‘I made mistakes. You need someone at your elbow saying: don’t sign that, it’s not right’ As part of our series on Britain’s entrepreneurs, Debbie Wosskow reveals the reasons behind her most successful exits,

Last month, The Telegraph commissioned me to shoot a series of images for Charles Stanley’s “Britain’s entrepreneurs” reasons behind their most successful exits. The first published story was of “Debbie Wosskow” and was shot in her home in Maida Vale, for the full story please feel free to follow the link here. 

Assistant: @laraa_dunn
Words: Helena Pozniak

Last month I was commissioned by The New York Times to shoot Journalist and Author Yomi Adegoke for the launch of her debut novel “The List”. For the full article click here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/books/yomi-adegoke-the-list.html

In 2021, I shot some character portraits for Lucasfilm’s latest feature film “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (2023) at Pinewood Studios, I worked on the project for 6 months and can finally share a selection of imagery that I shot in the studio. 

Some images were used for promotional material, as shown below. [CLICK HERE FOR FULL SERIES]

A couple of weeks ago I was commissioned by Hyphen to shoot a portrait of Lyth Hishmeh, one of around 2 million people in the UK living with long Covid. For the full article click on the link here. 

The image was shot in Lyth’s garden 

Last month my portrait of Julia Goldin, the CPO/CMO of LEGO was on the cover of Adweek for their Brand Genius, July Issue. [PRINT + ONLINE]. The image was shot at the Lego HQ, in London.

Words Brittaney Kiefer

Photography Hayley Benoit 

Commissioned Kacy Burdette

Assistant Pim Van Baalen 

Digital Operator Tom Green

Retouching Barry Hurley

Location LEGO HQ, London

For the full article click on the link here: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/brand-genius-2023/

Last week my portrait of King Charles Impersonators, Ian Lieber, left, and Charles Haslett was published on the front cover of The New York Times [Cover Story 29.03.23 PRINT + ONLINE] - “For Impersonators of a Prince, It’s Good to Finally be The King”

King Charles Impersonators, Ian Lieber, left, and Charles Haslett, for The New York Times, Photography, Hayley Benoit

Words Jenny Gross 

Photography Hayley Benoit 

Commissioned Eve Edelheit

Assistant Pim Van Baalen 

Location Sunset Studios

For the full article click on the link here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/world/europe/king-charles-look-alikes-impersonators.html

Last week The Luupe posted an amazing article “Thirty-Six Black Women and Non-Binary Photographers to Hire This Year” and I’m pleased to share that made number 31 on the list.

Last week Foto Femme United featured me in one of their articles, for the full article please check it out here. 

HAYLEY BENOIT

WRITER: AFONWY DUFF

DATE PUBLISHED: JANUARY 15, 2023

Welcome to the sumptuous world of Hayley Benoit (@hayleybenoit). Her delightful and decorated work has graced numerous galleries and near-countless pages of print. With just over a decade of experience under her belt, Benoit has amassed clients of a calibre most commercial practitioners could only dream of, including: I-d Magazine, Disney, Nike, the BBC, Lucasfilm, and The British Journal of Photography. Benoit’s easy and eclectic approach is highlighted within her diverse portfolio that, no doubt, affords her the option to pursue an array of impressive and exciting opportunities. 

Amongst her vast clientele is Olive Magazine, a British food magazine with a laid-back approach akin to that of Benoit. The magazine focuses on accessible, and achievable cooking with a broad target demographic. Benoit’s work sits splendidly within this brief due her delicate balance of stylisation and simplicity. It is impossible to dislike her images, which fold-in visual trends with a sufficiently recognisable house-style. The latter ingredient containing enough subtle signifiers to remain commercially viable, yet still spare us the crumbs of cliche. 

So as not to decontextualise past the point of deliciousness, Benoit’s work combines technical lighting with casual staging to separate precision from pretention. Benoit’s imagery is digitally sharpened to create a pop art-esque abstraction of the otherwise banal subject matter. The use of bold colour, segmentational staging, and exaggeration of dark outlines flirts with the concept of retro-style restaurant art whilst grainier, more muted renditions harken to something slightly more personal. It is upon the scraped plaster and creased linens of her latter work that we see the familiar forms of home-cooked dishes torn from the dry, matte paper of mum’s old cookbooks. With just a pinch of noise, Benoit’s apt approach communicates a deep, rounded, richness that offers comfort alongside creativity.

Using flash on food is no small feat, too little and you’re underexposed, but too much can truly turn the dauphinoise into the dog’s dinner. In short, harshly shadowed, high contrast confections come off uncanny. Continuous lighting is often preferred within the genre for it’s more forgiving nature. Conversely, Benoit defies convention and dares to demonstrate the effective nature of hard lighting in regard to both texture and form. How else could we distinguish each crack and crevice of a corn on the cob: equal parts buttery and grill-burnt?

Indeed, in the age of ‘personal branding’ in which we find ourselves, a portfolio that spans all, or as many commercial disciplines is essential. Benoit exhibits the rare ability to construct corporate imagery with humility and genuine relatability. It takes and incredibly skilled director to illicit a relaxed and natural impression within such technically rigid work. When we observe her wider portfolio, we see an empathy that can only allude to the integrity of Benoit’s character. Her work highlights the importance of perspective and personality within the commercial sphere. It appears that she has mastered the perfect recipe of purpose, praxis, and positivity.

Hayley Benoit (b.1988) is a London based photographer specialising in Portrait, food and lifestyle editorials for social and branded content. She has worked on film, tv and commercial productions; including a feature film at Lucasfilm and Disney where she worked as a Unit Stills and Portrait Gallery Photographer.

In September I was commissioned by Travel + Leisure magazine to shoot their front cover story for their Nov/Dec issue for the opening of Gleneagles Townhouse - I had the amazing opportunity to visit Edinburgh for the week and shoot/stay in some really amazing hotels and shoot/eat some delicious food. The assignment itself was one of my favorites so far and I was even more chuffed that my image made the front cover. Check out the full article here beautifully written by Peter Terzian.   

GREAT NEWS: I’ve been selected to share my work-in-progress project for feedback and review at The Photographers Gallery this Friday 7th, 6-8 pm for Photo Scratch’s first in-person event since 2020.

I’ll be sharing my work with some photographers, including; 

Yuanbo Chen

Hasna Charley Tayyar

Megan Eagles

Etienne Bruce

Alice Poole

Alexander Ward

Henri Kisielewski

Photo Scratch at
The Photographers’ Gallery

Friday 7th October 2022
6-8 pm

Book now!

Click here to book.