Ben Canales
Ben Canales is a professional night photographer from New Jersey, but moved to Oregon to partner with Portland-based Uncage the Soul Production. His photography mainly focuses on night and time-lapse photography, using the sky as art. His photography skills have earned him the National Geographic Traveler Best Travel Picture of the Year award.1
Life and Work
As a young kid, Canales grew up in a polluted state where he could see at most 20 stars. He always visualized seeing a starry night. Growing up, a friend lent him a Canon 30D, and he started taking pictures of everything around him. During his experimentation, he went on a camping trip and fulfilled his childhood dream of seeing a starry night. He decided to take his preset camera and tripod, pointed the camera up at the sky, and started taking shots of the stars. Although he had poorly lit photos, he was shocked by the results. Eventually, he decided to move from the east coast to the west coast to further explore his interest in the beauty of the landscape and the sky. He claims, “I photograph the stars, first for my own personal enjoyment to try and capture the wonder that I feel; but secondly, I do it for you, the viewer. I do it for my friends and family back home that do not have the opportunity to see the stars like I can here. My photography is about wonder. As adults we’ve lost the child-like wonder our world was beaming with when we were younger. I believe it is still there to be seen; one just needs to work a bit harder to find it.” The idea of Canales’s work is to let his friends, family, and viewers place themselves in the photograph, looking up at the sky, similarly to the experience that he had.2 In 2011, Canales entered a Traveler’s Photo Contest, which had nearly 13,000 entries from around the world, covering portraits, outdoor scenes, a sense of place, and spontaneous moments. Canales surprised the judges in the contest and won first place with his photography work of a starry sky over Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. He explored many shots by playing around with long exposures and found that including himself in the photograph, experiencing the moment, was going to make the connection. This was the beginning of his new passion and dream of photographing stars over Crater Lake.3
Creative Process
Canales's work is all based on the weather forecast. He loves to work with clear skies with many stars. This is what sparks his joy and excitement for the night. He usually laughs at every clear sky as his relief of stress from wondering if the night was going to be clear. Once he finds the sky clear, he gets out his camera and sets it to “its highest light-collecting abilities” with a 10-second exposure. By doing this, he experiments with different compositions and angles to find an image that he loves. When he finds the right shots, he takes his time changing the settings and perfecting the shot to the best of his ability. He uses other tools such as headlamps and lanterns, to avoid or creatively use light pollution. He continues this process until the stars disappear. But, in it all, Canales takes breaks to experience the stars himself.2
References
- “About.” TheStarTrail, www.thestartrail.com/About.
- Florin, Bogdan. “Shooting Stars with Ben Canales.” Photography Office, Photography Office, 23 Oct. 2011, www.photographyoffice.com/blog/2011/10/shooting-stars-with-ben-canales.
- Rossow, Krista. “Behind the Winning Image.” National Geographic, 2 Aug. 2011, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/intelligent-travel/2011/08/02/behind-the-winning-image/.
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