American LeisureOriginal Photo Series

As a young man growing up in suburban Britain, Ben was inspired by photographers such as Robert Frank, Stephen Shore, and Joel Sternfeld - artists whose work shaped his fascination with destination photography and the mythology of the American road trip. Rather than seeking out familiar tourist landmarks, he set his sights on the quieter, in-between spaces of roadside America: truck stops, gas stations, and mini-marts.

In 2018, he rented a Dodge Challenger and set off on a two-week journey across the Southwestern United States.

Many of the images he had imagined came to life, forming the foundation of this photo series. But along the way, Ben also discovered a landscape both vast and intimately shaped by human activity. His focus shifted toward documenting how people, RVs, campers, passers-by, and tour groups interact with these wide-open environments, embracing one of America’s most enduring pastimes: leisure.

Photographs from the series have been published in two books: Everything is Narrative and Investigation in Infrastructure, both released by Subjectively Objective, further establishing the collection within contemporary documentary and travel photography