Ben Apfelbaum

BUDDHA’S BIRTHDAY @ TUMBALONG PARK

Due to budget constraints and insurance cost blow-outs, several free outdoor events in .Sydney no longer take place.

This is not the case with Buddha’s birthday, celebrating its 28th year at Tumbalong Park. Its principal sponsor and organiser is the Nan Kien Temple near Wollongong, the largest temple of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.

Apart from the fact that if you are a Buddhist this was a beautifully staged event for you to say your prayers or make wishes, it is also a feast for the eyes. By this I mean the many diverse food stalls and souvenir outlets from  several parts of South East Asia which encircle  Tumbalong Park. Accordingly if you favour a certain Asian cuisine you can most likely obtain it at Buddha’s birthday.

The same can be said of cultural showcases  with dancers  performing from Bali to Beijing.

Each year it gets bigger and better and this year  behind the performance area it had the biggest Buddha statue to date. Therefore I’m really looking forward to next year for more eye popping displays (weather permitting).

Pics by Ben Apfelbaum

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.