Multimedia artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong is back with another incredible project to confront an environmental disaster. Earlier this year, Von Wong artfully exposed bitcoin's negative impact on climate change, and now the artist is turning his creative energy toward electronic waste.
Benjamin Von Wong, acclaimed photographer, multimedia artist, and activist, built an 11-foot tall skull, the "Skull of Satoshi," covered in electronic waste (E-waste) to "expose Bitcoin's impact on climate change."
Photographer, artist, and activist Benjamin Von Wong believes that the fear of irrelevancy in the social media age can actually be a fuel that empowers photographers to become more creative and impactful -- the same way Wong has experienced as much in his career.
This is the story of how a single photograph and an irreverent NFT community became the international emblems of the United Nations global plastic treaty.
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong -- known for tackling environmental issues in his photographic work -- has released his latest project that raises the discussion of plastic pollution in a creative and collaborative way.
While stuck at home with his family, conservation and adventure photographer Benjamin Von Wong decided to create a series of "impossible" maternity photos for his adventurous sister, without leaving the comfort of their own home. How did he do it? Fruits and vegetables, of course...
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong recently came across a statistic that shocked him: "Every 60 seconds, the equivalent of a truckload of plastic enters the ocean." Wanting to make a difference, Von Wong decided to toss an actual truckload of plastic into the ocean to create photos showing the magnitude of the problem.
Electronic waste, or e-waste, is the endless low of discarded electronic devices that are thrown out on a daily basis around the world. To raise awareness of this ever-growing problem, photographer Benjamin Von Wong got his hands on 4,100 pounds of e-waste and used it to create a set of amazing surreal portraits.
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong was recently challenged by Nike to "walk on air," so he came up with the idea of dangling some ordinary athletes off the side of a skyscraper. The resulting photos are both mind-bending and vertigo-inducing.
Lia Konrad is a 23-year-old photographer who grew up in small town Hof, Germany with big ideas. With a very small budget for a camera with a single lens—but none for lighting—and a homemade costume, she has created a marvelous series of fantasy environmental portraits.
Epic. I hate that word. But when it comes to Benjamin Von Wong's crazy photography stunts, it's really the one that fits best. So call it "amazing." Call it "awesome." Call it "adventurous" or "dangerous" or "heart-thumping." I think hanging a paralyzed mom and her son off a cliff for some cool photos is just plain epic.
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."
Over the past year or so, photographer Benjamin Von Wong has taken his talent for epic photo shoots and turned it towards trying to raise awareness for "boring" topics like climate change or wildlife conservation. His latest project continues this trend; this time, he's taking on plastic pollution.
Photographer and creator of epic scenes Benjamin Von Wong has been quiet for a long time while he has, in his words, "been trying desperately to do the delicate dance of keeping my epic style while also doing good in this world." This surreal lava portrait photo shoot is his return to the game.
Although my work ranges from dangling people off the edge of rooftops, to tying them down in underwater shipwrecks, to lighting them on fire—I recently discovered four steps in the process that have remained consistent year after year.
Upon first glance, photographer Benjamin Von Wong's latest work looks like a Photoshop composite that shows a model swimming with sharks below the sea. But what you see is the real deal: Von Wong did actually tie down a model underwater with sharks swimming around, all for a series of surreal (but very real) portraits.
There are stormchasing photographers and there are portrait photographers. Usually people don't combine the two genres, but that's exactly what photographer Benjamin Von Wong recently did. He spent two weeks chasing storms in an ambulance to shoot a series of unique portraits that have real storms in the background.
Earlier this year, photographer Benjamin Von Wong got a call from the Chinese telecom company Huawei. They were getting ready to launch a new smartphone called the P8, and they wanted Von Wong to shoot the craziest photographs he could come up with.
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong wanted to capture the fearlessness of superheroes without the use of a green screen or cheap special effects, so he recruited some ordinary people, dressed them up as well-known comic characters, and placed them on the edge of certain death.
The portraits he captured shows the models standing on the corner of a tall skyscraper in San Francisco.
They may look like fitness models, but they aren’t.
They’re everyday people — office workers, programmers and mothers who took the chance to try something they had never done before.
The Admont Abbey in Austria is one of the oldest monasteries in the world, and inside is the largest monastic library in the world. The grand library hall was built back in 1776 and contains roughly 70,000 books. 48 windows fill the chamber with gorgeous natural lighting.
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong was recently given access to the historic building and used the opportunity to do the first creative photo shoot ever held there.
When Benjamin Von Wong was commissioned to do a series of black and white portraits of SmugMug employees for the company’s gym, he knew he wasn’t going to be taking the easy route. But just because he was going to try to do something really cool, didn’t mean things needed to get expensive.
To spice up the sporty portraits, Von Wong decided to add water into the equation, and thanks to some help from the folks at SmugMug, they were able to make it rain for only $20.
What do you do when you're in Israel with Benjamin Von Wong, Rebecca Litchfield, Simon Pollock, Mike Kelly and Adam Lerner and Jared Polin, and you have some free time on your hands. Why, you think up and plan a crazy photography challenge of course!
If you've ever shot on-location somewhere far away, you probably had to make this tough decision: what gear do I take and what do I leave at the studio? For big photo shoots you'd rather err on the side of caution and take it all, but airline luggage allowances make that impossible... or do they?
It turns out that some airlines have a special policy that allows media professionals to pack a whole lot more gear.
Photographer Benjamin Von Wong recently took some time out of his incredibly busy schedule to warm our hearts and give a talented, chronically ill fan of his the birthday surprise of his life.
Have you ever come across an artist’s work and thought, "Wow, I would love to work with them!" Well, that is exactly what went through Benjamin Von Wong’s mind after seeing Michael Rosner’s work.
Fast forward two years and Von Wong finally got his wish, creating some beautiful and inspiring untraviolet photographs in the process.
Montreal-based photographer Benjamin Von Wong's underwater fantasy fashion shoot in a Bali shipwreck has quickly become the most popular project he has ever released. And even though he shared some behind the scenes details when the series first debuted, he's back today with a much more detailed look at how exactly these now-viral photos came to be.
During a chance meeting with Adobe last year at WPPI, photographer Benjamin Von Wong was asked if he’d like to take part in Adobe’s Creative Voices series, which features artists that truly take Adobe’s products to the next level and make incredible art. As an avid user of their products, Von Wong happily obliged and over the next year the rest fell into place.
By now you're very familiar with the story of Eliza O'Neill and how the photo community has come together to try and spread the word and help fund her cure. But we're not done yet! Starting today, some big names in photography are teaming up with SmugMug to sell prints and help make sure this little girl lives on to see many more happy and healthy birthdays.
Raising 2.5 million dollars in a few months is a goal that would scare most people into submission. But it’s amazing what you can do when you have conviction and the power of a dedicated community behind you.
That’s what photographer Benjamin Von Wong had to offer when he was asked to help a dying 4-year-old girl: conviction, and the support of a photo community that time and again proves itself to be not just compassionate, but powerful when moved to action.