Ben Apfelbaum

SYDNEY MUSICAL WHIMSY

All images by Ben Apfelbaum (c).

Two serendipitous musical happenings crossed my path within an hour of each other, each very different but each extremely delightful. I was in the Town Hall when I heard its mighty organ, a glorious  Oliver Messiaen   piece. There was just me and a couple of other people watching Robert Ampt and his wife Amy exercise the pipes of the Town Hall’s magnificent organ.

A few blocks further down George Street, in Central Station’s Cathedral like main hall, I stumbled across a New South Wales Railway brass band. The aural of the Country Train rail hall gave the band a warm sound whilst a crowd of delighted onlookers were thoroughly enjoying the musical selections. The Band appears to be composed of current and retired railway employees who themselves seem to really enjoy the public outing of their musical talents.

Published by 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.