An Evening with Harry Benson: In Conversation with Chris Whipple

An Evening with Harry Benson: In Conversation with Chris Whipple,

Soho Photo Gallery
539 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011

June 15, 2026
7PM-8:30PM.  

Registration: Eventbrite

Harry Benson:

A legendary photographer and a legendary magazine editor sit down for a chat, and we are invited to listen!  

If you are visually literate there is no way you don’t have some of Harry Benson’s images in your memory bank. Harry Benson spent decades working at LIFE, Time and People, bringing the world to millions of readers across the country, and living the golden age of magazines. In conversation with Chris Whipple, Harry will also talk about coming to America with the Beatles, and photographing the last thirteen US Presidents. From the Beatles to Trump; Harry has seen it all. We expect a lively conversation about Harry’s 70-years-long career, his iconic images the stories behind them.

The event is free to attend. Seating is limited. Registration required.

•Portfolio Development is an annual guided independent study workshop produced by the Develop Photography Newsletter. We thank Soho Photo Gallery for hosting us, and American Photographic Artists for co-sponsoring.

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Harry Benson CBE:

Scottish born photographer, Harry Benson CBE, arrived in America with The Beatles in 1964, leaving London’s Fleet Street behind. By the 1970s Harry had become the most published photographer in LIFE magazine, with photos in Vanity Fair, People, Vogue, Paris Match, Town & Country, Architectural Digest, Time, Quest, Fortune, New York Magazine, WWD, Newsweek, Paris Match, Stern, & London Sunday Times Magazine.

Photographed every US President from Eisenhower to Trump.(1965-2025)

Marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.covering Civil Rights(1966)

Photographed Senator Robert Kennedy when he was assassinated (1968);

First to document Starvation in Somalia (980s).

Official photographer at USA for Africa/We are the World recording.(1985)

Photographed the Berlin Wall going up (1961) & down (1989.)

Photographed: World News/Artists/Writers/Film&Broadway Stars/Politicians

Honors include:

CBE..Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen 2009.

Honorary Doctorates: Glasgow University & Glasgow School of Art;

St. Andrews University; and Glasgow Caledonian University. 2009

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, ICP, New York 2017

Twice: Magazine Photographer of the Year, U. of Missouri/NPPA.

Twice: The Leica Medal of Excellence…

Author of 18 books including The Beatles On the Road and Paul McCartney, (TASCHEN) & PERSONS OF INTEREST (powerHouse).

HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST documentary released on HULU.

Solo Gallery & Museum Exhibits include: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.; The National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland; The Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; The Lumiere Center of Photography, Moscow; Kunst Museum, Switzerland; Tucson Museum of Art; Erarta Museum, St. Petersburg; Capital One Gallery, D.C.

Wife Gigi works with Harry on books and exhibitions, with daughters Wendy & Tessa who commute from L.A. where they live with their families.

Chris Whipple: Chris Whipple is a New York Times bestselling author, Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, political analyst, and speaker. His recent profile of Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in Vanity Fair made headlines around the world. Whipple’s books include Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History and The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency.

Whipple graduated from Yale with a BA in history. After stints at Foreign Policy Magazine and Newsweek, he spent eight years as a reporter at LIFE, covering stories ranging from famine in Somalia to Northern Ireland’s IRA hunger strike to apartheid in South Africa. In 1986 he joined CBS News 60 Minutes as a producer and later worked as a producer at ABC News’s PrimeTime Live.

Whipple appears frequently on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and Sirius XM’s POTUS. He’s an associate fellow of Timothy Dwight College at Yale and lives in Essex, Connecticut with his wife Cary.