Ben Apfelbaum

CHINESE LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

The first day of festivities took place in Chinatown, Haymarket, and some spillage into the Darling Harbour precinct.

Food stalls were set up the length of the Haymarket and at times people could not move with large queues forming for the epicurean delights available for sale. To exacerbate the problem Chinese lion dancing took place in the Dixon Street mall and the Haymarket.

In the nearby newly completed Exchange Centre Chinese chanteuses performed in front of crowds spinning in between mini towers of coloured globes.

Also in the area Asian urban hip hop and rap dancers engaged in fierce competition to the delight of yet another large audience. There were large queues waiting to enter the Chinese garden of friendship whilst kids climbed on, or posed before, sculpted Chinese lions placed in front of the large square, in front of the Chinese garden.

There will be a further two weeks of celebrations including dragon racing at Darling Harbour and the placement of giant lanterns around Circular Quay, to name but a few highlights of a packed program.

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.