Ben Apfelbaum

BUY FROM THE BUSH CAMPAIGN POPS UP IN MARTIN PLACE

A force blew into Sydney from regional New South Wales but it was not the brown dust of despair and malady, rather it was a force of hope, resilience and determination.

I am referring to the Buy From The Bush social media campaign founded by Grace Brennan a few months ago. She had the very simple but clever idea to link struggling producers in regional New South Wales with potential retailers all around Australia. Ms Brennan stated that this has worked brilliantly and has had a ripple effect throughout communities. 

She cited an example that a producer needs her goods collected from a council pick up or truck which takes the goods to the post office and at the other end the same thing happens in reverse. Accordingly from one transaction there is a ripple effect such that half a dozen additional people or maybe more are employed as a result.

It was decided to bring the physical manifestation of this to a pop up market in Martin Place, housed in some twenty stalls.Shopkeepers, artisans, clothing wholesalers came from all parts of New South Wales including Hay, Dubbo, Warren, and many other struggling towns. These battered but resourceful entrepreneurs looked to the city to assist them in continuing with their ventures. 

The strategy of bringing the bush to Martin Place worked magnificently as the market place was packed and the stall holders seemed to be doing a brisk trade. One would hope that there will be repeat visits such as this one and they have successful repeats in other cities around Australia.

All 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.