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

chinese new year : 28 january – 12 february 2017

The Chinese community usually holds a huge parade down George Street but due to the construction of the light rail their substitute cultural expression is manifested in a display of lanterns depicting the Chinese signs of the Zodiac.

As it …

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‘passengers’ fails to reach any great heights

PASSENGERS has met with critical hostility overseas. The previews concentrated on the action scenes in the film which in fact form a minor part towards the end. This created certain action movie expectations which were not met. I have to

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hell or high water : a quiet gem of a film

This is is a quiet gem of a film that slipped almost unnoticed  through the Christmas/New Year holiday period. It is dedicated to director David MacKenzie’s parents – David John MacKenzie and Ursula Sybile MacKenzie who both died during the

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tango synergy and yo yo ma-ster @ hyde park north

 

Several people, to escape the large crowds in the Meriton Festival Village in Hyde Park North, would escape to the refreshing spray of the Archibald  Fountain. To their delight entertainment was still at hand.

At one stage an elegantly …

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the beach : a much loved sydney festival event

Perhaps the most visited and popular event of the recently completed Sydney Festival was THE BEACH. There were no rips, you could not drown nor suffer a sunburn if you attended.

THE BEACH, in fact, was a white coloured ‘pool’ …

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the nga collections : the ned kelly series gallery

The recently opened, specifically constructed oval space, to greatest effect, one of the most iconic artists Sidney Nolan, and his greatest ‘muse’ Ned Kelly.

In  1977 Sunday Reed the early 20th Century art collector and benefactor donated 25 of the …

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