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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.

Foto Friday – Papal Visit

I’m in London this week and so can vouch for the fact that Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Israel did not go unnoticed by the international press. As always though, the message got muddled. For example, this meeting with the chief Asheknazi and Sephardi rabbis of Israel — see the sharp shadow on the wall? A British paper here ran a photo from the same session. But their photo showed His Holiness sitting all lonely and overshadowed by a giant black hat.

In fact, the true message of the Pope’s visit — interfaith and tolerance — was better represented by this photo, a meeting in the Galilee between the Pope and leaders of different religious communities in Israel, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Druze and others…

…the visit to Yad VaShem…

…and a prayer at the Western Wall.

And yes, he left a note…

…and drove around in a Pope-mobile.

For the faithful, the visit was an important one. The itinerary included several outdoor masses, such as the afternoon Mass at the Garden of Gethsemane.

This week’s photos courtesy of the Government Press Office. Visit the Ministry of Tourism website for more information about about Christian holy sites and pilgrimage itineraries.

Foto Friday – Menachem Kahana lifts the haredi veil

The haredi world is one that secular Israelis find alternately fascinating and disturbing, filled with rituals and mystery. Photographer Menahem Kahana, who works for French news agency AFP, has been documenting the ultra-Orthodox community for years.

In a new exhibit, now on at Tel Aviv’s Eretz Israel Museum, Kahana presents a body of work begun in 1995, when he happened upon a spring where some young haredi men were swimming.

Over the years, as he continued his documentation, the community opened up to him: synagogues, celebrations, and rituals both usual, such as weddings…

… and unusual, such as the pidyon ha-ben in which first-born sons are redeemed by their families from service to the High Priests of the Temple…

…and the peter hamor, which which first born donkeys are as well.

And everyday life, too.

Click on this link to learn more about Kahana’s work.

Foto Friday – Workers of the Promised Land

In the spirit of May 1st, here are a few shots from the big demonstration held in Tel Aviv by socialist youth movement HaNoar HaLomed. But first, a picture from the archives of Marxist movement Matzpen, and their May 1st march in 1979.

And the face of Israeli socialism today:

Three thousand marched from Rabin Square…

…to the Histadrut headquarters where the rally was held.

What would these members of HaShomer HaTzair make of the new socialist revival?

Picture from the Labor Movement archive

Foto Friday – To market, to market with Tamar Matsafi

Passover is over and things are about to get back to normal, sort of. In the Israeli endless vacation reality, there’s still Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) to look forward to, after which a mild depression sets in as there won’t be another long vacation break till the High Holidays. Oh, except for August. We don’t work much in August.

The latter part of this week, though, was devoted to re-stocking the kitchen, post-Pesach. Photographer Tamar Matsafi took a jaunt to Jerusalem’s open market, Machane Yehuda, a refreshing alternative the the local supermarket.

First thing, buy new spices to replace the ones you threw out.

Photo: Tamar Matsafi

Photo: Tamar Matsafi

David had a nice write-up a few weeks ago about an unusual cooking competition held in the shuk between gourmet grannies.

Photo: Tamar Matsafi

An explanation of these dangerously delicious fried treats may be found here.

Photo: Tamar Matsafi

And check out Harry’s profile of Machane Yehuda’s resident shaman Uzi-Eli Chezi.

Photo: Tamar Matsafi

Our bags are full so home we go…

Photo: Tamar Matsafi

Images of Israel traveling across China

Passover in the Far East? Old news. Israelis are known for traversing the world with nothing but backpacks. It was on a trip like this that Tel Aviv’s Sally Macklef fell in love with her camera as a conduit for artistic expression.

Now Macklef’s work has come full-circle, with her images joining those of 59 other Israeli artists to form Inside Israel, an exhibition which opened at the Three Gorges Museum in the Chinese city of Chongqing in December and is set to travel to the region’s leading museums and cultural institutions for the remainder of the year.

This isn’t the first time that Israeli art is being exported to China en masse, and the exhibit comes in the context of increases in Israeli-Chinese tourist and cultural cooperation over the past year.

Macklef’s work often portrays Tel Aviv as a place where the balance of ancient life gets lost in the shuffle of today’s concrete wastelands (pictured is her disaffected work Cactus), but her Inside Israel images of Hassidim performing holiday rituals come decidedly from a place of inspiration and appreciation, as she explained recently to The Jerusalem Post:

“All this happiness fascinates me, this power of community,” Macklef explained. “I realized that when you’re not happy, you can’t believe in God.”

Inside Israel’s 180 pieces depict our country as a place where natural wonders, community, contemporary urban life, ancient ethnicities and architectural marvels can be observed, as curated by Three Gorges Museum staffer Yang Chaupang and Israeli art scenesters Doron Pollack, Iris Elhanani and Esther Dollinger.

Foto Friday – Visit Israel the Virtual Way

“Snob! Have you been to Tiberias yet?” The late great Israeli humorist Ephraim Kishon quipped that those words were scrawled across the Acropolis, chastising those Israelis who preferred to travel abroad rather than tour their own fair country. Today, fortunately, Israelis — and anyone else for that matter — can sit in the air-conditioned comfort of their Athens hotel and visit the sites of Israel in full color — thanks to a new feature on the Ministry of Tourism website: the Virtual Tour of Israel. The new multimedia experience includes 100 videos, 130 panoramic views and dozens of photographs. Here’s a classic:

Ten virtual, ten-day tours are available online, including: general interest itineraries, Jewish interest, Christian interest, Culture and History, Nature, Family, Archeology, Active interest, Mobility challenged and — last but certainly not least — Food and Wine.

Sites that can be visited include Caesarea… Jerusalem… Mitzpe Ramon… the Dead Sea…

The Bauhaus architecture of Tel Aviv …

Here’s Tiberias – we are not snobs!

The Haifa Port, where my running club, the Holyland Hash House Harriers, will be running this weekend with 40 sailors on shore leave!

By the way, the Ministry of Tourism website is available in 11 languages and is updated on an ongoing basis.

Nostalgia Sunday – Lebanon 1982

They’re not happy memories. However, it seems appropriate, on the eve of Waltz With Bashir’s possible Oscar win, to glean the National Photo Collection for photos of the 1982 Lebanon War that capture something of the movie’s essence.

Sidon – IDF soldier on patrol near Ferris wheel. Photo: Shmuel Rahmany

Zaharani area – burning fuel depot. Photo: Beni Tel-Or

Tyre – Ancient Roman ruins with modern buildings in background. Photo: Yaacov Saar

Sidon – Returning to the marketplace. Photo: Yaacov Saar

Central Lebanon – Two Israeli soldiers take a forbidden dip in a stream. Photo: Yossi Roth

Tel Aviv Fairgrounds – Israeli citizens visit a display of a captured PLO arsenal. Photo: Avraham Zaslavski

Tel Aviv – Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon presents objectives at a press conference. Photo: Yaacov Saar

Sidon – Movie poster: “The Land That Time Forgot“. Photo: Yoel Kantor

 

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