Glorious Israeli spring
By Yossi, Keshet: The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel
This has been a glorious spring in Israel and we still have a few more weeks to enjoy it before the dog days of summer set in and the great green countryside begins its inexorable slide into brown and yellow until the rains return in the fall sometime after the Sukkot holiday.
While everything is still green, I found myself thinking back to this past winter during which, for the first time in seven years, we received the amount of rain Israeli meteorologists and farmers hoped we would. In each of the six years before this one, the official “weather people” at the Israel Meteorological Society have declared a drought. The results were obvious to anyone strolling in city parks or traveling in Israel’s rural areas.
This year, though, things have been different. Along with thousands of other Israelis, I have gone on a binge of hiking and outdoor touring to take in all the newly beautiful and green sites. My wife moved to this country six years ago after having spent the previous 20 living in an especially verdant part of Japan and she is just amazed to see the countryside looking as pretty as it does because she has never seen it this way before.
In mid-March we headed out to a place called Lupine Hill (Givat HaTurmosim in Hebrew) in the Elah Valley where tradition has it that David slew Goliath with pebbles from the stream there. After hiking all day we stopped in the Elah Valley winery and bought five bottles for the Passover Seder. The week before Passover we went up north to see the blooming Gilboa Iris and we hiked there and among the waterfalls of Wadi Parod. During Passover, we made it to the new hanging trail in the Banias National Park and it was as gorgeous and full of water as I remember it 20 years ago.
With the Shavuot holiday coming up, get out of town and enjoy some of Israel’s beautiful natural places yourselves! Enjoy the Israeli spring!
Took this shot of a Gilboa Iris with my iPhone.
Light, Shadow and Color
Dan Diamant seems like a straight-laced, soft-spoken systems engineer. He is, in fact, a systems engineer. But he also has a completely different side of him that comes out in his fabulous photographs, which have slowly but surely been gaining an audience in a series of local exhibitions.
For this Budapest-born photographer, living in Israel for the last 20 years, photography is a form of self-expression, and an art form that he has been working on since he was 17, combining the worlds of science and art.
Here’s what he writes about his craft in his website:
In 2007, an estimated 80 billion digital pictures were created in the United States alone. Sometimes I wonder if there is a reason in creating any more photographs. But photography, for me, is like life itself, it happens without a reason. I look around me and I just wonder. I see the extraordinary in the ordinary, the special in the common. Photography makes me stop in my everyday rush and take a deep breath. It is a wonderful world, here and now. My photographs are still and silent. They stop the time flowing. They let you enter into another frame of mind. To understand that each of us is extraordinary and special.
Dan’s subjects are nature, landscapes, gardens and everyday scenes. Some of his photographs are produced with the help of a special method resembling the original meaning of photography “drawing by the light.” He uses long exposition time and camera movements to create photographs that appear to be paintings but still represent reality. And I liked what he said here: “My photographs are ready a long time before they are taken, they were created in my imagination. I should only find them [sic] somewhere and to operate my camera at the decisive moment.”
Dan’s current photograph collection, “Light, Shadow and Color” is being exhibited at the Weizmann Center in Tel Aviv, 14 Weizmann Street, March 10-June 10, 2010.
Foto Friday – Creepy Crawlies
Filed under: Environment, Foto Friday, General
Last month, scientists at the University of Haifa announced that they had discovered a new and previously unknown species of spider. I don’t know about you, but I greet news like that with mixed emotions: pride in our local research institutions, curiosity at seeing the bug and — now having seen the photos (like this one by researcher Yael Olek) — a dash of alarm. This thing is a big as a Mack Truck.
The researchers say that this spider’s leg-span can reach up to 14 cm., which makes it the largest spider of its type in the Middle East. The species was discovered in the dune of the Sands of Samar in the southern Arava region. It is a member of the genus Cerbalus and was named Cerbalus aravensis for its native habitat, if you like knowing that sort of thing.
Unfortunately, however, the poor critter’s habitat is endangered by — you guessed it — humans and their boundless capacity to screw things up. According to head of research Dr. Uri Shanas, mining projects in the area will endanger the existence of the spider as well as possibly other unknown animal species living in the sands. Hopefully, efforts will be made to preserve this unique region in the Arava, as well as the lifeforms crawling in, out and round about.
Photographer Marco Jona has a particular fascination for such creepy crawlies. Waiting patiently for the right moment, he manages to get in close and catch almost human-like expressions. A few of his photos are presented here with more on display at his website.
Foto Friday – Tu b’Shvat is here!
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Picture of the Week, Travel
Tu B’Shvat, the New Year for Trees is upon us! The almond trees are in full bloom.
© Barak Sekeles
For those who live in cold climates and can’t get here in time…
© SOBO Dan
…here are some amazing images of pinky-white blossoms against brilliant blue skies.
Photo by Ester Inbar, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Last week was cold and rainy…
Photo by Eli Zahavi, courtesy of Piki Wiki Israel via Wikimedia Commons
…and given this winter’s wacky weather, who knows what next week could bring…
Photo by Ester Inbar, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
…but this weekend we will enjoy ourselves the warm holiday sunshine.
Photo by Dror K, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
I’m a Groundhog’s Day baby, so believe me when I say: only 6 more weeks till spring!
© SOBO Dan
Foto Friday – Jacob Ackerman’s Birds of Prey
Filed under: Art, Environment, Foto Friday, General, Travel
Whether in Israel or abroad, Jacob “Yaki” Ackerman spends days and nights in the heart of nature, lying in wait to capture its magic and power.
Patient and alert, he spends long hours for that perfect split second in which to freeze the action of a body in motion. Perhaps that is why he relates so strongly to birds of prey.
Ackerman’s work will be part of a group art show about Israel’s predatory birds opening next week at the Man and the Living World Museum in Ramat Gan.
This unique museum, situated within the Ramat Gan National Park, features a variety of natural history exhibits as well as a center for educational activity and cultural events.
Ackerman’s extensive portfolio includes images from around the world but his passion is nature photography, and birds in particular. He’s participated in numerous wildlife photography exhibitions and his website contains some magnificent interactive photo albums that should not be missed. Enjoy.
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Science
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts