Rafael-Ben-Ari-Documentary-Travel-Photographer portrait

Rafael Ben Ari – Documentary Travel Photographer

Biography

For more than three decades, internationally acclaimed and award-winning documentary travel photographer, photojournalist, filmmaker, and independent content creator Rafael Ben Ari has documented wars, remote cultures, wildlife, landscapes, and the everyday lives of people across six continents. Working independently throughout his career, he has dedicated his life to exploring and documenting the diversity of the human experience through powerful visual storytelling that informs, inspires, and preserves visual history.

Widely recognized for his photojournalistic coverage of conflicts in the Middle East and his documentary travel photography from around the world, Rafael’s imagery is distinguished by authenticity, compassion, and a strong sense of place. His photographs seek not only to record history but also to reveal the emotional connections between people, cultures, and their environments. His work is driven by curiosity, empathy, and a belief that photography has the power to connect people across cultures and generations.

In 2019, Rafael was named one of the Top 10 Best Photographers in the World by Pouted Magazine. His work has been exhibited in Israel, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, and Mexico, and has appeared extensively in newspapers, magazines, books, television productions, and digital media worldwide.

Represented by leading international photo agencies, his photographs have been published by numerous international media outlets, including National Geographic, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, The New York Times, and many others.

Rafael’s personal motto is:

“To photograph the mysteries of life on the land, in the sky, and underwater, driven by a passion to discover the connection between reality and imagination.”

He also lives by two guiding beliefs:

“There is no place that is too far.”

“The biggest fear is fear itself.”

Early Life

From an early age, Rafael expressed himself through drawing and visual art. By the age of four, he was already using pencils, charcoal, paint, ink, and brushes to interpret the world around him. Although naturally introspective, he demonstrated exceptional artistic awareness and developed a fascination with architecture, sculpture, painting, photography, and filmmaking.

A Life-Changing Beginning

Rafael’s journey into photography began in the autumn of 1988 at the age of seventeen following a life-changing near-death experience. After collapsing from a brain tumour, he spent weeks in an Intensive Care Unit, where he experienced a prolonged coma and what he describes as a near-death and out-of-body experience.

Upon regaining consciousness, doctors informed him that his prognosis was poor and that he had only weeks to live. While still recovering in hospital, Rafael borrowed his father’s Konica Auto S2 35mm rangefinder camera and began photographing what he believed would be the first day of the remainder of his life.

Against all odds, he survived a lengthy and highly complex operation. Following seven months of recovery and social isolation—watching fellow patients leave the ward either walking or in body bags—he emerged with a profoundly different outlook on life.

Photography became far more than a profession; it became his way of preserving the precious moments he had almost lost.

Determined to rebuild his life, Rafael completed his rehabilitation, returned to school despite missing seven months of education, and graduated with outstanding academic achievements alongside his classmates.

At the age of eighteen, he purchased his first professional camera, travelled to East Africa, and climbed Mount Kenya—an experience that confirmed that his life’s journey had only just begun.

Military Service and Professional Career

Rafael’s professional career began in 1990 during the Gulf War, following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. While serving in the Israeli Air Force, he worked as an Imagery Intelligence Aerial Reconnaissance Photographic Analyst and later as a Military Photographer attached to Special Operations Forces.

Following his military service, Rafael embarked on extensive independent travels throughout the world while continuing his education in photography, history, international relations, architecture, geography, philosophy, theology, off-road driving, scuba diving, and sailing.

He studied photojournalism through the New York Institute of Photography in New York and later attended the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, Israel. Accepted into both the Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts programs, he ultimately chose Fine Arts photography, recognizing it as his true calling.

Although his early career was shaped by military and conflict photography, Rafael gradually expanded his work into long-term documentary projects exploring cultures, Indigenous communities, wildlife, and some of the world’s most remote landscapes.

A Global Perspective

Throughout more than thirty-five years of professional photography, Rafael has crossed six continents, lived in several of the world’s major cities, and immersed himself in diverse cultures and communities.

Fluent in English and Hebrew, with conversational Arabic and Spanish, he has been able to communicate across cultural boundaries and gain unique access to people and places that have shaped his work.

His multicultural experiences have shaped not only his photography but also his understanding of the universal stories that connect people regardless of language, nationality, or background.

He believes that his own life experiences have given him a deeper empathy for the people he photographs, allowing him to tell their stories with honesty, dignity, and respect.

Photography and Filmmaking

Rafael’s passion for photography has led him to work across virtually every genre of visual storytelling—from street, documentary, and landscape photography to wildlife, aerial, underwater, commercial, and conflict photography.

With more than thirty-five years of professional experience, he is equally at home working with analogue and digital technologies, employing professional photographic and cinema equipment on land, underwater, and in the air. Whether working with available light or complex lighting environments, he adapts his techniques to the unique demands of every assignment.

Alongside his photography, Rafael has developed a successful career as an independent filmmaker and digital content creator, producing visual stories that combine still photography, cinematography, and documentary filmmaking.

He also teaches photography to individuals and small groups and delivers public lectures on photography, travel, and visual storytelling.

Current Work

Today, Rafael works as an independent documentary travel photographer, filmmaker, and digital nomad content creator, selecting and developing his own long-term documentary projects while undertaking photographic and film assignments throughout the world.

Over the past decade, much of his work has focused on Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, documenting the region’s spectacular landscapes, Indigenous cultures, wildlife, and natural heritage.

Based in Australia, he continues to travel internationally on independent assignments, exploring humanity’s relationship with culture, history, and the natural world through photography and film.

After more than thirty-five years behind the camera, Rafael remains driven by the same passion that emerged following his near-death experience—to preserve fleeting moments, reveal untold stories, and photograph the extraordinary beauty, resilience, and diversity of our world.

As he often says:

“There is no place that is too far.”