Ben Apfelbaum

RED CARPET : SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER

If you were in Sydney around the time when the premiere of Saturday Night Fever was taking place, you would find there was a dearth of white suits, black shirts, glitter and let’s not forget sequin.

The invitation to the opening night stated that the dress should be disco chic and a large majority of the audience and Red Carpet attendees complied.

A highlight of the Red Carpet was the attendance of Maria Venuti accompanied and assisted by her daughter Bianca as well as the always welcome presence of Kerri-Anne Kennerley after their respective tragic and traumatic setbacks.

The razzle dazzle of this disco classic  raised the spirits of the audience who by the finale were dancing in the aisles and swatting away giant balloons.

Featured pic Caroline O’Connor and Cameron Mitchell. 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.