‘Beauty of Los Gatos’ exhibit opens downtown

Award-winning photographer Ken Benjamin shares his works at exhibit

Resident Ken Benjamin is a streetwalker, but not in the traditional sense. Benjamin has been walking all over town snapping photos for more than 30 years.

An exhibit of Benjamin’s photos called “Beauty of Los Gatos” opened this month at the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company, 101 W. Main St. The exhibit includes “Goose and Gosslings,” which shows a mama goose and her babies swimming in Vasona Lake, and “Peek A Boo,” featuring a little dog named Pogo peering out of a lacecurtained window.

The exhibit was unveiled Nov. 8 at an artist’s reception that was attended by more than 100 locals.

“As most of you know, I have spent a lot of time walking the streets of Los Gatos,” Benjamin said. “So much so that one local contractor, who would see me in the morning on his way to work and then again in the evening, liked to yell at me, ‘Ken, go home!’ ”

It’s rare to see Benjamin walking alone as he’s almost always with his wife Janice, who owned the Indian Store in downtown Los Gatos from 1972 to 2003. The couple met at the Los Gatos Athletic Club and were married in 1985.

That’s when Benjamin’s love of Los Gatos began as well.

“Everything you’d want to photograph is here—dogs, trees, and flowers, but it’s also the people,” Benjamin said. “You go out for a walk and half an hour later, you’re still talking to people. So, it’s partly social.”

Benjamin added that he’s “not the most social guy in the world, so photography has helped increase my social skills.”

In 1968, Benjamin’s brother gifted him his first “real” camera, but his interest in photography started when he was just 10 years old and his father gave him a Brownie camera.

“I’ve loved Brownies ever since then,” he said.

Benjamin’s first in-town exhibit was in 1998 at what today is the I Gatti restaurant at 29 E. Main St. More recently, he’s become a regular exhibitor at Dolce Spazio Gelato, 221 N. Santa Cruz Ave., and has been exhibiting at the Roasting Company annually since 2002.

“Ken has a special eye for composition, but more importantly he captures the spirit of individuals with the backdrop of our charming community,” Roasting Company owner Teri Hope said. “He’s also taken us all over the world. For one exhibit, he brought photos from an African wild game preserve, and another exhibit was called Children of the World.”

Hope said rotating exhibits throughout the year keeps the coffeehouse fresh and gives customers “new conversation pieces.”

Benjamin estimates he’s shot thousands of photos of Los Gatos over the years, some of which have won awards. For instance, in 2012 he won first place in a Chamber of Commerce photo contest for his picture of 15,000 rubber duckies floating in Vasona Lake during the Silicon Valley Duck Race.

“When the Chamber started that contest, it truly motivated Kenny,” Janice Benjamin said. “And once he won that first prize, he has was on a mission.”

Since the Benjamins’ living room walls are “only good for four or five photos,” the photographer says the in-town exhibits have given him a means to share his craft with others.

And there will undoubtedly be more sharing. The retired couple continue to walk daily; sometimes you’ll see them downtown, other times across town. And if Benjamin has his camera at hand, you know he’s waiting for the next moment that captures his whimsy.