Behind the lens
BENJAMIN RASMUSSEN
Documentary photographer and author of a new photo book, The Good Citizen
benjaminrasmussenphoto.com
The Good Citizen is the debut book by Faroese-American photographer, Benjamin Rasmussen. As a selfconfessed ‘outsider’, Rasmussen wanted to explore how American society came to be what it is today and the complexities that make up the American identity.
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A bald eagle before necropsy.
© Benjamin Rasmussen
Kalea Pitel, Miss Philippines USA 2016, in San Diego, California.
© Benjamin Rasmussen
For the last eight years, he has travelled through 43 different states and met with over 500 people to create the images used in The Good Citizen.
During his documentation of this diverse nation, Rasmussen has photographed everything from beauty queens and activists to abandoned everyday items and even a president. In a project first, Rasmussen shot using large-format film and a Polaroid instant film camera so that his subjects could instantly have input about how they were being represented.