Ben Apfelbaum

THE GARDEN SOCIAL : A TWILIGHT AND MUSICAL WONDERLAND

The Tarpeian Way is a stretch  of lawn between the Sydney Opera House forecourt and Government House. Many weddings are held here because of the spectacular backdrop of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

Though under the umbrella of the Sydney Festival, this was an initiative of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

After walking through an archway of official white flowers one sees all the facilities one would need for an idyllic picnic. There was a bar and a striking cone like structure, a well stocked eatery or you could bring your own foodstuffs and drinks.

A facility which I first saw in Hyde Park London was the provision of deckchairs, which was replicated in this beautiful setting.

As the twilight deepened trees and branches were lit with colourful illuminations.

To add to this lovely atmosphere were the mellow jazz sounds of the Tess Overmyer Band and the Adam Katz  Trio.

The Garden Social runs until the 14th February, 2022 and is a perfect spot for a Valentine’s Day dalliance.

For more information visit the Royal Botanic Garden. Sydney website.

Singet Adam Katz
Adam Katz Trio
Adam Katz Trio
Adam Katz Trio

Tessie Overmyer Trio

Text and 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 Treborlang. 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. To celebrate the opening of a permanent Photography Gallery, the State Library of New South Wales selected 400 shots from its archive of over 2,000,000 images to display in the new gallery. An image of mine was plucked out of the multi million photo archive to be part of the inaugural exhibition.