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Photographers in Destin Florida on the Beach

by Mark Benjamin on 01/27/15

 In the summer of 1982 I was still in the U.S. Navy. Although by then, I had been a shutterbug for quite some time and even had a few events such as weddings and reunions under my belt.  The concept of beach portraiture had never quite crossed my mind. Until one day when some of my shipmates (I was stationed on the USS Lexington in Pensacola Florida at the time ) approached me about photographing their families on the beach during our next shore period. They promised to pay for my film and buy me a bunch of beer. Based on that (especially because of the beer thing) I consider that to be my first professional beach portrait session. The location we chose for this session was Fort Pickens in Pensacola Beach. We all showed up at Fort Pickens about 2 1/2 hours before sunset to give us plenty of time considering this was my first ever beach portrait session. Everything just seemed to fall into place I felt right at home. Maybe it's because I grew up on these beaches, or maybe it's just because I am a natural born beach hippie. Who knows? Anyway the beer started flowing and next thing I know I was having a blast. The pictures came out awesome! I did not have a darkroom at the time so I sent the film to a photo lab that was recommended to me by another photographer. The pictures came out awesome in fact I regret very much losing the negatives from the photo shoot. Oh well! Like they say (whoever they are) “you never forget your first time”!

Peace and Hair Grease,

Mark