Ben Arthur - Profile of an Artistic Photographer

My path to photography was a circuitous one. I was born in Australia and grew up on Sydney’s north shore. My early years were taken up with skiing. I was identified as having “talent” and by the age of 10 was in the New South Wales Sport and Recreation Elite ski program. This meant driving over 1,000 kilometers every weekend to train at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains.

I raced in the World Children’s Championships in Italy. In my early teens skiing was my life. I trained and raced in the United States, Europe, and Australia - missing lots of school! At 18 I took up ski racing full time. I trained in Wanaka in New Zealand’s beautiful South Island with a Swiss coach and a group of enthusiastic kiwis. I raced for Australia in the Australia – New Zealand Continental Cup during the “down under” winters and in the NorAm and Europa Cups in the northern winters.

I met my wife, Mescha at the Wanaka Academy – she was training with the New Zealand Squad. I gave myself every opportunity to get onto the Australian 2002 Olympic team, but didn’t make the selection.

I moved to Queenstown, New Zealand to be with Mesch. Having had a “life time” of world travel, we recognised the need to wash clothes and do emails under one roof. We set up the Internet Laundry in Queenstown, which was a roaring business success. I also ran Squeegeee Clean – a ladderless window cleaning business from the back of a scooter.

Unfortunately I was struck down with glandular fever, then chronic fatigue, which debilitated me for several years. During the worst of this time, I couldn’t read, drive a car – even think. It was the love, support and strength of Mescha, and the trial of every possible remedy, that got me through. I am now a long way from those days, but can still have the odd hiccup. !

Ben Arthur : Artistic Photography Ltd : Queenstown, New Zealand

Having so much idle time during my sickness, gave me my photographic vision. Living in such a beautiful place as Queenstown, I started to see the beauty behind the beauty. Everyone can view the same scene through different eyes. After playing around with a few Fijian sunsets with a tiny 2 mega pixel camera, and having some good results, I decided to take photography further. In January, 2004 I bought a much better camera. I was attracted to digital photography because I knew that I could instantly learn from my mistakes by viewing each shot, instead of having to take the time and expense of processing film. Being a self taught photographer, this was key for me to fine tune my vision at a faster rate.

Both my parents were creative. They had life-time careers in television – Dad as a Lighting Director and Technical Producer, and Mum as a Journalist and Producer. Mum had an eye for art and has a house-full of original pieces and Dad an eye for photography. I try to achieve feeling and mood in my work through the use of natural light and composition. My father’s lighting experience and attention to detail has been a great source of knowledge and inspiration. He has helped me to understand light – the key component of good photography.

"My aim is to not to be just a photographer, but to create photographic art. I want to compose an artistic photograph, then display it in a unique way, taking the whole composition to another level - an artwork in itself."