Benjamin Liew Photography

24/08/2026

My photographic exhibition for SALA 2026 has now concluded. It ran from the 2nd to the 16th of August at the Tibetan Buddhist Institute. Alongside my exhibit, two Tibetan monks meticulously crafted a Chenrezig Compassion sand mandala over the course of 15 days. Geshe Karma and Geshe Jamyang spent a few hours each day for 15 continuous days to build this beautiful work of art. On the 15th day we had a closing ceremony which consisted of me giving a 20 minute artist talk in front of 90 people about my photographs on the walls. This was followed by a dissolution ceremony; a ritual and chanting before the two monks swept the mandala away in mere minutes. We then proceeded to Grange Jetty where a small portion of the mixed up sand was poured into the sea at the end of the jetty.

For the most part, one picture a minute was taken while the mandala was being made, however during the dissolution ceremony, I switched the camera over to capture one photo every five seconds as the final act happens relatively quickly.

I used the Canon R6 MkII mounted overhead with some Kupo grip equipment and a geared tripod head, securely fastened with metal zip ties 3 metres above the table. The lens I used was a fixed 28mm Pentax lens and RF convertor kindly lent to me by my friend Sam . I ran a 10 metre tether cable by Prism Tether down the wall so I could control the camera without having to climb a ladder, and I used a Hahnel Captur trigger to fire the shutter every minute. This also allowed me to easily download images from the camera each time I visited. During the dissolution ceremony I ran EOS Utility from my laptop to increase the increments to 5 seconds which thankfully overrode the trigger.

My printed exhibition of 22 pictures across three separate projects, hung on the walls around the table where the mandala was being made. I’ll do a separate post about the artwork in my exhibition - I just want to share this timelapse with you.

Check out the link in my bio for prints from the exhibition that are for sale, including the final mandala picture. 100% of the profits from sales during the SALA period are donated to the Tibetan Buddhist Institute.

18/08/2026

This is the finished sand mandala that took two monks two weeks to make. It remained as you see here for about an hour before it was ceremoniously destroyed in less than five minutes. Impermanence.

I photographed this final piece overhead with the Hasselblad X2D 100C kindly lent to me by Tom from Twin City Camerahouse and lit with Profoto lights. 100 Megapixels gives you the ability to ability to zoom in and look at all the fine details.

Tibetan Buddhist Institute

11/08/2026

11/08/2026

The Sand Mandala happening alongside my exhibition is coming to an end, but it's been such a great experience to have witnessed and documented it happen. I was lucky enough to be there when the Mayor of the City of Charles Sturt, Angela Evans came to visit, and also when the SALA Festival chair, Alexandrea Cannon dropped in yesterday.

I'll be doing some portraits of the monks at the Tibetan Buddhist Institute later this week as well as preparing my artist talk for Sunday. Exciting times!

Well done to Rachelle Murphy for your amazing organisational skills for this whole event! Thanks to the City of Charles Sturt for your support to make this happen as well. And thanks to Alex Stock and Darcy for the amazing video work you're doing!

The exhibition is open until this Sunday the 16th between 10:30am and 2:30pm daily. This Sunday I am doing an artist talk around 2pm and the dissolution ceremony of the sand mandala will take place as well.

31/07/2026

It’s such a different skillset to print your own artwork. Paper choice is important because each image reacts differently to the type of paper it’s printed on. Some images pop on one paper but details get lost in another. Then there’s the technical stuff - I was getting head strikes so I had to adjust the platen gap. Don’t even ask me to explain what that is. And then of course the cost of each ink cartridge and paper, whilst eye watering, is worth every cent.

Happy to say that my entire exhibition is now printed and ready to hang added of the opening this coming Sunday.

Here’s a little video of me changing an ink cartridge - enjoy the ASMR!

24/07/2026

Ageless doorways. Moving trees. My new exhibition, Transient Nature, is a set of photographs exploring impermanence.

It opens alongside an intricate sand mandala, hand made on site by Buddhist monks over the course of a week, then swept away and put back into the sea.

Sunday 2 August, 2 to 4pm at the Tibetan Buddhist Institute.

This exhibition is part of the SALA Festival and generously supported by the City of Charles Sturt.

24/07/2026

🌸 Join us this SALA Festival! 🌸

Experience Transient Nature: Impermanence, Compassion and Wisdom from 2–16 August at the Tibetan Buddhist Institute.

Witness Tibetan Buddhist monks create a beautiful traditional sand mandala, explore the stunning photography exhibition by Benjamin Liew, and discover the timeless teachings of impermanence, compassion and wisdom.

Everyone is warmly welcome.

Check out the SALA Festival link below for exhibition and booking details, opening event and closing ceremony. We look forward to seeing you!

Supported by the City Of Charles Sturt

Tibetan sand mandala created live by monks from Sera Jey photography by Benjamin Liew

06/07/2026

He matched the tram.

06/07/2026

Street photography (on a Melbourne tram) with a Leica Q3.

27/06/2026

Mitchell, my little 7yo ninja. We often find really amazing light and he’s happy to be my muse (most of the time, anyway). We discovered this lighting in a basement car park - the late morning sun shone through some gaps in the wall. I grabbed the 907x, set the exposure and got this really interesting portrait of the sun on my son.