Benjamin Alexandrovich Guez was born in 1983 in the Soviet Union and at the age of nine immigrated to Chicago with his family. His first encounter with photography was in early childhood through his father, a theatre and film photographer in Leningrad.

After graduating with a degree in history and Latin American studies from the University of Arizona in 2006, he resumed his documentation and research of large metropolises (Bogota, Buenos Aires, Havana, Mexico City) and isolated communities in the Americas (Sierra Madre in Mexico, Colombian/Ecuadorian Pacific, and maroon settlements of the Caribbean among others). His last project focused on women shellfish gatherers in the Colombian Pacific and the social and environmental impact of the practice.