SEATTLE TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER Benjamin Benschneider turned to photographing architecture when it became clear he wasn't always going to be able to get to the mountains. He began to approach the photography of architecture in the same way he looked at nature.
 

BOATHOUSE, BAINBRIDGE ISLAND May 5, 2002
Features teak woodwork and Connemara marble flooring that mimics the look of petrified seaweed. Owners: Kevin and Kristin Eagan Architect: William Chester

It all began, as most things do, with his mother and father. His 80-year-old mother still paints and his father was the sort of commercial photographer who did superb technical work for institutions such as Time-Life books. Growing up, Benschneider was his father's assistant and sometime human light stand. Standing at his father's side, he watched and learned. Most important, he saw how much his father loved his work, and it began to seem quite normal to have a job that was totally engaging and challenging.

Using his father as a resource, Benschneider got grants to study photography in college, soon demonstrating enough talent to begin earning a living as a photojournalist. He began working at The Seattle Times in 1984.

The life of a newspaper photographer is about racing from assignment to assignment, scrambling to find the meaning in the events of the day and forever looking for a parking spot. The job of a photojournalist is to show us how we live in this complicated world. Benschneider chased all the fires and the crime scenes and Seafair parades, but felt pulled toward his first love, observing light as it progressed through a day and capturing his subject bathed in the optimal glow of a perfect moment.

Photojournalists need to be light on their feet and want the smallest, least obtrusive camera possible. When Benschneider's father died in 1985, he inherited the expensive, large-format gear he probably would never have purchased on his own. For some time it sat in his garage untouched, until finally he began to experiment with it while shooting Northwest Living assignments for Pacific Northwest Magazine. In the 20 years since, he has moved past a preoccupation with technique to a preoccupation with habitat. His work explores the satisfactions and comforts of home as a way to cope with the stress of crowded, modern life. The images show how we deal with the lack of privacy and other intrusions of the outside world by creating aesthetics and spaces that are an oasis, a sanctuary where we find renewal.

Benschneider continues to be a student of light. He paints with it to eliminate distraction, to reduce an image to bare-bones lines and help display a central idea or theme in a design. Simultaneously, he is always on the lookout for that taste of journalistic serendipity that makes a dwelling spring to life. Seeking those perfect moments "is not a slow, Zen thing," he says. "It's constantly moving and changing, so I have to go with it. That's why I never have time to eat."
 

	STYLE EXHIBIT WILL EXPLORE SPACES Architectural photographs by Benjamin Benschneider will be on display at the Seattle Interior Show, Nov. 1-3, in the fourth-floor lobby of the Washington State Convention Center.

Architectural photography is not mere abstraction to Benschneider. He captures the moments of a building the way he would capture any other moment in life — by bringing it back to the people.

The buildings he photographs are not pristine palaces, or homes as museums. Rather, they are "the three-dimensional sculptures that we walk through and live in every day." His photographs do more than reveal patterns of light and shape. They show how real people use a space. Believing that beauty is in the details, Benschneider uses them to explore the larger architectural idea. He shows how a building relates to the site, the block, the neighborhood and the surrounding environment. We get to know our region through these images, exploring the essential meaning of shelter a week at a time.

FIBER-CEMENT PANELS, MONTLAKE-AREA HOME, SEATTLE May 20, 2001 Architect: BCJ (Bohlin Cywinski Jackson)

GLASSED-IN BRIDGE, LAKE SAMMAMISH HOME May 20, 2001 The bridge connects the guest house and garage to the main living space. Owner: Rick Ledoux Architect: Lane Williams

BRETT SNOW AND JENNIFER BEEDON, WITH DOG MADONNA, MONTLAKE SPLIT-LEVEL, SEATTLE April 23, 2000 Oil-on-canvas painting by Jennifer Beedon. Extensive remodel done by the couple

BRONZE-FINISHED OCULUS, FOYER OF DOWNTOWN SEATTLE CONDO Dec. 3, 2000 Metallic finishes are signature features of designer Steven Hensel. The light fixture is Murano glass. Owner: Peter Donnelly, president, Corporate Council for the Arts Designer: Steven Hensel Designs

LIVING ROOM OF RON GAWITH AND LINDA WEISS, VASHON ISLAND May 21, 2000 Architect: Christopher Day Interior Design: Gawith and Weiss, owners of Current (furniture and lighting design company)

BEDROOM FEATURING ANTIQUE JAPANESE HEADBOARD (AND DOGS REED AND SOPHIE), MADISON PARK, SEATTLE Oct. 29, 2000 Owner: David Weatherford Designer: David Weatherford

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