Photo of the Week: Aug. 26, 2008

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Sabra is the Hebrew name given to a native-born Israeli Jew and also the prickly pear cactus, which grows abundantly throughout Israel, although, ironically, it is not a native species. The dual meaning of the term is meant to imply that Israelis, like their flowering namesake, feature a thorny and abrasive exterior that conceals a sweeter, gentler interior. Whether true or not about our native population, this photograph reveals the contrasting personality traits of the Sabra plant by juxtaposing the "softer" flowering side against the "harder" thorny spines. It would be impossible, I think, to depict in a photograph the plant's inner sweetness, so portraying it as it flowers is the best approximation. Over the years, I have become addicted to using back light – light which shines from the rear of the subject toward the camera – because of how beautifully it enhances the color and texture of flower petals. I brought this image home following a mid-August hike last summer near Beit Shemesh. I was very surprised to find anything flowering in the parched, brown hills amid the summer heat, but cactus thrives in the desert as well as the country's greener areas under some very difficult conditions. Not unlike Israelis, whether born on native soil or not.

Photo of the Week: Aug. 19, 2008

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: The world is flat, or so it would certainly appear looking through my 12-24 wide-angle, digital zoom along Israel's central coast at HaBonim Nature Reserve. And because it really is flat, or at least the part of the earth that the camera is concerned with, it takes a bit of effort to compose an image that does justice to the beauty of this stretch of rocky shoreline. The best landscapes, especially those which lack dimension, are shot from high ground to increase image depth. In this location, however, my lateral movement was restricted in order to include the many pools spread out across the foreground. The best I could do was step up onto a rock about one foot off the ground. That helped raise the horizon line a little higher above the line where the rocks meet the water, but that thin strip of sea adds substantial depth to the image. I brought home my share of crashing wave shots, but none but this shot evoked the feeling of warm summer evening, relaxing in the sand, nothing to do but watch the sun go down.

Photo of the Week: Aug. 12, 2008

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: On a midsummer's day hike lacking color and visual inspiration, I surprised myself with this photographic souvenir. After several rainless months and the accumulation of dirt and sand blown in from the desert or a closer source, much of Israel's August landscape is uninviting to the artist. Nevertheless, my professional pride pushes me to take on a challenge to find some subject of interest every time out, even if I have to resort to the abstract form as I have this week. I use the word "surprise" with total honestly because this is one of those pictures that I didn't get a feeling for while I was shooting, but discovered only when I emptied the contents of my memory card onto my hard drive. I took only two shots, another sign that I wasn't seeing well in the moment. The original is a paler version of this image, which I sharpened and added contrast, post production tasks that every image receives in some measure. In a landscape of dull browns and dusty greens, the pink berries of this unidentified tree caught my attention. The unanticipated bonus in this shot, however, are the blue, unripened berries, which, along with the green foliage, add a nice complement to the dominant pink color scheme. The shot was taken late in the day, so I was forced to use a wide aperture at ISO 400, choices I would have made in any case in order to narrow the depth of field. It used to take days before prints would come back from the lab, nearly long enough to forget what was in the bag. I guess a few hours delayed gratification is not such a bad thing.

Photo of the Week: Aug. 5, 2008

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: It only takes an instant to create a photograph, but nature took her time to form these odd-looking, sculpted rocks atop a plateau in the Negev Desert. For countless ages, rain, floods and wind have been carving these chalk and limestone formations in an ongoing process of erosion. This spot is about midway along a seven-hour hike I did on the Avdat Plateau with Chezi, my intrepid hiking partner. In this particular section, the trail skirts the top of a canyon along a rocky ridge. We arrived at mid-morning and, as can be deduced by the shadows, the sun is high and to the right of the frame. I had to crouch to reduce some of the glare, which aided the composition by bringing the top of the second rock into view and shifting the nearer rock so it could serve as a frame. Although the image is shot in high-contrast, midday light, the light is fairly even, which allows for an exposure that preserves the detail in both the clouds and the distant plateau. I can imagine this spot at lit up at sunset, though I'll probably never see it at that time of day as it's a two-hour walk to the nearest road. In my mind, more than any other landscape image, the desert defines Israel. Fully 60 percent of the country is desert. The desert in Israel blooms, and no more so than in places untouched by the hand of man.

Photo of the Week: July 29

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Staring out across the ocean into the midday sun would probably rank last on my list of choice places and times to photograph. I often find myself in the right place at the wrong time, so when that happens, I reach deep down into my bag of photographic tricks. Rosh Hanikra is a chalky cliff along the Mediterranean coast on the border between Israel and Lebanon, known for its labyrinthine grottoes carved over the years by the pounding surf. I was en route to an assignment not far from the coast and thought I'd steal an hour admiring the aquamarine water that flows through this natural wonder. Following the dark and misty maze of tunnels, I was surprised to emerge suddenly into a very short opening with a southwestern view of blue ocean expanse. The fresh air and sunshine compelled me to stop, gaze, and, of course, preserve the moment in pixels.

Actually, I shot this image on film, using my widest lens, a 20 mm Nikkor stopped down to f22 to produce the sun star, a natural optical effect of shooting with the lens at its smallest aperture. Without this tool, it's nearly impossible to shoot directly at the sun at high noon. As luck would have it, there were some pretty cumulus clouds to add interest to the sky, in particular the three directly under the sun which nicely parallel the three main rocks situated just off shore. My memory in pocket, I stepped back into the darkness and headed off to work.

Photo of the Week: July 22, 2008

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: A couple of years ago, the Jerusalem Post ran a picture of Arab children having a snowball fight. The photo stuck in my mind as a fantasy of what life in Israel ought to be like more often. I shot this photo on the beach at Achziv, a coastal park only a few kilometers south of the Lebanese border. It offers a glimpse of the carefree, whimsical side of life in the Holy Land. On a hot and lazy summer afternoon, children play and wait out the sunset without a hint of worry. All too often, images of Israel generalize life here as both a physical and political battleground. It's important to see the mundane, the ordinary, the familiar, and yes, the unencumbered moments of innocence that are still possible. To create the silhouette, you have to ratchet up your courage and point the camera directly at a bright light source, in this case, the setting sun. It's a tricky business trying to balance bright light and shadows, so I bracketed a few exposures above and below what my meter indicated. This shot emerged as the favorite, because the human forms – albeit a very tiny component of the composition – were caught in the best posture to deliver the photo's emotional impact. I've never been a conformist, so why start with the camera, especially when the results are often so fantastic!

Photo of the Week: July 15, 2008

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: One of the best ways to improve your photography skills is by studying pictures, including your own. Years ago I made a similar image of hay bales in California and hung a print on my wall. I was proud of it, enjoyed it, but most of all, I looked at it often enough to eventually see its faults and how I could have improved it. Today I instruct my students to choose one of their photos to hang in their homes, not simply to help them strengthen their identities as photographers, but also knowing that a lesson will emerge for them at some future time.

This image was taken spontaneously as I drove through Emek HaEla, about 30 minutes from my home. Agricultural scenes are not difficult to find in Israel, so this is not the kind of subject that ordinarily captivates me, because, frankly, these images remind me more of Iowa than Israel. Nevertheless, the pleasant morning light falling on the freshly baled hay compelled me to finally stop and practice my art. Because the bales are identical in color to the surrounding ground from which they were cut, lighting was crucial to make them stand out. Notice how the top and left side of the nearest bale blend in perfectly with the adjacent background. Fortunately, the sun's position to the left and behind the bales creates shadow on the front side, giving strong definition to each bale, much as a portrait photographer sculpts the face of his subject with light to emphasize facial features. The dark rectangles also form an interesting, staggered pattern that meanders through the image and injects a welcome dynamic into an inanimate and static subject. Hey, is this Iowa? No, it's the Holy Land.