Thomas was born in 1981 in Adelaide, Australia. After developing his photographic skills making music videos, [1] Thomas moved to Melbourne and switched to SLR still photography. [2]
Thomas uses a number of photographic and post processing techniques, mostly concentrating on the use of colour, perspective and a miniaturisation technique called "tilt shift photography". [3] [4] He has been exhibited internationally, been featured by Apple, [5] Adobe, and won the 2018 Hasselblad Masters along with the ACMP Projections Art Photographer of the Year Award in 2008. [6]
Thomas was the winner of the 2015 125Live Vision, Innovative Photographer of the year award. [7] And also the 2015 Desktop Create Awards Photography category winner [8]
Using a helicopter to take high-angle photographs, [9] Thomas created a series of miniatures entitled "Cityshrinker" in 2007, depicting a number of cities around the world. This work was finalised in his book, Tiny Tokyo; The Big City Made Mini. (Chronicle Books) [10] which brought about the end of Cityshrinker and a hiatus from photography while developing new work. [11]
Thomas has also created a collection of photographs which he has called "Accession", in which large urban scenes are deconstructed and reconstructed in a kaleidoscopic style. [12] Thomas has also exhibited a number of his landscape and still images internationally. He had represented Sony as part of the Sony Xperia Academy, showcasing Sony's flagship mobile camera capabilities. [13]
Thomas was a 2015 artist in residence at the Villa Lena Foundation, Tuscany cited as the inspiration and genesis of the "Chroma" series. [14]
Thomas was commissioned by The New Yorker Magazine for an artwork for the 7 March 2016 edition's short story, "Buttony" and again in March 2017 for the photoessay 'Dubai, the worlds Vegas'. [15] Thomas' "Chroma" series was also featured by Apple for their 2018 iPad Pro announcement.
Ben is a recipient of the 2018 Hasselblad Masters award and is now an ambassador for the brand. [16]