Flickr photographer of the month: Ben Millar Cole
Every month, we ask someone from our Flickr group to show off their snaps and talk about their art. After the brash, bold work of Vienna’s Daniel Schreiber, we’ve chosen Ben Millar Cole’s pictures. If you’re a photographer with a musical bent, get involved.
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Cambridge and lived there til i was 8, cheating at Top Trumps and rollerskating on Sundays. Then we moved to Seaton in South Devon for a couple of years, chatting up the old people and fending off seagulls, then Cardiff for 10 years, not playing rugby, and now I live in Kennington, south London.
Where did you study?
Cambridge University.
How did you get involved in photography?
I got a camera for my birthday at uni and just started taking lots of pictures of me and my mates fooling around. Photography was the only thing I really cared for by the time graduation came around, so I thought I’d give it a go full-time. I had a friend who thought the same, so we formed ourselves an allegiance and together started shooting publicity photos for bands and comedians and whatnots. We struck gold soon after when one of our images made it into the Positive View exhibition at Somerset House alongside such greats as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Nick Knight and Mario Testino, and with that things started getting a bit more exciting.
What really inspires you?
Lieko Shiga, Elad Lassry, Steven Brahms and Jeff Wall are four photographers whose work I look at and get particularly inspired by. I just can’t believe some of the imagery they produce, it’s so exciting to look at.
What are you working on at the moment?
Currently working on a project for Crisis UK photographing homeless people in their favorite spots in London.
What music are you in to at the moment?
Nicolas Jaar, Gonjasufi, Icicle, Royalty, S.P.Y.‘s remix of ‘In The Waiting Line’ and Paul White.
What next?
I’ve just moved into a new office space and studio owned by my friend Filippo who is starting up a new art and fashion magazine which i’ll be helping him out with. Hype!
