Ben Apfelbaum

ROOSTERS CELEBRATE GRAND FINAL VICTORY

It’s not normally the purview of this august journal to cover sporting events, but there is something of cultural interest in relation to the tribalism of supporters of their favoured club.

It comes into high contrast when your team  wins the National Rugby League grand final as was the case with the Sydney Roosters who’d  won consecutive premierships, a feat not achieved since 1993 when the Brisbane Broncos dominated two competitions.

What was satisfying for ‘the chookie’ supporters was that it was one of the foundation clubs at the beginning of the establishment of the National Rugby League.

Bronte Road in front of the club’s headquarters was packed with jubilant supporters who went into a frenzy when the victorious team members appeared on the club’s balcony at 1.20am.

The Club’s Chairman Nick Politis wandered into the crowd and was swarmed by the  congratulatory crowd.

By 2am it was as if nothing had happened.

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.