The many photographic identities of Ben Zank

Ben Zank is a photographer from New York that dedicates his photographic talent to shooting original self-portraits.

With a good amount of creativity and knowledge of his camera, he visually tells stories of different characters, all played by Zank, expressing a state of mind or a sometimes difficult situation.

He started this series of photos as a project of the length of one year, taking it as a way to exploring himself and photography.

It all started when his grandmother gave him an old Pentax ME Super film camera and slowly Zank moved from taking pictures inside his room to exploring the outside and touching different and often personal themes.

The young photographer from Bronx has a special consideration for details, with the peculiarity of going out of the conventional and ready to experiment. In his photos he depicts different facades, sometimes not entirely showing his face, preferring to play with lights and appear under the shadow or partly covered by some smoke. A man ready to mingle with nature, to represent his identity and personality. Even though he didn't always realize how his work well depicted what he was feeling, "It really wasn't until I was talking to my mom about what my photos meant that I took a good look at them and realized that all the images had perfectly sculpted my emotions.

The times that I had felt trapped, powerless, held down by the weight of something. The times that I felt unsure of things. And the times that I felt in control and free," he explained.