Jesus

Again, actually. This time I spotted him in Akko.

The Sea of Galilee

As seen from the Golan Heights - if I remember correctly. The guy with the megaphone is a professor of mathematics who gave us a tour while we attended a conference on logic and set theory in Haifa.

The hand on the right side of the photo of course wasn't intended to be there, but immediately when I saw it on the contact sheet, I knew I liked it.

Old cars

I bought an old car last month, so I thought this would be the right moment to show a photo of two old cars I shot at the beach of Tel Aviv in August 1995.

(This is obviously the end of the NYC theme week.)

FM2, Tri-X, Rodinal.

Creeper

It's too long ago, so I forgot what I actually photographed here, but my notes say it was in Jerusalem on August 19, 1995.

The Nikon, Tri-X, Rodinal.

Sea wall

A boy walking on one of the sea walls of Akko on August 17, 1995. I like the geometrical clarity of this picture with its pronounced highlights and shadows - something that's clearly easier to achieve in the South.

Taken with the Nikon and Tri-X developed in Rodinal. This photo was scanned with a scanner that can't reach as far as the negative's border, so what you're seeing here is a border which was added digitally. The photo wasn't cropped, though.

Love

Somewhere in Haifa on August 11, 1995.

Is it OK to photograph people from behind? Some people think it isn't and are very vocal in their opposition against it. I think they are misled - either by some "code of honor" which probably originates from watching too many western movies or by their notion (which they try to impose on everybody else) that street photography is only valid if you're shooting street portraits after reaching a mutual agreement between the photographer and the subject.

If that wasn't clear already, I totally disagree. There are lots of reasons why in certain situations "shooting" people from behind is OK. And you should never have to justify how your photos were created - if you think they're good, that's fine.

Shot with the Nikon on Tri-X which I developed in Rodinal.

Tower

This photo was taken in August 1995 in Tel Aviv. And if I remember correctly it's the Shalom Meir Tower which at that time was the highest building in the Middle East but has long been surpassed by others.

The FM2 with the 50/1.8 loaded with Tri-X.

Part four

I only had the idea of a series of views out of windows after working on this blog, but it seems I started pretty early to shoot out of hotel windows. This is a view of the Old City of Jerusalem on August 18, 1995. Those obviously were the good old days when you could still smoke in hotels.

The Nikon with the 50mm lens on Tri-X.

Pillars

Somewhere in Jerusalem, I forgot the details. I only remember that I thought the girls and the pillars and the plant combined would probably form an interesting composition.

That was on August 8, 1995.  Nikon, 50mm, Tri-X.

Vamos a la playa

In 1995, I was in Israel for three weeks. While I enjoyed most of the country very much, I found the beach of Tel Aviv strangely repellent, especially the way to the beach of which I took this photo (and two others which are similar). I'm not sure anymore (I once was) whether this is one of my better pictures, but there's still a good reason to add it to this blog:

Nine years later I sold it (together with a couple of others) to an advertising agency which used it to illustrate a story for an in-house magazine of BMW. OK, the photos were chosen because I knew the graphical designer who did the magazine and I had long since given up my plans to become a pro photographer, but still I was kind of proud of this. Other photos from the same spread will follow in the next weeks.

Taken at the end of August with the Nikon and the 50/1.8, film was Tri-X developed in Agfa Rodinal.