One of his most recognisable images shows the band in a gleeful pillow fight at the hotel Georges V[3][4] in Paris.

He has also photographed political figures, including every U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower, and covered war zones.

Benson was standing next to Robert F. Kennedy when the senator was shot on 5 June 1968 and has remarked on the difficulty of steeling himself to document the historic moment: "I kept telling myself 'this is for history, pull yourself together, fail tomorrow, not today.

Benson was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.

[11] He is the subject of a BBC Scotland documentary titled Photography: Harry Benson (1985), directed by Ken MacGregor and written by William McIlvanney[12] and of the 2015 documentary Shoot First directed by Matthew Miele and Justin Bare.