A few years ago, Adweek named Benjamin Von Wong a Branded Content Mastermind for his elaborate and arresting photo installations that advocate for social and environmental causes. But his journey from a short-lived career as a mining engineer to viral photographer and artist has been a path of self-discovery, change-making and hard questions about the purpose of a story.
After becoming an engineer, Von Wong moved to a small mining town. “Even before graduating, I knew hard-rock mining engineering wasn't what I wanted to do, but I didn't know anything else and needed a job. When you work in a mining town, there's not that much to do, so you have to find hobbies. For me, photography was one of those hobbies.”
Von Wong's photography skills quickly advanced and, before long, he embarked on a career in the arts where he could combine his technical prowess with his desire to create fantastical images. Now sought out by brands such as Dell, Starbucks and Nike, he shares his journey to becoming a creative changemaker and using photography for a cause.
Design a community for transformation.
Early on, Von Wong realized sharing the behind-the-scenes of his artistic process could be a way to get noticed in the industry. Not too many photographers were doing it at the time. “This was back in 2012, and it really allowed me to climb the hierarchy of photography circles. I went from doing YouTube videos to speaking at conferences to trying things that would go more viral and be more crazy," says Von Wong.
One of his early viral hits was an underwater shoot in Bali where he tied a female model to a shipwreck. Von Wong only received his dive certification the day before the shoot. “I've always kind of been the kind of person to try to tackle things I've never done before.”
But as his career in commercial photography was on the upswing, Von Wong began to feel something was missing. “I guess there's a career path, but there's no human development in it. I was looking for more meaning or more drive or more purpose,” says Von Wong.
At that point, he had hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and felt a huge pressure to put out content that pleased his audience. Influencer burn-out was a real possibility. “It was almost like feeding a beast that will never be satisfied,” says Von Wong.
That’s when he started to concentrate on designing a community. “People in a community will rally together to co-create, to share discoveries and learnings. I think there's a sense of shared transformation if you design a community rather than build an audience.”
Create awareness by combining creativity with purpose.
While focusing on community and contemplating his next move, Von Wong started wondering how he could tie his dual passions for activism and fantasy together. He says it "started off with projects like tying the model underwater, which I knew how to do, and adding a shark to it for shark conservation. Or putting a mermaid on 10,000 plastic bottles to raise awareness for plastic pollution. I was finding different creative ways to combine causes together.”
Over time, his campaigns have gotten bigger and more complex – from his work building warehouse-sized sets to combat fast fashion to creating sculptures out of electronic waste for Dell’s Global Recycling Program. “It turns out that 80% of electronic waste globally isn't recycled. And there are toxic materials that leak into the soil, but also contain a lot of value like gold and copper. So there's an entire industry there that’s waiting to thrive.”
Von Wong hopes his images will live on forever to continue raising awareness and keep people questioning until answers are found. “What happens to the waste material that's produced every single day and is way more significant than my one installation? That’s the problem, and that’s the big question that I'm trying to raise,” he says.
Instead of trying to 'go viral,' aim for impact.
Von Wong has a knack for going viral. But he knows the secret to a viral campaign isn’t a happy accident – it’s a by-product of ongoing groundwork and continually building relationships with reporters and websites, cross-posting partnership content and making sure that the campaign is pushed out at the right time.
“There's a lot of back-end work that no one ever sees. So people think something went viral because it was cool, but that’s not actually true.”
That's why in his quest as a changemaker, Von Wong is contemplating another creative evolution. “The bulk of my work has been very much about getting seen and heard. While I can say I've raised awareness for different causes and gotten over 100 million views, I can't say what those hundred million views have achieved. And that's something that I've been asking a lot of questions around.”
On his quest to discover how impact is truly measured, Von Wong began hosting a podcast called Impact Everywhere. Here, he interviews people who are making a positive impact in unexpected places.
