BEN TARVER, PHOTOGRAPHER    

Ben's photography had its initial influence and inspiration from his father, Joe M. Tarver, Sr., a photo enthusiast, and his brother, Joe M. Tarver, Jr., a professional photographer, who started taking family photographs in the Seth Boyden housing project in Newark, New Jersey where they lived.  Stimulated by his interest and love of photography, Joe gave Ben an inexpensive 35mm camera as a gift and began teaching him the science of photography.

Ben has grown from a low income housing project youth to a retired executive of a major Fortune 50 company and has photographed people and animals around the world, from Zambian orphanages and refugee camps to safaris in Zimbabwe, Botswana and India to the canals of Venice and other venues around the globe..

Ben has a unique visual perspective which draws extensively from his upbringing in the Newark housing project to his engineering, business and law degrees which have predisposed him to seek justice and diversity through his photographs.