Untitled Document


June 2, 2010 Michael Benson Kinetikon Pictures 36 West 89^th Street #1B New York, NY 10024 Tel: 646-524-6606 E-mail: kinetikonpictures@yahoo.com To Whom it May Concern: For the last several years, I have been working preparing my exhibitions with Miha Koron, who is a talented photographer and filmmaker with a professional attitude and original view of the world. I’m writing to give a reference as to his character and ask that he be given access to the all-important visual subjects that enable him to do his photography and film. Miha always treat people with respect and good humor, and he knows how to maximize his opportunities by working swiftly and efficiently to document one of many sources of fascination for him, the metal scene. His excellent work can be seen at http://metal.si/ I would personally be very appreciative if you would give him the time and access he needs to do his work. I don’t think you will be disappointed. I am attaching a short biographical sketch to give a sense of my own credentials. With all best regards, Michael Benson Incl: short bio
Michael Benson is a widely published writer, award-winning film-maker, and photographer/image processor. His new book Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle (Abrams Books, fall 2009) was recently described in The New York Times as “a guide to the universe, in words and images dazzling and true,” and was called both “stellar” and “glorious” in a starred review by Publisher’s Weekly. His prior book Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes (Abrams Books, 2003) won First Prize for Design, Special Trade General Books Category at the 2004 New York Book Fair and has been called “An aesthetic revelation… a spectacular melding of science and art…” (LA Times) and “a pioneering and magnificent collection of pictures… sublimely exhilarating…” (Booklist). The book was printed in six languages, with a children’s edition published in 2009. Beyond became an exhibition of large-scale photographic prints at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and was described as a “stunning series of pictures” (The New York Times) and an “extraordinary exhibition” (New York Magazine). An exhibition of Beyond images is also currently being toured around the United States by SITES, the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibitions Service, and a very large-scale 150-picture version of the exhibition is also slated for presentation starting in March 2010 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. As a writer Benson has contributed articles on a diversity of topics to such magazines as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Artforum, The Nation, Rolling Stone, and Interview, among other venues, as well as such newspapers as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The International Herald Tribune (including many Op-Eds). His 2003 article for The New Yorker on NASA’s mission to Jupiter, “What Galileo Saw,” was selected for inclusion in the anthology The Best American Science Writing 2004 (Ecco/HarperCollins), and more recently The Best of Best American Science Writing (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2010). Benson’s feature documentary film Predictions of Fire (90 minutes, 16mm color and B&W film,1995) premiered at the Sundance and Berlin international film festivals and won several best documentary awards internationally, including the National Film Board of Canada’s Best Documentary Feature award at the 1996 Vancouver International Film Festival. His more recent film, a feature-length global road movie titled More Places Forever, (110 minutes, 16 mm color film and digital video, 2008) was broadcast on the French-German arts channel Arte in 2008. From 2007-2009 Benson worked with director Terrence Malick to help devise and produce space sequences in Malick’s new feature film Tree of Life. He lives in New York City with his wife Melita Gabric, the Slovenian Consul General in New York, and their 9-year-old son Daniel. Website: www.kinetikonpictures.com E-mail: michael.benson@pristop.si Phone: 347-322-3378 Address: 36 West 89^th Street #1B, NY NY 10024

June 2, 2010

Michael Benson

Kinetikon Pictures

36 West 89^th Street #1B

New York, NY 10024

Tel: 646-524-6606

E-mail: kinetikonpictures@yahoo.com

To Whom it May Concern:

For the last several years, I have been working preparing my exhibitions with Miha Koron, who is a talented photographer and filmmaker with a professional attitude and original view of the world. I’m writing to give a reference as to his character and ask that he be given access to the all-important visual subjects that enable him to do his photography and film.

Miha always treat people with respect and good humor, and he knows how to maximize his opportunities by working swiftly and efficiently to document one of many sources of fascination for him, the metal scene. His excellent work can be seen at http://metal.si/

I would personally be very appreciative if you would give him the time and access he needs to do his work. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

I am attaching a short biographical sketch to give a sense of my own credentials.

With all best regards,

Michael Benson

Incl: short bio

Michael Benson is a widely published writer, award-winning film-maker, and photographer/image processor. His new book Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle (Abrams Books, fall 2009) was recently described in The New York Times as “a guide to the universe, in words and images dazzling and true,” and was called both “stellar” and “glorious” in a starred review by Publisher’s Weekly. His prior book Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes (Abrams Books, 2003) won First Prize for Design, Special Trade General Books Category at the 2004 New York Book Fair and has been called “An aesthetic revelation… a spectacular melding of science and art…” (LA Times) and “a pioneering and magnificent collection of pictures… sublimely exhilarating…” (Booklist). The book was printed in six languages, with a children’s edition published in 2009. Beyond became an exhibition of large-scale photographic prints at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and was described as a “stunning series of pictures” (The New York Times) and an “extraordinary exhibition” (New York Magazine). An exhibition of Beyond images is also currently being toured around the United States by SITES, the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibitions Service, and a very large-scale 150-picture version of the exhibition is also slated for presentation starting in March 2010 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. As a writer Benson has contributed articles on a diversity of topics to such magazines as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Artforum, The Nation, Rolling Stone, and Interview, among other venues, as well as such newspapers as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The International Herald Tribune (including many Op-Eds). His 2003 article for The New Yorker on NASA’s mission to Jupiter, “What Galileo Saw,” was selected for inclusion in the anthology The Best American Science Writing 2004 (Ecco/HarperCollins), and more recently The Best of Best American Science Writing (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2010). Benson’s feature documentary film Predictions of Fire (90 minutes, 16mm color and B&W film,1995) premiered at the Sundance and Berlin international film festivals and won several best documentary awards internationally, including the National Film Board of Canada’s Best Documentary Feature award at the 1996 Vancouver International Film Festival. His more recent film, a feature-length global road movie titled More Places Forever, (110 minutes, 16 mm color film and digital video, 2008) was broadcast on the French-German arts channel Arte in 2008. From 2007-2009 Benson worked with director Terrence Malick to help devise and produce space sequences in Malick’s new feature film Tree of Life. He lives in New York City with his wife Melita Gabric, the Slovenian Consul General in New York, and their 9-year-old son Daniel.

Website: www.kinetikonpictures.com

E-mail: michael.benson@pristop.si

Phone: 347-322-3378

Address: 36 West 89^th Street #1B, NY NY 10024