Scots snapper, Benson, subject of profile on BBC ALBA

INTERNATIONALLY-renowned Scots photographer, Harry Benson, is to be profiled in a TV programme being screened on Monday.

In a repeat showing of the Cuide ri Cathy programme on BBC ALBA, Benson – famous for photographs that include the assassination of US presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy, and The Beatles relaxing – talks about some of his most famed work with Cathy MacDonald.

The programme follows Benson and MacDonald as they spend the day in New York, where Benson moved to from Glasgow following an assignment with The Beatles in 1964.

Say programme notes: “Harry made his name in Fleet Street in the late 50’s but it was New York where he truly carved out his career taking iconic photographs of every [US] President since Eisenhower to top celebrities including The Beatles, Grace Kelly, Mia Farrow and Michael Jackson, to name but a few.”

The programme also sees interviews with some of Benson’s former colleagues, including David Friend, editor of creative development at Vanity Fair, who said that Benson would go to any lengths to get the perfect shot.

Friend is quoted, as saying: “My first assignment with Harry was in 1979 and he was shooting out a helicopter with me holding him at an open door to photograph Soviet warships seven miles from the Iranian coast.”

Cuide ri Cathy is being broadcast at 2200 on Monday on BBC ALBA.