Getting close to his eighties and having left the fashion and editorial part of his photography years ago, the French-American photographer let the non-essentials gently fall away and returned to his childhood dream of taking pictures without constraint. This circular homecoming was inevitable as he moved to a more contemplative environment near the California desert. At a time when most of us aspire to spend our life in leisure, Benoit saw it as an opportunity to enter a period of increased conceptual creativity with a personal studio in his new home. He now uses a technical view camera, the digital-age version of the large format that allows him to retain the magical art of his film days. It also allows him to enjoy the skills accumulated during his four decades of work.Benoit’s photography is represented in the permanent collections of public institutions, several museums, and numerous private collections across the US and Europe. Since 2015, his work has been featured in three solo museum exhibitions and was part of the “Facing Fire” exhibit at the California Museum of Photography. His latest work, "Open to Interpretation," is a series of introspective still life that was exhibited at the San Bernardino County Museum in 2023 and was featured in ArtDoc Magazine’s Conceptual Vision issue. In 2016, Benoit received an Assembly Resolution from the State of California in recognition of his long history of creative practice and the California Journalism Award for his portrait of Dr. Sterling Stuckey. In 2018, his work was included in New York’s MoMa exhibit “Is Fashion Modern.”