Laurent Benaïm

In 2019, he collaborates with Dian Hanson and publish 300 of his finest pictures, edited by Taschen.

In 2016, Benaïm was included in Vice's 'favorite pictures of 2016' list.

Benaïm started to work with the French company Lefevre in 1990, taking pictures of historical monuments. He continues to work for the company today.

Benaïm studied photography for two years in 1982, attending EFET in Paris. Once his studies were over in 1985, he entered the French Air Force, working as a photographer in Africa for two years. He returned to France and started to work as a freelance photographer for advertising companies such as Cato Johnson.

Laurent Benaïm (born August 24, 1965) is a French photographer specializing in the erotic photography of amateur models, developing his work using the Victorian gum bichromate printing process.

He discovered gum bichromate printing through his search for premises to work in. During a visit, a huge print displayed inside the room caught his attention and drove him to research the process at his local library. Working from a book published in 1850, he developed his first gum bichromate picture in a soup plate at his home. He immediately fell in love with the technique, which he said rendered pictures more theatrical and removed any temporal notions. Benaïm has continued to use the printing technique until today, with lighting becoming one of his main points of focus. His work consists mostly of dimly-lit shots, yet using diffused light to bring the subject to the fore. He has been linked to influences Man Ray and Patrick Faigenbaum. He prefers to work with black and white photography to explore the use of contrast.