Ellen Bennett Photography

Your Bio

Most of my creative existence has been spent as a pianist/composer. My feel for music parallels with what I see through the viewfinder.

I am captured by old buildings wherein the history speaks through its worn exteriors, animals in various stages of action or inaction, fog, and nature. These subjects possess a unique voice
and the camera gives that voice volume.

As a self-taught musician and photographer, I have composed not from any learned theory but from the visual and emotional aspect of the story.

I like to keep the image as clean and pure as possible. Luckily, the digital camera allows me a wide margin for trial and error.

I want you to see what I see, then seek the place in your own heart allowing you pause for thoughtfulness.



All photographs are copyrighted, Ellen Bennett Photography, 2005. No photographs may be reproduced without permission of Ellen Bennett, Ellen Bennett Photography.

Galleries

Renewal Part Three : Coming down and around the corner into the home stretch. Still a length process, but seeing more progress now.

Renewal Part Three

Coming down and around the corner into the home stretch. Still a lengt ...

Updated: Aug 10, 2009 9:03pm PST

Renewal Part Three

Updated: Aug 10, 2009 6:03pm PST

Renewal Part Two :

Renewal Part Two

Updated: Jul 27, 2009 9:31am PST

Family : A work in progress.

Family

A work in progress.

Updated: Jul 22, 2009 12:08pm PST

Renewal : The process of remodeling requires before, during and after pictures. Have we been living in The Twilight Zone? Date of last remodel: circa 1980. YIKES!

Renewal

The process of remodeling requires before, during and after pictures. ...

Updated: Jul 05, 2009 2:08pm PST

Equine Perspective : Work in progress, taken here at the farm and at various race tracks.

Equine Perspective

Work in progress, taken here at the farm and at various race tracks.

Updated: Sep 05, 2008 6:28am PST

Back Roads : Back Roads in the country are main roads.

Back Roads

Back Roads in the country are main roads.

Updated: Jun 14, 2008 7:22pm PST

Mill : Kent Feeds/Railroad Street Mill is in Hastings, Michigan. Suzanne buys the horse grain and oats here and it is one of the last remaining working mills in Southwest Michigan. 
The owners, John and Sherry Cheeseman, say the lineage probably dates back as far as the 1930's. As you will see, the equipment is evidence of that time passage. 
There have been many owners of this mill, some of the outcrop buildings have changed, but the main mill remains where it was so many years ago.
For these photographs, there was but one light bulb on in the working part of the mill. You will see this bulb on several of the photographs. It was located near the door, which made shooting a challenge. The outside lighting was cloudy and murky, so I used artificial flash lighting.
I used my wide angle for most of the shots but used the Macro for more detailed stuff and the telephoto for the outdoor higher shots. 
The lighting was tricky to work with and my equipment list is quite short for this kind of work. 
I am intrigued not only with the evident history here, but the placement of objects, the smell of the sweet feed, and the dustiness of the surroundings. Quite a few of the lighter spots on the photographs which resemble 'blow out' are actually pockets of dust.

I wanted, as I always do, composition.

Mill

Kent Feeds/Railroad Street Mill is in Hastings, Michigan. Suzanne buys ...

Updated: Dec 27, 2007 2:22pm PST

Under the Michigan Sky : Another work in progress. 
Living in the country affords me a different view of things depending upon the weather. 

I love the wide open spaces, the two lane roadways that stretch on. It might be miles before I see another vehicle, and sometimes it will be in the form of slow moving farm equipment.

What the city offered to me in pace, the country offers in peace.

Under the Michigan Sky

Another work in progress. Living in the country affords me a differe ...

Updated: Dec 10, 2007 7:32am PST

Stasis and Birth : Rarely do they die, they just wait until Spring in stasis. Twisted, gnarled, softly intersecting, their branches have a life of their own.

Stasis and Birth

Rarely do they die, they just wait until Spring in stasis. Twisted, gn ...

Updated: Apr 23, 2006 11:41am PST

Fog : These photographs were taken in various locations around the country.

Fog

These photographs were taken in various locations around the country.

Updated: Dec 30, 2005 6:57am PST

City of Boston : It might be the most expensive city to live in these days, but there is sure a lot of good fodder for the viewfinder!

City of Boston

It might be the most expensive city to live in these days, but there i ...

Updated: Dec 04, 2005 8:55am PST

Nature : Its all around us, we just forget to look sometimes.

Nature

Its all around us, we just forget to look sometimes.

Updated: Nov 12, 2005 12:26pm PST

Portal : A portal is the beginning and the ending of any story.

Portal

A portal is the beginning and the ending of any story.

Updated: Nov 10, 2005 7:53am PST

Black and White : Always the artistic form

Black and White

Always the artistic form

Updated: Oct 31, 2005 11:42am PST