Foto Friday – Israel Hadari’s Best & Brightest

March 4, 2011 - 4:35 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Art, Business, coexistence, education, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Profiles, Science, Technology 

Israel Hadari is a 25-year veteran of Israeli photojournalism who has covered Israel’s private, public and government sectors, as well as the business and finance community.

He’s worked with visiting business, cultural and political leaders such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sir Paul McCartney, Steve Ballmer and many others, and served as the official campaign photographer for the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and for former Prime Minister and current Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Following visitors also gives Hadari the chance to see cutting edge tech close up, like this delegation from Africa visiting the seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant at Palmachim.

Among Hadari’s corporate clients: the local branches of multinationals such as Intel, IBM, Google as well as leading Israeli high-tech companies, photographing official portraits and corporate events. This also affords him the opportunity to capture images of corporate social responsibility (CSR); those moments when big business puts the community at the forefront.

Intel was one of the first companies in Israel to implement and encourage socially responsible activities, such as running educational programs for outstanding high-schoolers. It consistently ranks high on the MAALA Index, the local organization promoting CSR.

Hadari snapped this image of a group of Arab and Jewish teens visiting the Intel plant in Kiryat Gat.

Fuel company Dor Alon is also involved in sponsoring educational activities, including the Philharmonic Orchestra Scholarship Fund which grants scholarships to musically gifted children from low-income areas. One sunny day, Hadari was invited to photograph their bike race to promote green energy.

And sometimes, his work is a chance to photograph the local tech community celebrate its success, like fire-dancing at the Deloitte Fast 50 Israel.

More of Hadari’s work, including some rare candids of Yitzhak Rabin and many others, can be found on his website and Facebook page.

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Foto Friday – Viewing Israel with Rafael Ben-Ari

February 25, 2011 - 7:48 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Art, design, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Picture of the Week, Travel 

Rafael Ben-Ari is a noted Israeli photographer and educator with over 20 years experience. He’s worked for Israeli and international newspapers and magazines, traveled extensively and his photographs has been presented at exhibitions and countries around the world.

Ben-Ari also runs Israel Photo Tours, which offers one-on-one private photography workshops and lessons in Israel. These are day tours, says Ben-Ari, “for photographers on all levels who are serious about their craft and wish to improve their skills while seeing Israel.”

Ben-Ari’s experience with cameras ranges from analog 35mm, digital, and SLR to panoramic and underwater cameras. Light is essential to his work and on location, he makes use of both artificial and available light and light. His students, he states, “learn the art of using light to capture the true essence of Israel”.

He suggests various tour itineraries, such as the ancient, sun-washed city of Acre for those who love the picturesque…

© Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye

The dusty Negev desert for those interested in archeology and nature…

© Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye

Jerusalem, the city central to Judaism…

© Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye

The places holy to three monotheistic religions…

© Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye

And for a change of pace, the beaches, sun and fun of Tel Aviv.

© Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye

There are a lot more wonderful pictures to view on the Israel Photo Tours website, along with contact information, itineraries and testimonials.

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Foto Friday – Ron Shoshani’s Tel Aviv winter

February 18, 2011 - 9:46 PM by · 4 Comments
Filed under: Art, design, Foto Friday, General, Life, Picture of the Week, Profiles, Travel 

It’s been about a year since Ron Shoshani was profiled in this column and it’s been quite a good one apparently. Shoshani’s color-saturated, hyper-realistic “eye candy”, as he calls it, makes up the background graphic for the Channel 2 morning show; he’s had the cover of Time Out Tel Aviv, and a newly uploaded stop-motion video marks a new direction into animation.

Shoshani loves Tel Aviv and his cityscapes express that affection. As winter draws to a close, here a few images of Tel Aviv in winter: the clouds, rain and strong colors that will soon fade to dusty pastels in the summer heat.

Tel Aviv Morning – February 15, 2011

S-I-M-C-I-T-Y

Tel Aviv – First Railway Station

Tel Aviv LEGO 4/4

Sarbata Sunrise

The Sartaba isn’t in Tel Aviv; it’s the highest mountain in the Jordan Valley. Shoshani took the picture from within the ruins of a 1st century fort on the summit. After snapping the initial image, he works his magic using a combination of digital techniques. You can read more about it here, order prints directly from directly from ronsho@gmail.com and view many more amazing images on his Facebook page.

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Foto Friday – Guy Prives Meets 100 Strangers

February 11, 2011 - 1:40 PM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Art, Blogging, design, Foto Friday, General, Life, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture, Profiles, Travel 

Guy Prives fell in love with photography while on a long trip to South America and has carried this passion — along with his camera — ever since. “Photography for me is another way to look and see the world from unique and different angles. Ordinary things can become extraordinary when captured through the camera’s lens”.

Prives’ professional work ranges from commercial and fashion photography to portraiture and nature photography. He also teaches photography at the Galitz School of Photography. His latest personal project is entitled 100 Strangers, the goal of which is “to take pictures of 100 different people that I have never met before.”

“100 Strangers” lays out the human tapestry that is Israel’s diverse population. Prives says, “For me, it’s not only the photography itself, but also the story behind the people. Understanding that behind every stranger we encounter for a brief moment, fascinating stories can be hidden.”

So, for example, Prives introduces himself — and us — to Mundir Hussien, a contractor working on a grocery market renovation in Tel Aviv’s trendy Florentine neighborhood. “Every day he calls the municipality to complain about [the dog shit and garbage] but no one listens to him…” Welcome, Mundir, to life in Tel Aviv.

On another outing, Prives meets Kristin Eulitz from Berlin, a student volunteer at The Friedrich Naumann Foundation. “She started a week ago and nowadays meets with Palestinian intellectual representatives from the West Bank in Hebron and Bethlehem…”

Prives tells the story of this elderly mechanic with elegant simplicity, starting with, “In 1949, when Kaduri Rubin arrived to Israel, there was nothing on Shnitzler St. but orchards and a mill. But then the Jewish Agency opened a garage…”

“Ray Turla arrived in Israel from the Philippines… where he was earning $300 per month… So he decided to leave his family, moving to Tel Aviv to nurse an elderly Israeli…”

“Doron Lukach owns a doggy day care… [and is] one of the first pioneers here of this industry…”

Says Prives, “I chose to do this project in Tel Aviv in order to show the plurality of different people in one city. I hope you’re captivated by the photos and their stories.” The full story for each stranger — all of whom, through interlocutor Prives’, become our friends — can be found on his blogsite (with more works on his Facebook page). He hasn’t reached 100 yet so there’s much to look forward to.

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Foto Friday – Snaps from the IDF Spokesperson

January 14, 2011 - 9:27 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Picture of the Week, War 

Two nights ago, after two months of grueling basic training, the cadets of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade held their swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall. This was the first time in two decades that the Golani ceremony was held at the Wall; the emotional event was captured by Cpl. Ori Shifrin, IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit.

The IDF Spokesperson’s office was in the headlines this week with the news that Yoav Galant, is replacing outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, had appointed Lior Lotan as the new IDF spokesman. These sort of nominations are never without controversy but this one was particularly vulnerable to criticism because Lotan, an attorney and soldier in the elite Sayeret Matkal combat unit, has no experience either working in the media or with the media.

“Nevertheless,” Ha’aretz reported, “the prevailing assessment among both journalists and the staff of the IDF Spokesman’s Office was that his [Lotan's] long experience in both negotiations and psychological warfare operations would stand him in good stead.” Which givens you an idea of the historic relationship between the media, local and foreign, and the IDF Spokesperson’s office.

Indeed, the IDF Spokesperson’s office is a powerful force in Israeli culture. It publishes BaMachaneh magazine which, like army radio station GLZ, has long been the training ground for many an Israeli journalist. These days, The Spokesperson’s office is keeping up to date with a revamped website, blog, Twitter feed, YouTube channel and Flickr photostream.

On Flickr, you’ll find images like this dramatic shot of the Hermon Brigade, which is made up of reserve forces, in a training exercise on Mt. Hermon. The photo was taken by IDF Spokesperson photographer Neil Cohen.

This “straw man” camouflage suit, worn by a soldier from the Combat Engineering Corps, was photographed by Michael Shvadron of the IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit.

I’m not a great fan of the “Girl Soldierette Pinup” but it is important to note this genre which, over the decades, has created its own mythology: the strong and sexy Israeli woman, kittenish by night — drill sergeant by day. (Photo: Michael Shvadron).

Really, now that it’s been announced that, in addition to expanded service for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men, haredi women will also be given the opportunity to serve in IDF computer units, they’re going to have to cut down on this sort of thing. After all, there are a lot of good and important things happening that make better stories than snapping wannabe It girls in combat boots.

For example, following last month’s Carmel Forest fire, almost 1000 soldiers from the IDF’s Nachal infantry Brigade were brought in to clear and rebuild in the areas damaged by the fires. While a full-time Citizen’s Conservations Corps is a long way away for our beleaguered little country, it is nice to see a glimmer of what a peacetime national service could one day be.

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