definitely been richer because of it.