Ben Ackman's Photography Website

View my projects here:
  1. A facilities management worker wipes spray paint off of American University’s Glover Gate. October 10, 2024
  2. Members of the Proud Boys march down G Street in downtown Washington D.C., shortly after President Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time. January 20, 2025
  3. Diners at Carmine’s in downtown Washington on the day of President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. January 20, 2025
  4. The hands of “Daniel,” an undocumented immigrant from Oaxoca now residing in Jersey City. June 26, 2025
  5. A striking New Jersey Transit rail engineer poses behind the picket line. May 16, 2025.
  6. Pokemon trainers play Pokemon Go on their phones at Pokemon Go Fest in Liberty State Park. June 7, 2025
  7. Firefighters at the collapsed 319 and 321 4th Street, where a blaze started in the early hours of the morning. July 10, 2025
  8. American University Assistant Vice President Phillip Morse arrests a protesting student at President Jon Alger’s inaugural address. March 28, 2025
  9. Councilman Yousef Saleh posing with campaign workers at a polling place in the Heights on the night of Jersey City’s primary elections. June 10, 2025
  10. David Halper of Brooklyn riding his three-wheeled unicycle in the Jersey City Ward Tour. June 1, 2025
  11. Baristas work at Little Hat Coffee in Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C., March 7, 2025
  12. Former first-year advisor Roshan Abraham in his office, days before American University would empty the first-year advising office building. March 19, 2025
  13. Joe McDonald takes a picture of the northern lights at Sky Meadows State Park in Virginia during a rare solar storm. October 11, 2024
  14. Singer Alizeh Jawaid walking to the stage at Amfest. April 26, 2025
  15. Hip-hop photographer Ernie Paniccioli at the Jersey City Arts Council annual meeting. July 15, 2025
  16. Erica Scardina holds a sign reading “Donald Trump is a b—-” at Union Station before a demonstration at the Heritage Foundation’s Washington headquarters. November 9, 2024

In the summer of 2025, I interned at the Jersey City Times, a hyper-local paper with a single-digit staff that is nonetheless the paper of record in my hometown. I accompanied my fellow reporters to illustrate their articles while enjoying the autonomy to pursue my own stories. I put my byline on several written articles, sometimes for articles I cowrote or was assigned to, but I more often wrote stories to justify visiting events I wanted to photograph. In all of my outings that summer, I never saw another news photographer (save for traditional reporters carrying DSLRs), so I believe I was the only one actively covering Jersey City at the time.

As a student journalist, I’ve both reported for my beloved AWOL Magazine and published photos on my own website and Instagram. As AWOL’s photography producer, I coordinate other photographers on their stories and edit their photos in addition to reporting in the field. While AWOL is a student publication based at American University, my reporting has taken me off campus to diverse locations in the DMV, including an eventful visit to a music festival at Nationals Park which is my personal favorite excursion.

After college, I hope to be a staff or freelance photographer for a wire service, or maybe even for a newspaper. I’m not picky on location, but I would love to return to North Jersey and cover my under-covered home of Hudson County.