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6X12 in Jerusalem

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Another from this Dream Project which I'm enjoying immensely. I'm selling the 1DsIII so it's back to the 5D. Not easy focusing a lensbaby at f22 with a dud eye and flare in the viewfinder. Most of all I miss the georgous tonality and DR of that 1dsIII. Oh well.

I've shot this place before, it's on these pages somewhere I think. Wasn't happy with the shot, took it off my website eventually altogether. I wasn't satisfied though, the incredible serenity of this alleyway/street just seconds away from the busiest junction in the city centre, it has to be seen to be believed. The courtyards leading off from this alleyway are fascinating for the artist and historian alike. Anyway, went back there today, I'm happy that I've captured the serenity of this scene. Interestingly I had captures during that hour with passing children, strolling cats, etc. The scene with the street empty however seemed to capture the poignant stillness that flows from this place.

Enough talking:


Olive trees overhanging a small alleyway where the famous Chief Rabbi of Israel Rav Kook lived. Pure serenity.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
OK folks, need some advice.

I've got two posts selling images on the gallery here, two pictures included in each here:
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19285
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19553

I'm thinking of putting up a third set of two prints for sale. All the pictures are in this thread as well as on my website www.timelessjewishart.com

What I want you people to do is choose the next two images for sale. Tell me what appeals to you, what you think will be popular.

I'm just a bit brain dead at present..
 

Corlan F.

Subscriber Member
Ben,
fwiw "Dancing Home in the Rain" would probably be my personal fav for a print.
Not an order yet -but really like it :)
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Three new pictures from today. All within the 'Dream Project'.

1)


Elijah Gates. I've shot these gates to the famous 4 Sephardic Synagogues of the Jewish Quarter in the past. It never really made the grade though. I found this time in passing that the bronze door had been regilded and reworked and is truly a work of art. I went for a slightly wider look and I'm quite happy with how it came out. The distortion on the lensbaby is bad, really really bad. It's uneven as well across the frame so hard to correct for. Took me a while to get it this good, after that I don't care any more! :D

2)


Tiferet Yisrael Street. Midday sun, the play of light between the arches was georgous, especially the tones on the ceiling and floor. I've let it blow very slightly in the highlights to give a more ethereal feel helped by the lensbaby's lack of coating (and resolution and contrast, etc! :D) Tourists to the right of me, tourists to the left of me, took a while to get the shot but was very glad that I did..

3)


Orange Tree. This is also a 2nd attempt. The Orange Tree in the center of the alley is well known in the Old City, next to it is a pathway which is at various points featured in 5 of my other pictures it is so photogenic. The pathway leads to what was a poorhourse built by Baron Rothschild over a century ago to tend to the needs of the poor of the Jewish quarter. It now houses some 4 elementary schools and the children all pass by this spot. This wonderful child was dancing down the steps on his way back from school, oblivious to my clicking shutter. He pirouetted around, climbed the steps again, jumped down and ended up next to the tree where he stood gazing at me in frank, open and innocent curiosity. Youth, joy and innocence in the Old City of Jerusalem, incredibly inspiring.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
A return to 6X12, only image from a day up in Tzfat (Safed), you get some days like that, nothing ever seems to work. I had my back to the Abuhav Synagogue one of the most famous ancient (500 year old) kabbalistic synagogues in Tzfat. I was taking a bit of a breather, the uneven cobbled stones of Tzfat's Old City are murder on the ankles! The entrance to the synagogue was behind me and within a school group were singing popular age old Jewish tunes within the confines of a synagogue as old as the tunes themselves. I turned and saw this view and as the sun set with the children singing 'Shalom Aleichem', 'peace be onto you', behind me, I took this photograph.


Shalom Aleichem
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
A return to 6X12, only image from a day up in Tzfat (Safed), you get some days like that, nothing ever seems to work. I had my back to the Abuhav Synagogue one of the most famous ancient (500 year old) kabbalistic synagogues in Tzfat. I was taking a bit of a breather, the uneven cobbled stones of Tzfat's Old City are murder on the ankles! The entrance to the synagogue was behind me and within a school group were singing popular age old Jewish tunes within the confines of a synagogue as old as the tunes themselves. I turned and saw this view and as the sun set with the children singing 'Shalom Aleichem', 'peace be onto you', I took this photograph.


Shalom Aleichem

The Sabbath will soon start here and I too will be in the synagogue singing the ancient song of Shalom Aleichem, welcoming in the Sabbath, the peace and serenity of a return to the day which to Jews for 3000 years has signified a break from the worries and troubles of the week. My thoughts will be with this scene and the children singing in happiness and innocence...
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Two new images.

Both part of this recent project that I did for a college for disadvantaged youths (broken homes, drug backgrounds). The college under the guidance of the famous kabbalist Rabbi Hillel works on the principle that only the very best will do for these kids and hang the cost. They recently bought some of the oldest buildings in Jerusalem for their new campus and asked me to photograph them. This particular building is small, unassuming from the outside but inside it's an Alladins cave of photographic opportunities. An old synagogue that is used by the students for private study I spent 3 hours in a building not much bigger than 80 square meters, just photographing, photographing and photographing some more.

Here are two images which although I was shooting for commercial usage, stand out to me as fine art.


The Tree of Life Synagogue


An ancient but still used Talmud in ancient but still used surroundings.

Those who will have followed this thread will notice the departure from the norm in that I've used a wide angle lens. I think it does work here however. A 50mm would have worked for the first one better IMO for a more normal perspective but I was very pressed for space. It works really well though for the 2nd picture. BTW Bob, this was your 16-35II, superb copy!
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Shneller in Jerusalem was until a year ago an army camp for the civil defense unit of the army, it's where you went to get your gas masks or to have bomb shelter plans signed off on. It also housed a large medical unit.

The main building in the campus however has two dates on it, 1856 and 1910, I'm not sure what either signify however this is a very old building. Sadly in huge disrepair and almost falling down we took our lives into our hands, literally, in climbing the rotting wooden staircases.

Shneller is off bounds to the public as it is considered a 'heritage' site but due to some wangling with the city council I managed to get in today under strict instructions that I was allowed to photograph the courtyard only and for just 10 minutes. Well the official had to leave and the security guard couldn't care less so I may have spent 3 hours there! :)

Shneller was built by the turks as an army barracks but interestingly it has a very christian feel with a bell tower and a chapel. The English took it over, again as an army base and I believe it was they who installed the intricate clock and bell ringing mechanism now long rusted in the tower.

I was working on comission for the college for disadvantaged youth who were thinking of buying the area but having looked at it, it would take some $10 million dollars just to become safe nevermind habitable, it's a huge building which a loud sneeze would bring tumbling down!

I intend to post up a series of photos from the too little time I had there but I've been shooting for the college all day till 11pm, it's now almost 2am so here is the picture I shot as an addition to my fine art project, 30 megapixel stitch with an 85mm lens.


I'll post up more when I get round to it.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Here is a gallery of images from the Schneller building, my mistake it was built as an orphanage by the Germans, hence the European architecture though it was used as an army barracks throughout the last century.

Please pardon the first 3 pics in colour, just to give an idea for what the place looks like.


http://www.studio-beni.net/Schneller/
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Some more work with the Schneller project. The idea is to make it into a huge library and museum of sorts apparently as well as a studying resource for the students. I've been shooting the colleges collection of old (some hundreds of years old) Jewish literature. They have a huge collection of handwritted manuscripts and books which have been bound for protection. Here are just a few of their book collections, the images to be used for inclusion into a prospectus to be presented to the City Hall.

http://www.studio-beni.net/Libraries/

Interestingly I was shooting this image horizontally when I had the idea of making a modern parody of Jack Flesher's 'Manager's Office' image that I have now hanging over my desk, flipped the camera over and shot this:

 

tom in mpls

Active member
Ben, perhaps you have addressed this but I am wondering about the issue of photographing the ultraorthodox. I thought that they object to having their photos taken, or am I mistaken?
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Hi,

It helps that I'm an Orthodox Jew myself and my mode of dress is not dissimilar (white shirt, dark trousers) . I also keep out of 'trouble areas', specifically the inner areas of the Meah Shearim neighbourhood of Jerusalem where even a small amount of disturbance can turn into full scale protests.

I use a remote for the camera so that I usually set up and then sit a couple of yards away apparently looking in another direction but with the remote in my hand. Has worked wonders!

In general though, the main problems are within the chassidic community and it a matter of obsessive privacy rather than any religious basis of which there is none (no reason not to photograph men at least). Heck they don't like anyone but their own walking down the streets nevermind photographing there and have signs up to that effect! Photographing women within those communities however will cause a lot of trouble. Thankfully the photography of children does not have the idiotic connetations it does in the UK and US.

In general as in most places, be respectful, don't be obvious, don't stand out and know where you are going, a matter of one street's distance can make all the difference.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
My cousin teaches in a college next to the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. I was there visiting him last week and on the way passed through the square of the Baatei Machsei building built by Baron Rothschild over a century ago (now a elementary school) whose entrance and arches I have photographed and are included in my collection. I must have walked through that courtyard a hundred times or more but never seen this small alleyway leading off it to the right but this time it leapt out at me and I promised to return with my camera. I went back today and this is what I got. Breaks almost every compositional rule but works for me...

 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
I met up with Asher Kelman the owner of the OPF forums many months ago and we wandered through the alleyways of Nachlaot, an incredible area and one of the oldest in modern Jerusalem. As we passed by an alley he darted away and pointed towards this archway. I had to admit to having ignored it but he pursuaded me of its photographic potential (was I blind?). I took a few shots there but nothing to write home about but when I got home and saw the potential that had been there I promised to return. Well it's been far too long but after talking pano techniques until 2am last night I was pursuaded by a cheeky friend that sleep was far overrated and I should get up early to finally do this picture. I slept just 1.5 hours once I finally got to bed and rising traveled to Nachlaot so that I'd be there at the exact same time that I'd been there all those months ago.

This is the result, just as I've imagined it all this time. The 3rd shot I took and although I remained a further half hour, I knew in my heart that I'd nailed it just minutes after setting up as this old man hobbled painfully down that road from his morning prayers. I was there with him at every painful step, I know it only too well, I hope his determination will be mine too as things get tougher...

 
K

kristoferjohn

Guest
Very nice Picture,Lighting is well,your photo quality is also good.Which camera and lance you used?
Thanks for sharing these photographs.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Just realised that last picture was linked to a different version of the pic, should be fixed now.

Hi Kristofer, assuming you mean the last picture it's a 5Dc with a lensbaby composer.
 
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