Six years ago when the Chen Kaige movie "First Emperor" was being made in China, celebrity photographer Benjamin Lee went along from Tokyo for the filming. "I had the chance to meet the producer, and in an interesting way followed the crew around," he said. He did more than look on. He spent six months in China documenting the making of the film. "It was also," he said, in his slow, careful enunciation, "a good way for me to go back to my roots." Benjamin began life as a Chinese, born after the end of World War II in Guangdong Province.
Now he considers himself an international citizen. Strongly individual, he displays his artistic license in his eye-catching clothes and his black hat set at a rakish angle. "My parents left China when I was 4, and we went to Toronto," he said. Although at home his parents preserved a Chinese environment, Benjamin grew up as a Canadian, one with pronounced freedom of spirit. With English his priority language, he completed his education in Toronto. He began study of photography there.
"My mother had a camera sent to her by her brother in Hong Kong," Benjamin said. "When I was in high school I picked it up to give it a go. The pictures I took turned out all right. Somehow I just seemed to continue, 40 years on."