Photo of the Week: Jan 12, 2011

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Comparing music and photography, master landscape artist Ansel Adams noted that the photographic negative or, in today's world, the RAW digital file, is the equivalent of a musical score. Like musical notes on paper, the image exists in an unrealized form. What the photographer subsequently does with that file is analogous to a performance.

This week's image features a sight commonly seen in Israel during the Hebrew month of Shevat: the burgeoning almond blossom. My performance with this photo began before I snapped the shutter release, by choosing to employ a soft focus filter. Instinctively, I viewed this photo from the outset as delicate and light, and softening the focus seemed an ideal way to convey that feeling. I was careful to isolate the branch and new buds and line up some open blossoms in the background. This created a mottled "bokeh," the odd term used to describe how a lens renders the out of focus points of light.

The second and third movements featured a bit of added contrast and darkening the background. The final movement was the crop, which left the subject just off center. As his skills and vision develop, the photographer's performance of his negative evolves, but hopefully, will always be worthy of an encore.

Technical Data: Nikon D300, 28-105 zoom at 80 mm., f5.6 at 1/800 sec., ISO 200

Photo of the Week: Jan. 6, 2011

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: It may not be apparent, but there is one significant limitation of this photograph: it cannot convey to those who were not there when it was captured, the powerful silence and stillness of the setting. Photography already works very hard to translate our three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional canvas. When you remove other sensual elements, the results often fail to evoke what we felt when taking the picture. That's why photography is so difficult, because the best photography transcends the limitations of the media, and somehow, magically, makes us feel and sometimes see things that are not immediately present in the final print.

This week's image comes from the heart of the Judean Mountains, in a high forest between Beit Shemesh and Beit Guvrin. My hiking partner and I set out early on a trail with visibility under 10 meters. As the sun began to warm the hills, the fog thinned out and revealed the forest's form and figure. I like this shot because the trees seem to be dancing, arms outstretched and happily drinking from the wet air. I selected a trio of trees, because the imbalance of thirds, paradoxically, sews the image together. Let your soul and spirit fly, into the mystic.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-300, 28-105mm zoom at 78mm, f10 at 1/160 sec., ISO 400.

Photo of the Week: Dec. 29, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I've been writing this blog for three years and nothing gives me greater pleasure than reader feedback and receiving a hot photo tip. My cell phone rang on Oct. 12 with an ecstatic caller on the line: "Yehoshua, you have to come out here today. I've never seen a day like this before." With nothing on my calendar that afternoon, I seized the opportunity and made the 20-minute drive to P'nei Kedem in eastern Gush Etzion.

This beautiful area is on the edge of the Judean Mountains as they descend to the Dead Sea and merge with the Judean Desert. It's also right along the rain line, the zone where desert meets more temperate, wetter climate. The landscape is virtually barren of vegetation but rich in color and form variation. Unfortunately, security – often a constraint to would-be, free-roaming photographers – is a bit dicey in this region. I was stopped and interrogated by both an army patrol and local Bedouin, who must have thought me some kind of spy with my fancy cameras and tripod.

This week's photo features a view due east across the Judean Desert. The mountains at the very top of the frame are in Jordan and a small section of the Dead Sea, normally shrouded in thick haze, is visible just below them. The empty landscape left me few options for composing with a strong foreground element, so I chose this dark section of hill to give the image depth and to convey a sense of the multicolored landscape. I carefully cropped this part of the composition to form a triangle whose lower left point emerges directly from the bottom left corner of the photo, the point of strongest visual impact. Thank you, Tamar!

Technical Date: Nikon D300, 70-200 mm zoom at 160 mm, f10 @ 1/640 sec. ISO 200

Photo of the Week: Dec. 22, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Writing this blog forces me to stop and think seriously about what motivates my passion for photography. Often, my mood of the day affects how I interpret what I see in the world around me. Late fall is nature's cranky mood, what with the weather turning cold and everything in a state of slow, inevitable decay. So what better subject to reflect that feeling than a cluster of rotting grapes, once healthy and robust yet now, for some unknown reason, left clinging to the vine, neglected.

At this stage, the grapes are halfway to becoming raisins. They have lost their moisture and translucence, so finding a point of view with soft, afternoon backlighting is no longer an option. I made a 360-degree circuit around the vine to find the next-best choice for light, and chose this side-lit angle which gives a bit of sculpting to the droopy fruit. I used a macro lens to bring the subject close up and emphasize the textures.

Despite nature's apparent weariness as it slides into winter, I find spending time outdoors is always rewarding and invigorating, no matter what pictures I bring home.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-700, 28-105mm macro zoom at 105mm, f8 at 1/60 sec., ISO 320.

Photo of the Week: Dec. 15, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Winter finally rained down on Israel this week. Sensing the impending change of season, I made a final foray into fall, ahead of the storm, to a valley a few minutes walk from my back door. Fall, more than any other time of the year, brings awareness of the passage of time. I use these emotional connections to drive my creative inspiration. A photograph conceived in feeling will be, I think, more deeply felt by those who view it.

The intense cultivation of vines in the Judean Mountains has led some farmers to build elaborate trestles to maximize crop yield. At the height of summer, these fields become wide tunnels devoid of light. After the harvest, they open up to reveal pockets of sky and air, making for interesting light and photographic possibilities. To get this shot, I ducked under a large branch and pointed my camera in the direction of the sun to produce the dramatic backlighting so complimentary to all things growing. The sun was very low so I made a minute adjustment in my camera angle to create this sun star effect as the rays bend around a single leaf.

I've noted in the past how the leaves of different grape varieties turn different colors before dropping. Most vineyards in Israel feature a mixture of vines, which results in a diversity of colors come the arrival of fall. I exposed this shot so the trunk of the vine is very dark, thus giving more emphasis to the adjacent brightly lit and beautiful red and green leaves, as well as the yellow and gold of the more distant vines. Fall in Israel? Absolutely!

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-700, 28-105mm zoom at 34mm, f11 at 1/100 sec., ISO 200.

Photo of the Week: Dec. 9, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: This Chanukah has been a difficult one for Israel. Although we did receive a small amount of the rain we so desperately need, the holiday began with an unprecedented natural disaster which took 42 lives and burned half of the country's largest forest. The fire lights of Chanukah have burned brightly but bitterly this season.

After years of trying, I finally managed a visit to the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City to tour the spectacle of Chanukah's eighth night. Throughout the Rova, chanukiot burned brightly into the evening, some glass housings holding as many as 40 oil lamps.

See a gallery of 21 new Chanukah photos here

Firelight is soft and enchanting, either as a subject itself or the way it casts a golden glow on anything nearby. The flames themselves are very bright yet their light falls off quickly, making exposures somewhat complex. If there are no other light sources, everything a short distance from the subject turns black. Too much ambient light and the photo will lose its character.

I like this shot because I solved the problem of photographing only the chanukiah by adding an additional, subtle light source that fits perfectly the mood of the photo. The door moldings and window panes complement the shape of the glass case holding the oil lights. The result is a photo that is clean, simple, and quaint, much like the neighborhood where I discovered it. Though the lights have now gone dark for this holiday, may the light we cast in the world continue to grow throughout the year.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-700, 50 mm, f2.5 at 1/80 sec., ISO 2500.

Photo of the Week: Dec. 1, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Chanukah is a time of renewal. Significantly outnumbered, the Maccabees succeeded against great odds by combining strategy, devotion to God and a willingness to sacrifice themselves in their battle against both assimilation and religious persecution. They returned to rededicate the ransacked and desecrated temple with renewed faith and hope for the future.

This photograph was taken on the fourth night of Chanukah in a hotel I visited three years ago. The table had been covered with aluminum foil to facilitate the removal of wax drippings, and it created an interesting glow that warms the background. I chose the camera angle that best emphasized this interesting background light. I didn't have a tripod, so I bumped the ISO up high enough to be able to shoot handheld and used a wide aperture to blur the background as much as possible.

The lights of Chanukah remind us to renew our faith and courage to meet even the darkest challenges of our day. Chag Sameach.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-200, 18-70 mm zoom at 70mm, f4.5 at 1/80 sec., ISO 640.