David M. Benett (born 1958) is a British society and celebrity photographer based in London. Since 2004, Benett has been a contributing photographer for

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...

, specialising in candid photography of celebrities — work for which he has twice been awarded Photographer of the Year awards from the

UK Picture Editors' Guild The UK Picture Editors' Guild is an association for British picture editors, based in Wickford, Essex, United Kingdom. History The guild was formed in 1977 by picture editors working for British national and regional newspapers and picture agenc ...

Biography

Early years

Dave Benett was born in 1958.

Photographic career

In 1975 he moved from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where he started working as a photographer for television and newspapers. Benett first worked on news and sport at London News Service and Sport & General in the City, close to Fleet Street, before quickly discovering his metier in celebrity photography. During this period he divided his time between news and showbiz, covering era defining news events like the Brixton riots, the trial of

Dennis Nilsen Dennis Andrew Nilsen (23 November 1945 – 12 May 2018) was a Scottish serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983 in London. Convicted at the Old Bailey of six counts of murder and two of ...

and gangs of skinheads in South End for national papers as well as what was then ''

Thames News ''Thames News'' was the flagship regional news programme of Thames Television, serving the Thames ITV region and broadcast on weekdays from 12 September 1977 to 31 December 1992. The news service was produced and broadcast from Thames TV's headq ...

''. From 1983 Dave began focussing solely on show business events in the early days of the

paparazzi Paparazzi (, ; ; singular: masculine paparazzo or feminine paparazza) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people; such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities, typically while subjects ...

, establishing himself as a celebrity photographer. Benett worked at globally recognized events such as the Free Mandela concerts, as well as covering London's celebrity elite as they partied at all the hottest night spots of the 80s.Hannibal Reitano
"Dave Benett: Behind the Glitz and Glamour,"
''Buenos Aires Herald,'' October 16, 2011. During the early 90s Benett crossed over to being an 'inside' photographer, as his connections with ''

The Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' afforded personal invitations and accreditation for major cultural events. He has been the ''Evening Standard's'' main photographer for arts, culture and showbiz events since the mid 80s, not only working at major events with national appeal but also covering almost every major theatre first night in london for the last 30 years. Benett has gained a reputation as a trusted photographer of celebrities in candid moments and has thereby gained admission to a number of exclusive events, even working as official photographer for

the Queen Mother ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

's 99th birthday. He has published many of these images around the world.

Move to Getty

He joined

's contributors in 2004 after 14 years at Alpha Photographers Ltd. Dave received the Picture Editors' Guild Celebrity Photographer of the Year Award in both 2011 and 2013 and is currently regularly published in ''The London Evening Standard, The Daily Express, The Daily Star, The I, Grazia, Hello, Harpers Bazaar, Esquire'' and ''GQ'' magazine.Getty Images
"Dave Benett: Photographing the Most Famous Faces on Earth,"
''In Focus,'' infocus.gettyimages.com/

Motor racing

Benett has, for a number of years, raced a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car in the Britcar Endurance Championship with Marcus Fothergill. He has competed in every iteration of the Britcar series, including the 24 hour races at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

Awards

* 2011 UK Picture Editors' Guild Celebrity Photographer of the Year Award * 2013 UK Picture Editors' Guild Fashion and Entertainment Photographer of the Year Award

Footnotes

External links

Dave Benett Photography
* Getty Images
"Photographer Profile: Dave Benett,"
Photo Archive News.com, www.photoarchivenews.com/ (Video.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Benett, Dave 1958 births Living people Photographers from Liverpool Britcar drivers