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Foto Friday – The Israel Photography Exhibition

POV, a retrospective of new works by Israel’s leading photographers/curators took place this past week at Tel Aviv’s newest landmark, the refurbished old train station structure in Neve Tzedek (pictured left). For those who missed the show (and that includes your humble scribe), POV has provided video portfolios for the group, as well as individual photographers. A portion of these works are presented in this Foto Friday column, with more to follow. Enjoy! And for those who can’t wait, visit the POV website and YouTube channel.

Show Portfolio

Moshe Shay

Yuval Tebol

David Perlov

Foto Friday – Sukkot in Jerusalem

The awe-ful part of the Days of Awe are behind us and now it’s time to party! Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is the holiday when Jerusalem gets itself all decked out…

© RomKri

…and small wooden sukkot, or tabernacles, spring up overnight…

© monti_clif

…dotting the urban landscape.

© Pes & Lev

The Municipality of Jerusalem gets into the act too, with a large public sukka – the perfect opener to this month’s Autumn Nights Festival…

© RomKri

…as well as the annual Jerusalem March, attended by walkers from all over the country…

© monti_clif

…and from all over the world!

© monti_clif

Another event taking place at this time: the International Christian Embassy’s Feast of Tabernacles festival, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary. The festivities begin today with a worship concert at Ein Gedi, continue with a week of prayer and Bible teachings, and conclude with the Jerusalem March on October 6th.

Below is a montage of photos from last year’s Feast of Tabernacles. The photos above are courtesy of the wonderful Jerusalem Shots website – always worth a visit. And here’s wishing a Chag Sameach (happy holiday) to us all!

Feast of Tabernacles 2008 Photo Montage from ICEJ on Vimeo.

Foto Friday – Apples & Honey

One of the more lovely traditions of Rosh Hashana is eating apples dipped honey to symbolize our hopes for a sweet new year. At this season, you start seeing apples and honey everywhere. Body artist Flora certainly does…

Dorit “Dot” Malin, a talented architectural and stage lighting designer, created this lovely image incorporating dance and light.

Israel’s Fruit Production and Marketing Board has chosen to market apples the old-fashioned way…

And there are a slew of apple-themed New Year’s animations on YouTube! A small selection follows. Enjoy! And a healthy, happy and prosperous Shana Tova to all.

Picking apples for New Year at Kibbutz Malkiya

Apples and Honey

Shana Tova – the Apple’s Perspective

Shana Tova – Another Apple

Foto Friday – Gil Lavi’s Soldiers in White

Gil Lavi is a world-class commercial photographer, portraitist and brand image consultant. He also has a keen eye for documentary photography, as seen in his series, “Soldiers in White” which explores the world of Israel’s emergency medical technicians at Magen David Adom.

The living quarters where sleep can be interrupted in a moment…

… as EMTs launch into action.

Lavi also takes special note of the relationship between religious and secular EMTs…

… and the camaraderie between male and female, young and old.

MDA’s heroic efforts in bringing medical services to all sides under the most trying circumstances have been well-reported by ISRAEL21c , but Lavi’s is a more intimate look. It’s a far cry from the high gloss commercial work for which he is famous — Lavi was named one of the 300 most influential Israelis under 40 for 2009 by Forbes magazine — but ties in to his photographic roots: during his army service, he was a photographer for the Ground Forces Command and then head of the IDF Still Photography Department. In fact, darkroom fluid flows in his veins: his father is renowned photographer Moshe Lavi (more about him, hopefully, on another Friday).

Other works by Gil Lavi can be found on his website at http://portfolio.gillavi.com/

Foto Friday – A Walk Down Nachalat Binyamin

Every Tuesday and Friday, there’s a crafts fair on Tel Aviv’s Nachalat Binyamin Street.

There’s no end to the coverage about it, because it is a very good event that has managed to maintain high standards of quality for over a decade and a half — no mean feat, as so many other so-called crafts fairs start out in promising fashion, then sink quickly into a mire of cheap crap from India and China. But the TA municipality keeps close tabs the Nachalat Binyamin artisans and artists, many of whom staff their own booths.

Most visitors pay more attention to the products than the sellers, as is only natural when shopping. And that’s where the photographer’s eye comes in.

Photographer Jessica D. Korman, a recent new immigrant to Israel, took a stroll down Nachalat Binyamin and — aside from snapping shots of the wares for Tchochkes.com, where she is a regular contributor, she also took a look at what goes on around the booths.

Korman, who studied interior design, says she looks for architectural elements wherever she goes, “to present a different view of an object or event.”

“I like photographing everyday scenes,” Korman says, “always looking for a different angle or perspective to the mundane or even the ‘ugly’ side of things.”

A former picture editor for publications such as Scholastic, Star Magazine and Woman’s World Magazine, Korman now works as a Visual Communications Consultant in Jerusalem. “What I love about [photo editing] is that it is the marriage of written content with images. The proper choice of image will enable one’s work to have the greatest impact. Besides, what better job is there than getting to look at pictures all day?”

There’s inspiration everywhere. More of Korman’s work is available on her website, The F Stops Here.

Foto Friday – Footprints

Sometimes it’s good to take a moment and see Israel from a different vantage point. In summer if you look down, for instance, you’re very likely to see “balatot” — the ubiquitous light limestone floor tile — plus a variety of fun footwear that takes you from work to the beach and back again.

A trip to the Dead Sea affords another type of shoe, suited to mud baths and salt water.

Which is different to what you’d wear to snap some sidewalk graffiti while walking up and down Rothschild Boulevard at Tel Aviv’s Laila Lavan all-night street fair. (This takeoff on the Peace Now logo says “Shalit Now” in reference to captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit).

And sometimes a girl needs to take a rest from those heels at a sidewalk pub (note the Ackerstein paving blocks so typical of Tel Aviv).

A little culture never hurt.

Though these shoes might — especially the price. (Three thousand-plus shekels!)

Thank goodness, at the end of the day, there’s a place to relax on the edge of the Med.

PR woman Efrat Gurman is a consummate media professional who’s made a career out of positioning things differently. She’s a colleague and friend to photographers and in her few spare moments, snaps pictures of her own, mostly of of things that interest her – or that she makes interesting. For more of her “Footprints” series click here.

Foto Friday – Sexy Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv nights are sultry and sexy. Or muggy or humid to the cynics. But for those who love summer in the city, going out clubbing on a Thursday night is just the right thing to do. After all, what’s a little sweat between friends?

Tel Aviv abounds with dance clubs, bars and night spots. According to the Gay Tel Aviv website, “For a great vacation, you’ve found the right place.”

The municipality also actively supports that view — and one expects no less from a city hall with a street number of 69! — and will host the annual gathering of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association this coming October. Given Tel Aviv’s gay-friendly status — and the fact that October in Israel has the loveliest weather — registration should be brisk.

This photo series was taken by citizen journalist/blogger David Shankbone, who wrote about Gay Tel Aviv, his night at the TLV club, and DJ Ofer Nissim (pictured), as follows: “One of the most excellent spectacles to behold in Israel was the amazing high energy of famous Israeli deejay Offer Nissim as several thousand men and women went insane. The entranced audience must have been what Jonestown looked like before the Kool-Aid…”

Click here for more about that night out on the town.

Foto Friday – Butterflies

Gideon Pisanty is a biologist from Israel with an interest in botany, evolution, ecology, genetics, and conservation biology. He is also a prolific photographer of Israel’s flora and its fauna as well. Pisanty is a steady contributor of lepidiotric images to Wikipedia — just search Wikimedia Commons for “Israel” “butterflies” and you’ll see what I mean — along with a few other enthusiasts. Before butterfly season ends (it began a few weeks ago before the high heat of summer) here are a few images to enjoy.

Archon apollinus bellargus – Photo by Gideon Pisanty

Gonepteryx cleopatra taurica – Photo by Gideon Pisanty

Melitaea phoebe (mating*) – Photo by Gideon Pisanty

Apharitis cilissa – Photo by Gideon Pisanty

Apharitis acamas acamas – Photo by Gideon Pisanty

There are plenty more photos at Wikimedia. To learn more about the local Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths to you and me), visit the Israeli Lepidopterists Society homepage. Or read this book: Lepidoptera in Israel; it was very well-reviewed. Or go out for a hike – the butterflies are all around.

*Yes, they are having sex.

Foto Friday – Jerusalem Light Festival

The Jerusalem Light Festival in the Old City, taking place next week, June 10-16, promises to be an absolute delight — no pun intended. These images are just a few of the two dozen or so works by artists commissioned to use Jerusalem’s Old City as a canvas and light as their brush.

Digital artists Yosef Meir Gimi, event designer Ronen Aricha and artist-musician Uri Ben Shabat created a surrealistic journey through the Batei HaMachaseh neighborhood. There will be an exhibition of light-works by artists as well.

This is a mock-up of what is planned for Safra Square, site of the Jerusalem City Hall. Multimedia artists Malchi and Assaf Shem Tov of Studio AVS and Amit Fisher of Studio Locomotion have created a work that combines sound and light on the theme of the Twelve Tribes.

Museum designer Eliav Nachlieli was invited to create a laser light installation at the Wohl Archaeological Museum.

There will also be live entertainment on the Old City walls with performances scheduled twice nightly.

As a former lighting designer, who did quite a lot of work casting light and color on ancient walls in Jaffa, Acco, Jerusalem and the Judaean desert, this piece looks to be a very dramatic experience, in terms of breadth and color.

It’s entitled Night Panorama by Gil Teichman, one of Israel’s premiere lighting designers and contractors (he also does the Azrieli Center, among other large installations). Teichman will light up the Kidron valley surrounding Yad Avshalom (Absalom’s Tomb). Probably shouldn’t be missed — don’t see how it could be!

More images from the upcoming Jerusalem Light Festival are available at the festival website. Information in English at Jerusalem.com.

Foto Friday – Pearls of Music at Azrieli contest

With so many top-flight orchestras and musicians, Israeli is a feast for lovers of classical music and folklore That population is well-served by Pninei HaMuzika or Pearls of Music, a non-profit organization dedicated to showcasing Israeli and international artists – in variety of musical styles: baroque, classical music, liturgical music, jazz, Klezmer, Irish, Balkan, gypsy, country and other folk music, flamenco, as well as children plays — through festivals and concert series. Pearls of Music selects unique venues, from Jerusalem’s Ticho House, churches, monasteries, and caves, to, in this case, the stark modernity of the Azrieli Center, which will serve as the backdrop for a unique photo competition.

The contest, which was just announced this week, offers music loving photographers the opportunity to participate in a competition that combines music with the urban landscape of the Azrieli Center Amphitheater, an open-air venue located on the third floor rooftop of the Azrieli Mall, at the base of the Center’s towers.

This year, the Amphitheater will host a series of festive summer concerts, presented by Pearls of Music, kicking off on June 11 with Celtic Fire, a celebration Irish music and dance – yes, that’s them looking like Riverdance — followed on June 20 by the Latino-Argentino Ensemble featuring Natan Formansky who, together with Israeli tenor Yotam Kohen, will perform Latin American songs on acoustic guitars and and exotic instruments. “Brazilian Carnival” an evening of Samba, Salsa, Bosa Nova, Lambada and Capoeira, happens on July 4; an evening of Viennese dance music – from the waltz to the polka – with harp, flute and orchestra on July 24; Israeli folklore on August 13; Jazz, Blues & Swing on August 29; and others to be announced. The series of concerts runs from June 11 to September 25, and tickets can be ordered via the Pearls of Music website.

Now, as to the competition. Check out this trippy pic. Clearly there is plenty of room for improvement and I guess Photoshopping is allowed!

It is sponsored by the Geographical Photography College, Azrieli Malls and Pearls of Music. Participating photographers will be allowed to enter eight of the 11 concerts, with entry limited to six photographers per performance, to take pictures before during and after the show. (Two photographers per performance will be GPC students). Photos will be judged for quality and originality, as well as fidelity to the competition theme “Pearls of Music at Azrieli”. The winning photos will go on display in October at the Azrieli Center gallery. Winners will receive a free subscription to the 2010 Pearls of Music summer concert series, and runners up will receive a course in photography at the GPC.

Interested photographers should contact Giora Shalmi of the Geographical Photography College at: giora@gpc.co.il.

CREDITS: The top two photographs come courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The latter two are courtesy of Pearls of Music.

 

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