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.
　

Photo of the Week: Oct. 15, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I admit it: I remain a sucker for sunsets. And sunrises, when I can beat dawn out the door. Observing the spectacle of changing light and color – especially in the mysterious world of heaven above – makes me pause and marvel at creation. Yet these break of day/end of day shots can often disappoint because we witness them as a process. Although I strive for the absolute peak moment in every shot, extracting but an instant in time from a glorious sky show frequently leaves me unfulfilled. Now I cannot imagine watching a videotape of a sunrise as a way to relive the complete experience, but it does help when we return later to look at the photograph, to complement our visual memory with a bit of introspection prompted by the moment.

This is a winter sunrise near Eilat, looking east over the Eilat Mountains and Jordan. The light show is adorned with a sliver of waning moon in the upper right hand corner. To keep the colors at their richest, it is important to set the exposure for the sky, which means the mountains, with no light hitting them from the direction of the camera, will turn to silhouette. I kept the mountains in the image to a minimum, because they are so easily identifiable as mountains and because their jagged summits add further drama to the wispy clouds catching the first light of day. May we awaken each day to the beauty and blessings that surround us.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-300, 18-200 zoom at 31mm, f11 at 1/60 sec., ISO 400.

Photos of the Week: Sept 28, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOTS: The holidays of Tishrei come to a dancing conclusion this week with the Shemini Atzeret-Simchat Torah doubleheader which begins Wednesday at sundown. In Israel, the holidays occur simultaneously following the final day of Sukkot. Joyful and passionate singing and dancing with the Torah mark the conclusion of the annual reading of the entire five books of the Torah and our return to the first chapter of Genesis to start the cycle anew.

This week's photographs are taken from a celebration to dedicate a newly written Sefer Torah, held last year in Jerusalem. The ceremony began with members of the family which sponsored the writing completing the last verse of the Torah, with the aid of a scribe. Afterward, the new Torah and several others were paraded through the streets to the accompaniment of music and frenzied dancing. At the conclusion of the parade, the Torah was brought back into the synagogue where it will be used and placed for the first time in the Aron Kodesh.

The first image is a close up of the sofer as he puts the finishing touch on one of the letters of the final verse. The lower image captures much of the energy and excitement generated by the ecstatic participants. It is also a an excellent illustration of how a Torah dedication is always an event celebrated by the entire community, as this photo features both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Torahs, soldiers, and numerous individuals of varying religious custom all joining the celebration. Chag Sameach!

TECHNICAL DATA: Upper Photo: Nikon D-300, 18-200 zoom at 112mm, f6.3 at 1/125 sec., ISO 400. Lower Photo: Nikon D-300, 18-200 zoom at 22mm, f5 at 1/160 sec., ISO 400.

Photo of the Week: Sept. 22, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOTS: Wandering around Jerusalem during Sukkot, it's hard not to admire the handiwork of the city's more creative residents. The quaint and always immaculate neighborhood of Yemin Moshe – where I found this inviting Sukkah, - is a visual feast throughout the year and a place I love to take students during a workshop. Perched atop a home overlooking the old city, the rooftop sukkah blends beautifully with the building and its setting. I'd like to beg an invite from the owner to quaff a glass of chilled lemonade and shake the lulav.

I've added to the main image three other shots which give a taste of how Jerusalem's character transforms during the seven-day festival. The obligation to erect and dwell in the sukkah is incumbent on all Jews, no matter how small one's balcony. Some very imaginative efforts, and some not so unusual, emerge from a few hours of hammering and drilling that are as much a part of the season as the cool fall air.

Photographically, these images are not very challenging, other than trying to keep perspective while pointing the camera up high while standing close to the buildings. This causes convergence distortion, seen by the vertical lines converging toward the center of the photo, a result of the upward angle of the camera and lens curvature. There are special architectural lenses which can correct this optical phenomenon in camera or one can make a perspective change in Photoshop. Sukkot is our "zman simchateinu," the season of our joy. May we all merit to be joyful and blessed for the entire new year.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-300, 18-200 zoom at 44mm, f14 at 1/400 sec., ISO 400.

Photo of the Week: Sept. 8, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: One of the benefits of being a student of photography is that my powers of observation have grown and serve me better all the time, even when I'm not holding a camera. When I made aliya,I reaped another benefit: a pomegranate tree in the front yard of our home. For years, I watched in amazement as the tree moved through its growth cycle, from bare branches to buds, to flowering and ripening of the fruits to the leaves turning yellow and falling to the ground.

This week's photo features an exceptional pomegranate grown in the Judean Mountains, in Efrat, where I live. Following a brief fall rain shower, I stepped outside to inspect the tree, and found this robust specimen, covered with raindrops. Two weeks later, I harvested it, and it adorned our Rosh Hashanah table as one of the simanim, the symbols of blessing for the new year.

The fruit is round, and virtually every camera angle creates this profile view, which works well with the sharp points of the crown. I chose this point of view to take advantage of both the two leaves which drop in front of the upper part of the fruit, and which give depth to the photo, and the background foliage, which contrasts nicely with the red fruit.

We eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah because they symbolize our hope that our good deeds in the new year will be as numerous as the seeds of the fruit. May all of Israel be blessed with a year of peace, prosperity, laughter and love.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-70, 28-105 zoom at 70mm, f8 at 1/250 sec., ISO 400.

Photo of the Week: Sept. 2, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I've taken thousands of prayer-related photographs. Most of these images were taken during a prayer service, with a focus on the person praying and the various ritual objects as they are being used. These pictures make us think more about the person engaged in prayer than any other aspect of the photo. By contrast, this image features a familiar subject, a tallit or prayer shawl, found exactly as seen here on a shelf in a coat room of the enormous Slonim Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

This still-life study of a tallit begs the questions, why is it here and to whom does it belong? As long as we have a previous relationship to this or a similar object, we can begin the journey of imagination that accompanies the visual experience. Both motivated my decision to stop and take the picture in the first place.

I used my zoom lens to capture the tallit up close using only the beautiful light pouring over the tzitzit from a nearby window. The composition is strengthened by the two single strings which fall through the center of the entwined fringes. Finally, because I was shooting at close range, depth of field was limited and I had to make a careful choice about where to focus. I chose the point where the tzitzit and loose strings meet, which felt like the most obvious visual center point of the photograph.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-300, 18-200 zoom at 150mm, f5.6 at 1/50 sec., ISO 1000.