Ben McCanna has been a staff photographer and occasional writer at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram since 2015 and has been working for newspapers since 2010. Ben studied creative writing and literature at Emerson College and embarked on a decade-long career in publishing after graduating in 1997. In his mid 30s, Ben shifted careers by taking a job as a reporter at a small newspaper in northwest Colorado and never looked back. Over the years, he slowly transitioned from writer to photographer - his true passion. Ben is a 2018 winner of an Award of Excellence from Pictures of the Year International. He lives on Peaks Island with his wife, a nurse practitioner, and two sons.
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PublishedMay 15, 2023
In photos: Seeing blue
Blue skies were smiling and bluebirds were singing for Irving Berlin, but blue is actually nature’s rarest color. Blue flowers are less than 10% of the world’s 300,000 flowering plant species. Even some of the few animals and plants that look blue don’t actually contain the color. Blue jays and Morpho butterflies, for example, have developed unique features that distort the reflection of light to appear blue.
Humanity has been obsessed with blue for thousands of years, from ancient Egypt when blue, the color of the heavens, was used in temples, ceramics and statues and to decorate the tombs of the pharaohs. In Medieval Europe, ultramarine blue was highly sought after among artists but was as precious as gold. Johanns Vermeer, who painted ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ loved the color so much that he pushed his family into debt to purchase the paint color. Art historians believe Michelangelo left his painting ‘The Entombment’ unfinished because he couldn’t afford to buy more ultramarine blue.
In 2009, Mas Subramanian and his then-graduate student Andrew Smith discovered a new blue pigment, YlnMn Blue, by accident, the first blue pigment discovered in more than 200 years. He had published hundreds of scientific articles and applied for dozens of patents, but it was his accidental discovery of a new vivid blue that excited the popular imagination and resulted in everything from a new Crayola crayon to a music festival in Atlanta. -
PublishedMarch 7, 2023
In photos: See the action from Tuesday’s high school postseason games
Check out some of our favorite images from Tuesday’s high school basketball tournaments.
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PublishedMarch 6, 2023
In photos: See the action from Monday’s high school postseason games
Check out some of our favorite images from Monday’s high school basketball tournaments.
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PublishedFebruary 4, 2023
Year of the Rabbit: Maine group helps celebrate Lunar New Year
The Chinese and American Friendship Association of Maine hosts its 32nd annual celebration.
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PublishedJanuary 29, 2023
In photos: After some dustings, snow finally makes clean sweep over Maine
Winter made itself known slowly this year, with only a few light snows by the time the season officially began. By then, some of us were already muttering that Maine winters as we once knew them were over.
That all changed in recent days, with storm after storm blanketing everything in white, and Press Herald photographers were there to chronicle the season’s first big performance. -
PublishedDecember 14, 2022
In photos: Best of November
As the year neared its end, November brought unusually warm days, but also the first snow – even if most of it was man-made at ski areas. Like every year, there were veterans to honor and winners and losers in high school sports championships. We got to see the United States play, and even score a few, in the World Cup. On Election Day voters went to the polls in a high-stakes race for governor. These events, plus more moments of beauty and intimacy captured by Portland Press Herald photographers, are in this photo gallery.
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PublishedOctober 19, 2022
Photos: Maine shows off in the fall
Our state, looking glorious in the colors of autumn.
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PublishedOctober 5, 2022
In photos: Best of September
September is our transition from summer into fall, a time of fairs and apples, classes and school sports. But this September also saw a wave of violent crime in Portland, a public housing high-rise that was without electricity for days after a storm, and the arrival of rescued beagles. Here are some of the best photos of the month from Press Herald photographers.
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PublishedAugust 19, 2022
In photos: The best of July
Hot and dry, that was July. But we’ll take summer in any weather. Here are some of the best photos from the Press Herald photographers for the month.
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PublishedJuly 17, 2022
In photos: In the summertime
There is no better place to be than right here, in Maine. Press Herald photographers capture the season in all its sun-soaked goodness.
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