What we know today about many famous musicians, politicians, and actresses is due to the famous work of photographer Harry Benson. He captured vibrant and intimate photos of the most famous band in history: The Beatles. His extensive portfolio grew to include iconic photos of every US President, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, and Dr. Martin Luther King. His wide-ranging work has appeared in publications including Life, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

Here’s co-directors Matthew Miele and Justin Bare description of their time working with Harry: “After three years of sifting through thousands of photographs, filming fifty interviews with Harry’s friends, fellow photographers, and gracious subjects, as well as trips to Harry’s native Scotland and following him once again on his regular beat on Fleet Street in London, we have a film we are proud to say is inherently Harry.”

He is a living history book. In this intimate new documentary, Benson’s life and work are pulled into focus, and at 86, he has no intention of putting his camera down.

“The entertaining documentary Harry Benson: Shoot First…asks fashion designers and editors to comment on a series depicting the Berlin Wall, a Somali refugee camp, and Ku Klux Klan members in their tall white hoods.What Shoot First conveys so well is that while those scenes are part of history, so are the Beatles, Jack Nicholson, and Johnny Carson—and the arbiters of image and style will decide how (and if) they are seen and remembered.” –Julia Raban, The Stranger