FROM THE ARCHIVE: Don Benjamin
PERIOD Special Edition ft. Don Benjamin · August 2017
Long before celebrity features became a regular part of PERIOD’s editorial world, there were a handful of stories that began expanding what the magazine could be. Our 2017 special edition with Don Benjamin was one of them.
Photographed by Edwin J. Ortega, the cover story placed Benjamin against a saturated turquoise backdrop in a series of images built around color, pattern and personality. Graphic knits, bold sunglasses, leather gloves and vivid styling created an editorial that felt distinctly of its moment while allowing Benjamin’s presence to remain the focus. Rather than relying on elaborate locations or oversized production, the story used a straightforward studio setting and let wardrobe, attitude and movement create the visual energy.
At the time, Benjamin was already recognizable from Cycle 20 of America’s Next Top Model, the first season of the series to feature both male and female contestants. He appeared on the competition in 2013 and went on to build a career extending beyond the show into modeling, music and entertainment.
Our interview focused on that transition.
Instead of treating America’s Next Top Model as the conclusion of his story, the conversation looked at what happened once the cameras stopped rolling. Benjamin spoke about navigating an industry where television recognition could create opportunities, but where longevity still required building an identity beyond a reality competition. By this stage of his career, he had continued working professionally as a model and was represented by Wilhelmina, while also developing his work in music and other areas of entertainment.
That made the feature particularly interesting for PERIOD. It was not simply about photographing someone audiences already recognized. It was about meeting someone at the point where public recognition and personal ambition were beginning to separate from one another.
The photographs reflect that confidence. Benjamin shifts between direct portraits and more animated frames, sometimes confronting the camera and sometimes appearing almost caught between poses. His tattoos become part of the styling rather than something hidden, while the saturated blue, turquoise, red and yellow palette gives the story an energy very different from the more restrained fashion imagery PERIOD would explore in later years.
Looking back nearly a decade later, the shoot also represents an important stage in the magazine's development. This was one of our earliest celebrity-focused special editions, created while PERIOD was still defining how fashion, personality and cultural figures could coexist within its pages.
The production may belong unmistakably to 2017, but that is precisely what makes revisiting it worthwhile.
From the Archives is not about pretending earlier work was created today. It is about looking back at the images, people and experiments that helped shape what PERIOD eventually became.
And with Don Benjamin, we were beginning to look beyond the model in front of the camera and toward the person building a career once the spotlight moved on.
CREDITS
Photography: Edwin J. Ortega
Model: Don Benjamin
Agency: Wilhelmina Models
Stylist: Winnie Stackz
Makeup Artist: Nicholle Ray
Wardrobe Assistant: Jill Arlee
Videographer: Anthony
Location: Creative Island Studios
Originally published in PERIOD, August 2017.
GET A COPY OF PERIOD DON BENJAMIN ISSUE HERE
From the Archives is part of OFF THE PAGES, where PERIOD revisits the editorials, ideas, experiments, and defining images that have shaped the magazine over the years.
