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In Focus: Benj Haisch
Kolla photographer Benj Haisch grew up outside of Seattle in the Pacific Northwest, where his childhood was spent exploring the Cascade Mountains in the winter and glacier-fed rivers and lakes in the summers.
It's no surprise that his love for the outdoors at such an early age is reflected in his profession later in life.
We had a chance to get to know Benj a bit better in this short interview. Enjoy!
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Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
Hi, I’m Benj. I’m a husband, dad, and photographer from Tacoma, Washington, USA. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest has always given me a really high appreciation for the great outdoors and I love that I get to combine that with a love for people as a full-time wedding photographer.
The Pacific Northwest feels like a creative hotbed. Is that right?
Gosh, yeah. It’s been really interesting to see how much things have changed with trends. When I was first starting out back in 2007, it really felt like all of the really trendy work was coming out of Southern California or New York City, but Instagram kind of blew up and the PNW was on display full force with photographers moving here from all over the country.
Left: Glacier Point Top: Hidden Gems of the Cascade Mountains Bottom: Merced River
If you suddenly have the urge to photograph something, what's your go-to way to fulfill the need?
I almost always have one of a large collection of film cameras on me at all times, so it’s most often found with me simply documenting my family’s daily life on film. If I have some time though, I love taking a few hours, driving to the mountains or woods, and taking some walks/hikes.
All of my personal photos are shot on (mostly manual focus) film cameras and I love how the process slows me down and keeps me in the moment a lot more. There is no checking the back of the screen after taking a photo on film to see how it turned out. You just take it and move on.
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What legacy do you hope for with your photography style?
That’s a great question. As someone who mainly photographs people for a living in moments on an eventful day (wedding photography), the biggest hope that I can have is to bring those people back into those moments through the photographs that I’m able to make.
I’m obviously very inspired by film and that sense of nostalgia that it brings, and I’m very aware of things like color and even how things like lens selection have a huge impact on how things are perceived within a photo. I’ve tried to stay pretty neutral despite trends and have sold off all of my more unique gear to stay more classic in my approach.
I’m also trying to use all of the life-experience that I have to think of things through different people’s points of view, so when I see a grandparent, I’m reminded of my grandparents who aren’t with us anymore and try to grab great portraits of them. When I see a mother dancing with her son, I think of my wife and our 3 year old. The legacy of my work is never going to be how many magazine or blog features I’ve had, but how many different moments and relationships I’m honored to photograph.
Describe a photography experience you had when you were completely outside of your comfort zone and the result surprised you.
When I was just starting in photography, I ended up getting the opportunity to photograph for the Seattle Seahawks, our local NFL football team. I’d never done anything like that before and was a bit terrified of doing something that far of a departure from my regular wedding/portrait work.
It turns out though, that wedding photography as much as it might not have the highest reputation among other photography niches actually gives you a really good basis for photographing chaos and movement and the heart of what is happening during a game. Outside of my regular work, the 7-8 years that I photographed games for them off and on were some of my biggest times of growth as a photographer.
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What is one thing you're obsessed with right now?
My wife and I both are running business and working full time with an almost 3 year old running around the house, so it’s hard to really have too many obsessions outside of that, but I’m still fairly obsessed with documenting this crazy life we have on film. From a cheap set of point and shoots to a Leica or Hasselblad, I’m loving getting these beautiful frames back of my family.
Feel the vibes of the Pacific North West through Benj's vantage and shop his Kolla collection today.
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