Earlier this year we had the honor of meeting with one of the world’s most influential photographers, Ben Von Wong, who held a meet-up while in the islands shooting for an Eco group on Oahu. An artist who strives to make his art mean something, Ben is known for having no home address because he’s too busy flying the world putting creative twists on some of the world’s most serious problems. From shooting Mermaids swimming atop a pool of plastic bottles, to shark shepherds that casts our toothed fish friends in a new light, Ben’s approach to advocating for various environmental programs are nothing short of genius.
Original Content from PetaPixel.com
“Photographer Benjamin Von Wong gave this inspiring 20-minute talk at the e.g. conference this year about his personal journey from being a mining engineer, to a well-known photographer behind several viral hits, to a “wannabe environmentalist.”
Von Wong says that after a breakup earlier in his life, he looked to the heavens and decided to pick up a camera and try his hand at taking pictures of the stars. From there, as he grew as a photographer, he used trial and error to figure out how to make photos go viral online.
A number of his works have gotten a huge amount of attention over the past couple of years, including underwater shots of a model at a shipwreck, a Disney-themed shoot in the world’s largest monastery library, portraits of superheroes at the edge of a tall skyscraper, underwater portraits of a shark shepherd, and a series of unusual stormchasing portraits.
From tackling a diverse range of subjects and issues, Von Wong found that he was drawn to using his skills and knowledge to address environmental issues. He’s now taking a year off his normal work to tackle as many surreal environmental projects as he can, and he’s inviting anyone who wants to collaborate to get in touch with him.
See the original post @: http://petapixel.com/2016/12/26/ben-von-wong-mining-engineer-viral-photog-environmentalist/
[Source: PetaPixel.com
