Ben Apfelbaum

SYDNEY ROYAL EASTER SHOW 2018

The Sydney Royal Easter Show was first held in 1823 and was granted use of the word Royal by Queen Victoria.

Over the last century the show has survived and thrived due to its move from Moore Park to Homebush.

Many of the fixed pavilions at Moore Park have become sound stages for Fox Studio.

When one says that the show is an institution on Sydney’s cultural calendar, the word calendar is not the Gregorian version. As Easter is determined on a lunar basis, the show’s duration moves around the months of March and April, revolving around the fixed days of Good Friday to Easter Monday.

This year all the highlights are there – the  rides, the animal husbandry, exhibits, trapeze shows, the show bags, a Grand Parade, wood chopping, show jumping and my personal favourite, a petting zoo, the fruit and vegetable dioramas created by the various regional districts  of New South Wales.

Most of the shows’ attractions are designed to appeal to children, dragging along their parents,  who often bypass the agricultural exhibits and head straight for the show bag pavilion.

Curiously, this year the Easter shows’ first two weeks is being held during the first term of school, leaving little time for the children to enjoy the show whilst on holidays.

The Royal Agricultural Society, which has run the show in one form or another since the show’s inception, has to show  the same flexibility as the dates for Easter to coincide with Easter itself and school holidays.

 

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.