Photography Atelier

Diane Bennett

Training Grounds

As a street photographer, I frequently observe children at play. Sometimes children make the rules; sometimes adults direct the experience. Either way, children’s play is usually serious work, rehearsal for future roles and expectations as they explore the world. 

In this project, Training Grounds, I use children’s play as a mirror to examine broader trends in American culture. Though often unobserved, what our children experience through play is likely to shape their assumptions and aspirations – and reveal the undercurrents of our own values.

About

With or without a camera, Diane Bennett asks herself: Where is the emotion in these surroundings? This long-standing focus informs her B&W photography, merging street-level reality, broader myth and personal resonance in the moment of capture. None of her images are staged or materially manipulated, following the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) guidelines. She searches the real, looking for the really real.  

Bennett’s series, Elastic Sidewalk, has had solo exhibitions at the Griffin Museum of Photography and Concord MA Library Art Gallery. Her images have been included in many juried shows: the LA Center of Photography, Fitchburg Art Museum, Whistler House Museum of Art, Photographic Resource Center Boston, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, SE Center for Photography and The Curated Fridge.

Bennett attributes her early visual education to living and working in New York City, with its diversity, art institutions and storied history of street photography. Coursework at the Griffin Museum of Photography, New England School of Photography and Doton Saguy’s Street Photography Masterclass has enriched her practice, as has mentorship with artist and curator, Emily Belz. Bennett has a M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary, NYC, and academic credentials and professional experience in social services and software engineering. She resides in the greater Boston area.