Photo of the Week: April 18, 2012

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: A few years ago I hiked the Tavor Valley down from Belvoir until I was chased out by a charging mother cow (horns and all) seeking to protect a young calf hidden in tall grass in the direction I was walking. I discovered I can run very fast with my 20-kilo shoulder bag and that my heart is strong. Once I altered my course the pursuit ended, but no apologies were offered. And I didn't get any memorable photos.

This time approaching the valley from the western side on a glorious spring day, results were different. White puffies floated overhead, seemingly close enough to reach out and touch. A stiff breeze bent wheat stalks covering the hills, which remain a vibrant green until late spring when the absence of rain browns the country's northern landscape. I like this shot because the colors are strong and the treeline provides a nice contrast and separation between earth and sky.

There are moments, as on this day, when I stop, stand still and applaud. Always it's for my children or hiking companions, to show them how deeply I appreciate God's handiwork and that looking alone is not enough. And because I didn't see a single cow until dinner!

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D300, handheld, manual exposure, evaluative metering mode, f18 at 1/400th sec., ISO 400. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 12-24 super wide zoom at 12 mm. Date: April 11, 2012, 9:46 a.m. Location: Above Nahal Tavor near Kibbutz Gazit, Lower Galilee. Special thanks to our guide, Eitan Cooper, for a fabulous outing.

Photos of the Week: April 5, 2012

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: One suggestion I offer students to build their picture-taking skills is to start a collection. Find something that interests you and snap a few frames whenever you encounter it. This provides not only motivation, but also creative inspiration. As one's library of images grows, there is a natural tendency to seek new and different ways to expand the collection.

As part of my nature photography portfolio, I collect wildflowers, yet most of my shots never emerge from digital oblivion. Assembled into this montage, however, they merge into a diverse bouquet of color and form that represents the spring season in Israel.

Wishing all of Am Yisrael a chag kasher v'sameach. Happy Passover.

Photos of the Week: March 23, 2012

HOW I GOT THE SHOTS: The Mighty Jordan. Or is it the Mighty Mississippi, I forget? Muddy Mississippi? I guess the Muddy Jordan will have to do. And it was muddy. I had to dodge large raindrops as well to keep my equipment dry, shooting one-handed while holding an umbrella aloft. Weather, any kind but hot and dry, is an outdoor photographer's best friend, always adding interest to the sky and landscape and challenge to the adventure.

Standing on a narrow bridge directly over the river, I waited out the rain to catch a shot with sunlight reflecting off the water. Although it was midmorning, a time when I shun photographing, the heavy cloud cover, wet ground and rushing water combined for a unique view of Israel's most important river. I cropped the image to bring the water into the photo from the lower right corner and lead the viewer downstream.

In the lower photo, I scrambled down closer to the water and framed the scene with a patch of mustard grass, helping to define the season the photo was taken. In both photos, I waited until the sun crawled out from behind clouds to add a little sparkle to the highlights on the moving water. Israel has been blessed with ample rain this winter, but the water will surely recede and the trees retreat from midstream to their usual spot along the bank's green edge.

TECHNICAL DATA:

Upper Photo: Nikon D700, tripod mounted, manual exposure, evaluative metering mode, f22 at 1/250th sec., ISO 200. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 28-105 zoom at 38 mm. Date: Mar. 16, 2012, 10:22 a.m. Location: Jordan River crossing at Kibbutz Neot Mordechai, Israel.

Lower Photo: Nikon D700, tripod mounted, manual exposure, evaluative metering mode, f11 at 1/2000th sec., ISO 400. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 28-105 zoom at 34 mm. Date: Mar. 16, 2012, 10:32 a.m. Location: Jordan River at Kibbutz Neot Mordechai, Israel.

Photo of the Week Mar. 14, 2012

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: The skies have it. And when they do I look around for earthly elements to complement their patterns and complete the composition. The large tree seems to be conducting the cloud dance overhead and its wispy branches mimic the white streaks above. I have discovered two amazing locations in Israel where Blue Lupines grow abundantly. One is the well-known Tel Socho or Givat HaTurmusim in the Ela Valley near Beit Shemesh. The other is this lush hillside near the Galilee community of Gonen along Highway 918.

This shot presented the difficulty of merging a bright sky with an under lit foreground, meaning the separate halves of the photo had diverging exposure requirements. One of the safer rules to follow with digital cameras is always setting the proper exposure for the highlights – the brightest areas of the photo – and letting the shadow or dark areas fall out where they will. The reason for doing this is that it is often possible to add light to a dark area but much more problematic if you want to darken a highlight, especially if the area is completely white and there is no detail to recover. By using my widest-angle lens, I was able to get very close to the Lupines in the foreground and then point my camera upward to corral the big sky. By dividing the land and sky into unequal halves, I avoided the visual confusion that can result when equally-sized areas compete for the viewer's eye.

Lupines are at their peak this week across Israel. Go out and photograph them or maybe just sit and enjoy the view for an hour or two.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D200, tripod mounted, manual exposure, evaluative metering mode, f11 at 1/400th sec., ISO 400. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 12-24 wide angle zoom at 13mm. Date: Mar. 5, 2008 4:42 p.m. Location: Near Kibbutz Gonen off Route 918, northern Galilee, Israel.

Photo of the Week: Feb. 29, 2012

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: This week's photo is culled from my first visit to the Ruchama Forest in the western Negev, where I found the forest floor gloriously awash with abundant red anemones. The Ruchama Forest is one of JNF's "Scarlet South" destinations helping to promote tourism to the region. The flowers are currently at their peak and will be peddling their beauty for about another two weeks.

The spectacle merited two visits and on the second occasion I brought my 17-year-old daughter, Adina, a talented, budding photographer. After three hours, exhausted, she showed she had learned the most important lesson of all: "This is hard work, Abba," she remarked.

The Ruchama Forest is nearly not, as there are as many stumps as grown trees, mostly Eucalyptus in various states of dishevelment. Eucalyptus trees are famous for making a big mess wherever they grow, shedding both bark and, at times, massive limbs. The scene stirred an unsettled mood in me that was reflected in some of the images I shot.

See a gallery of images from the Ruchama Forest

I wanted more order and less debris, but nature has its own path. This image does three things to overcome that feeling: it captures the romantic glow of early morning, it hides the chaos by disguising the trees in near blackness and it shows off the carpet of kalaniot. The entrance to the forest is just opposite the community of Ruchama on Highway 334.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D300, tripod mounted, manual exposure, evaluative metering mode, f11 at 1/320th sec., ISO 200. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 28-105 mm zoom at 44 mm. Date: Feb. 21, 2012, 8:11 a.m. Location: Ruchama Forest, Western Negev, Israel.

Photo of the Week: Feb. 22, 2012

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: Stroll through a field of wildflowers and there are thousands of picture possibilities. How do I decide where to stop and point my camera? One approach I take is building on what I've done in the past. When I encounter a subject for the second or third time, I look for ways to capture it anew, such as this photo of a Cyclamen in its early growth stages. Cyclamen or Rakefet in Hebrew, are also known as "Solomon's Fire" because they grow like burning fire, their flame-like petals shooting upward, often clustered around rocks or at the base of trees.

If you get out early enough in the season – as in right now – you will see the cyclamen in various stages of growth in forests and fields alike. The biggest difficulty for the photographer is that they grow very low to the ground. This requires a belly-flop shot, lying prone with the base of the camera pressed against the ground, in this case in the vertical mode. It is nearly impossible from this position to see through the viewfinder, so I relied on the camera's autofocus feature to lock on the subject. With my Nikons, I can move the focus point around the frame, selecting the position where I believe the best focal point is located. Composing in the dark is more difficult. I chose an angle which presented the flower with side light and played around with its height so that the petals are framed by the darker greenery in the background.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D700, handheld, manual exposure, spot metering mode, f4.5 at 1/2000th sec., ISO 400. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 28-105 mm zoom in macro mode at 105mm. Date: Mar. 7, 2011, 8:24 a.m. Location: Ela Valley (south of Beit Shemesh), Israel.

Photo of the Week: Feb. 15, 2012

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: I feel compelled to tell this story, because it speaks so much to the challenge of living and working in Israel and how often there is more to a photograph than what meets the eye. I made this image on the Golan Heights in northern Israel about four years ago. Travelers to the Golan are familiar with warning signs marking areas where explosive mines buried in the ground may remain from the Yom Kippur war in 1973. Seeing just a single sign makes one wonder how anyone really knows which fields are safe and creates a deep sense of anxiety when going off road there, even in unmarked, presumably safe areas.

I shot this photo from a viewpoint along a secondary road. Across from where I stood was a battered, barbed wire fence strung with numerous, yellow "Danger Mines!" signs. They are not merely a bitter reminder of the past, but an ongoing obstacle to our enjoyment and utilization of the land. To get this image, I kept my feet firmly planted on the pavement. The challenge in this photo was working the composition to offset the monochromatic color display. Everything is green, albeit in different tonalities and textures that ultimately merge together quite nicely, even though the photo lacks a center of interest. More subtly, the metal fence posts that enter from the photo's bottom left corner combine with the foreground rock to lead the eye into the photo. I utilized my elevated position on an embankment to shoot down, thus capturing the different height levels to full effect as well. A nice document of early spring, Israel's most glorious season.

TECHNICAL DATA: Nikon D-200, mounted on a tripod, manual exposure, evaluative metering mode, f11 at 1/125th sec., ISO 400. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 28-70 mm zoom at 46mm. Date: Mar. 3, 2008, 7:09 a.m. Location: Golan Heights, Israel.