Ben Hicks
Ben Hicks is an Artist, Director, and a Conservationist. Ben Hicks is thirty -nine years old, and he expertises in photography and graphic design. He makes prints to sell, and focusing on the sea life of turtles. I chose to do this artist, because not only does he have a passion for saving sea turtles, but he demonstrates his dedication, love, and concern for sea turtles. He encounters dangerous sharks, risking his life to capture beautiful photos of the underwater sea. This artist fits in our gallery because he focuses on sea life, using photography as his medium.
Ben hicks currently lives in South Miami, and the majority of his work is from where he lives. In addition, Hicks goes to different places around the world to capture beautiful images of the sea such as Indonesia, New Mexico, Panama, and other parts of the world. His passion for sea turtles started at a young age when he was a child growing up in Florida when he would go to the beach a lot with his family. Eventually, his passion for sea turtles progressed throughout his childhood to adulthood. According to Ben Hicks, the ocean has been a huge part of his life and his career.
Ben Hicks environmental mission is to bring awareness to protect and improve the environment of sea turtles, since they’re one of the most important and endangered species of the ecosystem and marine life. Because of his beautiful work, he has partnered with many environmental organizations making an impact on the lives of sea life. As mentioned earlier, he makes prints, merch, and many images are donated to organizations such as “Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Sea Turtle Conservancy & Ocean Conservancy” for the same purpose to bring awareness of the marine life, and they are also donated to “Surfers for Autism”. Aside from being an ocean photographer, he was a nature photographer ambassador. In addition, he's a conversationalist, a Pac-safe ambassador, a traveler visiting more than twenty five countries, and has his own studio/gallery displaying his work in Florida. His work has been featured through world wildlife magazine, the Atlantic Magazine, and The Atlantic Current magazine. Last but not least, Ben Hicks gets the best shots because he has years of experience, and a lot of preparation. The most beautiful pictures he takes, come from moments when he least expects it.
Ben Hicks uses a cannon camera, and his artistic skills to capture the beauty of the undersea. The reason why his work is good, is because it’s edited, and because he's been doing photography for approximately twenty years. Ben hicks uses his camera lens to demonstrate the audience stories of how sea turtles are born, in what conditions they live in, and how endangered these species are. He mentions the environmental factors of sea turtles, about the usage of plastics that we use, how sea turtles mistake plastic for food and speaks about pollution in our oceans.
"Less plastic, More magic" is what Ben Hicks names his photograph, where he partners with @plasticpollutes to advocate less plastic.
In photograph number two, he captions this photo "Be ocean minded", Ben hicks makes a sea turtle out of plastic to bring awareness how there are sea turtles who are ingesting plastic everyday.
In photograph number three, Ben Hicks speaks about how this should be "only one of the many reasons why we need to ban plastic bags!", because Sea turtles can mistake a jelly fish for a plastic bag.
In this photograph, Hicks witnessed a sea turtle about to injest a plastic bag. He immediately take it out of his way, and advocated the world to "wake up... and end plastic pollution"
In this last photograph, Ben capture the beauty of the sea turtle to remind us to protect our sea turtles, and oceans.