Ben Rothstein left his home on the Gold Coast 11 years ago and has built a photography career that has seen him work with some of the biggest names in Hollywood including Will Smith and Hugh Jackman.
Key points:
- Ben Rothstein lost an eye soon after graduating high school
- The 35-year-old's teacher Matt Blyth said his former pupil was incredibly ambitious
- The professional photographer said his career took off when he landed a job on a Hugh Jackman film
Now based in New York, the 35-year-old said his career as a photographer only became clear when he lost an eye after graduating from high school on the Gold Coast.
"At 19 I woke up one morning and my vision went more blurry, my pupil changed shape and my eye went black.
"Twelve months later, despite painful laser surgery, my eye just died."
Mr Rothstein concedes it was a very difficult time to come to grips with losing his eye, but when it came out, it was a weight off his shoulders and allowed him to focus on photography full-time.
He previously worked as a bricklayer and describes his career change as similar to moving from the sewer to the penthouse.
Having one eye is blessing in disguise
Even in high school, the former Southport High School student had a gift for taking good photos and the loss of one eye due to Glaucoma was a blessing in disguise.
Matt Blyth was the photographer's film and TV teacher in high school and said his pupil always had a love of movies.
"Ben was incredibly ambitious at Southport and the years following," Mr Blyth said.
"He saved like mad to later study film and networked like you wouldn't believe.
"He met people that could point him in the right direction, such as photographer and mentor Paul Brobin, who took him under his wing and gave him his first gigs which included reality tv show 'Big Brother' and horror film 'Daybreakers'.
"If there's something for school kids to take away from Benny's journey it's to have a goal and never give up."
Opportunity knocks
Ben Rothstein said his dogged networking in Los Angeles and New Orleans finally paid off when he was asked to fill in on a movie called Percy Jackson.
"I was on the bottom of the list, but my day's shooting put me into contact with the studio's photo editors, Chrissy Quesada and Bill Mona.
"During that time Wolverine was prepping in Australia, so I was like 'maybe I will have a chance,' but of course someone else had been hired."
Three weeks later Ms Quesada, from 20th Century Fox, called to say that it had not worked out with the first photographer and ask would Mr Rothstein be interested.
"Three days later I was on a plane to photograph Logan, the Wolverine Origin story with Hugh Jackman, which is kind of how my career kickstarted in Hollywood," Mr Rothstein said.
Work halts due to coronavirus
A typical day for a set photographer is documenting the process of the film for advertising and promotional opportunities, including portraits of actors.
Mr Rothstein recalled the moment Hollywood came to a standstill after Tom Hanks was diagnosed with COVID-19 while filming the Elvis Presley biopic on the Gold Coast.
"I was working on an Amazon production in New Zealand and every production came to a grinding halt."
Mr Rothstein is now back home on the Gold Coast and waiting for the film industry to start up again.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA2LTE3L2dvbGQtY29hc3QtYnJpY2tpZS1iZWNvbWVzLWhvbGx5d29vZC1waG90b2dyYXBoZXIvMTIzNjMxMzDSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTIzNjMxMzA?oc=5
2020-06-17 04:27:23Z
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