About : Ben Hopper

Hello, My name is Ben Hopper.

I really like lemurs.
I like underground stuff.
I like beautiful things that aren't considered to be beautiful by most people.

I was born in 1982 and I live in London, United Kingdom.

Longer Bio
Ben Hopper is an Israel-born London-based commercial and fine art photographer. His work includes scenery, movement, and mood. He primarily photographs conceptual fashion, portraits of dancers, circus artists, musicians, and risqué nudes. His latest series, Naked Girls with Masks, falls squarely into the last category.

Naked Girls with Masks was previewed at the underground London group art exhibition ACT ART 8 in July 2010, where it was the talk of the show. Along with his earlier series, The Black and Whites, Ben quickly received more exposure as he came to the attention of bloggers all around the world.

Ben took up full time photography in the summer of 2007. After spending several years working for an Israeli trading company that specialized in importing photographic equipment, the restrictive, business-like nature of the job drove him to breaking point. Desperate to unleash his creative spirit, Ben took advantage of the one perk his role afforded him by buying a camera at cost price, then jacked in his job and set off to Europe in search of freedom, adventure and pictures that packed a punch. His work has been evolving every day since.

After establishing in London he quickly rose to prominence: images he captured of his brother and his friends all circus performers in Madrid and around the world were snapped up by publications all over Europe, while highly respected Australian magazine Kurv published Ben's photos in an exclusive Barbie-themed issue guest-edited by the iconic doll.

Multiple exhibitions followed, along with more work and features in numerous publications worldwide both online and in print, as diverse as European circus magazines Zirkolika and Kaskade to fashion and culture magazines Supersweet, Anglomania and Bizarre, in addition to contributing to several books.

Through working intimately with London's alternative and underground nightclubs, he has forged close and trusted relationships with many of their performers and more extravagant clientèle. From luxurious Mayfair members clubs like Maddox to the world's biggest fetish club, Torture Garden, the characters he has met have influenced his work and become close friends - many of them appearing as subjects in his imagery.

Ben was recently commissioned by the European Federation of Professional Circus Schools (FEDEC) to photograph at Circa Festival (Auch, France). He also started working with The Roundhouse, one of London's premier performance theatres, earlier this year. His other clients include fashion designers, musicians, corporations, design and architecture firms, nightclubs, and performance and entertainment companies.

Ben is currently in-house photographer for Bête-Noire (PKA The Last Days of Decadence) and White Mischief. (London, UK).Ben is also taking some time to concentrate on creating new personal work. Edgier and bolder, he is questioning mainstream culture, identity, and sexuality."

My photographic style is always evolving - I also think I'm a little jaded; I never want to take predictable pictures. When I take pictures or select them afterwards I think, 'If I saw that image in a book, a magazine or a gallery, would I think it's a good image? If it's good enough to look like a timeless classic image, I'll be happy." says Ben. "I particularly love the challenge of working solely with available light, and capturing bodies in motion. I like every element of my compositions to fascinate; it might be the energetic, quirky image of a nude woman in a stag head jumping into the air that first arrests the viewer, but then they notice interesting elements in the background too. I want everything about my photographs to provoke comment and exclamation. And I consider 'What the fuck..?!' to be a compliment!"

"Hotter-than-wasabi up-and-coming fine art photographer" -Bizarre Magazine
"Philippe Halsman lives in him, but he brings a whole fresh thing" -Doug Menuez (photographer)

Awards
Winner of Israel's National Geographic competition; Summer Sports photography. 1st place (Summer of 2007).

Selected Publications and Magazines
Alondon (UK)
AMBIDEXTRO (Spain)
Anglomania (UK)
Beau Monde by Sanoma Media (Netherlands)
Bizarre Magazine (UK)
Burlesque Map London by PictureRama Publishing (UK)
Éditions Textuel (France)
Juggling Magazine (Italy)
Kaskade Magazine (Germany)
Kurv Magazine (Australia)
Magazine ALFA (Norway)
Marquis (Germany)
Sirkus Pyramidi (Finland)
SkinTwo Magazine (UK)
Strada by HorsLesMurs (France)
Stereo Stokey (UK)
SUPERSWEET (UK)
The Chap (UK)
The Guardian (UK)
The View Magazine
TWENTEEN (UK)
ZIRKOLIKA (Spain)

Selected Clients
Clubs:
Antichrist
Bête-Noire (PKA The Last Days of Decadence)
Boujis
Bumpkin
Club Haus 80's
Eclipse
Ignite Group
Jewel Covent Garden
Maddox
Nozomi
Steamboat Bordello
The Kingly Club
Torture Garden
White Mischief

Architecture:
NIZAN INBAR Project Management

Corporate:
Ashbourne College
Dom Pérignon Rosé
Hebrew University
Hess
JCC

Charity:
ONE FAMILY UK
Right To Play
Walkabout Foundation

Performance and Entertainment:
Chisenhale Dance Space (UK)
Cie AKOREACRO (France)
Cie Ea Eo (France)
Cridacompany (France)
DOCH; Stockholm University of Dance and Circus (Sweden)
FEDEC; European Federation of Professional Circus Schools (Belgium)
The Israeli Juggling Convention (Israel)
Jim Manganello for Viaduct Theatre, Chicago (USA)
Les 7 doigts de la main / The 7 Fingers (Canada)
Lyon Circus School (France)
Premier PR (UK)
Rosny Circus School (France)
Simone Riccio (UK)
Subliminati Corporation (France)
The Roundhouse (UK)

Fashion
Eastie
Julia Smith
Mayka Amrami Finkelstein
SUMARIE

Music:
Joana and the Wolf
Asaf Avidan
Ana Diaz
Oren Frank
Ghostlight
Tamar Eisenman
Omri Vitis
The Apples