Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this.

I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years.

During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar.

My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY-DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher.

Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY.

My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there.

I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.

709 posts by Ben Apfelbaum

paul stanhope : a new requiem @ city recital hall

Tonight I broke the live concert COVID drought and saw my first live concert since lockdown came to Sydney. I could not have picked a more stimulating, harmonious and absorbing reintroduction to live music than The Sydney Chamber choir at

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girls can’t surf : a new australian documentary

The two storied Randwick Ritz cinema was packed to the rafters as a multitude of tweenies and their parents eagerly awaited the screening and the panel discussion after moderated by Alexa Hohenberg. 

The sub-teens were overwhelmingly female and they were

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perspectives on place @ museum of contemporary art

The Museum Of Contemporary Art (MCA) has just opened an exhibition which is its third major presentation of the Museum’s collection. This free exhibition features over sixty works drawn from the MCA Collection. 

The exhibition features thirty eight Australian artists

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opening night jewish international film festival

As a sign of a return to some sort of normalcy the Jewish International Film Festival opened at the Randwick Ritz which is owned by its Artistic Director Eddie Tamir. It is touted as the biggest Jewish movie festival internationally.

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