Neve Zedek Window

I haven't had too much time for photography the past few months but for the sake of both my muse and my sanity it's high time to MAKE the time, so yesterday when I found myself with a few hours free I grabbed my camera and my car keys and headed into Tel Aviv for a walk around one of my very favorite neighborhoods. Neve Zedek is a study in contradictions - old and decrepit, new and gentrified beyond the price range of mere mortals, sparkling new residential towers full of glass and curved lines (which would look fabulous in a more modern neighborhood but are sinfully out of place in this one).

Here's a glimpse of the older side of the neighborhood - look fast, it probably won't last much longer...

On a return to normalcy

There was a bit of a war here the other week. You might have heard something about it. What you didn't hear was anything about it on my blog. I was obsessively watching the news, checking Facebook, posting all sorts of links, articles and updates on my own Facebook page, and trying to actually get some work done with one ear half-cocked to listen for the sirens. Blogging pretty photos just didn't seem to fit into the picture.

The thing is, the war didn't exactly reach my city. Just a few miles outside of Tel Aviv, we were close enough to hear the boom of the Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries as their missiles did their job to stop the deadly Hamas rockets from getting through, but far enough away that the sirens didn't reach us. While hundreds of thousands of people in the south sat in bomb shelters, while my husband and son had to stand by the side of the road when the sirens went off in Tel Aviv (yes, they should have laid down, they didn't), life here in our little bubble went on. Kids had school, after-school activities were still on (don't mind the booms, kids, that's just the Iron Dome and it's far away, at least 8 or 10 miles from here...), I was still expected to produce respectable deliverables for my job, but at the same time it became all-consuming. The war hadn't come this close before, and it was a week of wondering if the next red alert notification on the radio would be for us. If the whine of the jet engines from the planes temporarily rerouted to the north (and straight over my house) was just that, or was it the first whine of a siren.

It's been nearly a week since it ended now, and the ceasefire appears to be holding, and life has returned to what passes for normal in this little corner of the world.

And it finally feels right to begin blogging again, adding my own little bit of normalcy back into the equation with this image of a still proudly standing Tel Aviv. Still here, still thriving, still full of life.

Purim, Tel Aviv Style

Last Saturday we took advantage of the beautiful weather to go for a walk along the beach in Tel Aviv. The water was filled with kite surfers zipping back and forth, and sometimes straight up -

And of course it was Purim weekend, a time when you need to expect the unexpected, so...

You didn't know that Superman was a kite surfer, did you?

Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what other people aren't saying this week, and Wordful Wednesday to see what they are. Oh, and with a quick albeit belated backtrack to Ruby Tuesday 2 as well. Better late than never. At least it's red.

.

Flying South at Sunset

It's been a while since I've participated in Skywatch. It's good to be back.

Flock of birds heading south as the sun set over the Tel Aviv beach.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography on Etsy and Society6 and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in one of my shops yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

The daring young man on the... tightrope?

You really never know quite what you're going to find in Tel Aviv. Over Hannukah, it was Hagay, a self-taught tightrope walker. Silly me, I never even knew there was a tightrope on the beach, let alone anyone who knew how to use it. When I first spotted Hagay I was careful to stay quite far back, afraid to break his concentration, but the moment he was there he beckoned me closer - and started instructing me on what camera settings I should be using to capture the distortion of the "windmill" effect that you see on his arms as he quickly rocked back and forth. It was rapidly getting dark so I had to go pretty low but all in all I think they turned out pretty well. (I'm not sure what if anything Hagay thinks. I e-mailed him a few photos but never heard back...)

 

 

I haven't seen a Ruby Tuesday post for this week yet, but if there is one I'm all set, since Hagay was oh so thoughtfully wearing this bright red shirt ;).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography on Etsy and Society6 and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in one of my shops yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Charlie Brown Bokeh

For obvious reasons Israel really doesn't get into the whole Christmas decorations thing, which makes it challenging to take the kind of stunning holiday bokeh images you see all over the internet this time of year. One very small exception is our favorite beachfront bar. Since they cater to a lot of tourists they do decorate for the holidays, if you call a tiny Charlie Brown Christmas tree and a few LED lights decorating. Still, one does what one can, right?

And with that, I give you "Charlie Brown Bokeh" - a few glowy lights from one of the sadder looking trees I've seen. Buy hey, they are colorful.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography on Etsy and Society6 and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in one of my shops yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Sunday Snippets and Writing on Walls

I love shooting street art and graffiti, so when I heard about Cheryl's Writing on Walls meme I knew it was going to be right up my alley. For my first week I offer this segment of the wall outside famed muralist Rami Meiri's Tel Aviv property (click here to see more of this amazing wall). I love the way all of the artists overlap and work within and in combination with each other to create a giant collaborative riot of color.

And now for the snippets...

• Maya spent most of the week home sick so other than too much tv watching and a lot of snuggles on the couch not much got done
• She was finally feeling better yesterday so we spent the afternoon wandering around the flea market in Jaffa (long on character, short on quality), eating ice cream, and then walking down the beachfront promenade to our favorite Tel Aviv beach bar.
• It was happy hour.
• We love happy hour.
• There was also a baby's birthday party going on. A bar, even a family-friendly one, seems like a strange location for a baby's party but hey, the food and drinks are good so why not.
• After all, we go there with our kids too, and have since they were babies themselves.
• While in Jaffa we came across a ridiculously large flock of pigeons.
• They looked quite sneaky.
• I think this is why...

So what's on your snippet list this week?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography on Etsy and Society6 and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in one of my shops yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Graffiti Wall - South Tel Aviv

Section of a long wall in South Tel Aviv utterly filled with brightly-colored graffiti. Looking at the mailbox and surroundings I have a feeling the house inside is owned by renowned street mural artist Rami Meiri, but I wasn't able to confirm that.

Click here to see more Ruby Tuesday images from around the world.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography on Etsy and Society6 and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in one of my shops yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors - Inaugural Edition

How fun - Toby from I Wish I Were a Photographer really missed Mary's old Window Views meme, so she decided to start a new one of her own. Today marks the debut of her new Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors - come play along!

And hey look, I've been wordful this week too - happily this photo can do double duty for both Whimsical Windows and Wordful Wednesday :).

Here's my first contribution, a pair of old windows in Tel Aviv's historic Neve Zedek neighborhood.

I'd have loved a slightly wider shot showing more of the surrounding building but the street was so narrow that this is the best I could do. It's full of character though, which is what drew me to it in the first place.

I'm off to go link up now. Why don't you come along and join us?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography on Etsy and Society6 and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in one of my shops yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Where old bicycles go to die

.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography on Etsy and Society6 and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in one of my shops yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Take me to your leader!

.

A whimsical offering for this week's Ruby Tuesday. I saw this a while back at Tel Aviv's Hatikva Market and it reminded me of a funny little alien demanding assistance (perhaps asking to get the darn knives out of his eyes already?).
.

Click here to purchase this image as a large-format print, canvas, or heck, even an iPod skin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography on Etsy and Society6 and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in one of my shops yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

A matter of perspective

Star of David, a breathtaking piece by Czech glass artist Vaclav Cigler currently on display at the Litvak Gallery in Tel Aviv, is remarkable in the way it draws the viewer in. The tiniest change in the viewer's position, in this case just an inch shift, and their (my) experience of the piece changes entirely.

 

Visit Wordless Wednesday to see what people aren't saying this week, and Wordful Wednesday, where most of the people will be talking about Halloween, but not me since Halloween isn't celebrated here in Israel, so you'll have to make do with artsy-fartsy stuff instead ;).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Messenger

.

Closeup of a section of Stepan Pala's Messenger, on display at Tel Aviv's Litvak Gallery.

And on the subject of messengers, let me add my fervent wishes to those spreading throughout the country right now that the messengers are correct, that Gilad will soon be back home in the loving arms of his family. It's been far, far too long already.

Through the Rainbow at the Litvak Gallery

.

 

What do you see through the rainbow? Tall ships? A cityscape? Africa? Something else entirely?

This image is actually the rainbow-colored reflection on the wall of a glass sculpture entitled Memorial Meeting by the groundbreaking Czech glass artist Vladimir Kopecky and is part of Freedom to Create: Beyond the Glass Curtain, an incredible exhibition featuring the work of 15 of the Czech Republic's best-known glass artists on display right now at Tel Aviv's Litvak Gallery. I was lucky enough to be able to spend the morning wandering the exhibit, camera in hand. This reflection is just a teaser - over the coming days I'll be featuring images from this stunning exhibition so be sure to check back often.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more reds (and yellows and greens and blues and all the hues of the rainbow) from around the world.

.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Reuse and Resist - Street Art in Tel Aviv

.

Spotted last week near Tel Aviv's Nachalat Binyamin crafts market...

If you look carefully, you'll see that that bright red writing also includes a link to the Reuse and Resist website. Have a look, they've got a good message to get out about the power of art in public spaces.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.

Of times gone by

Wrought Iron Bannister, Neve Zedek, Tel Aviv

Click here to purchase this photograph from Around the Island Photography.

What do cocktails, Chihuly and hotels have in common?

.

One of Dale Chihuly's stunning Ikebana, on exhibit at Tel Aviv's Litvak Gallery

.
What a fantastic weekend! Thursday morning I ran off to Tel Aviv with 8 of my very best friends for our annual girlfriends getaway - 2 days and a night in the big city doing Grownup Stuff - art museums, art galleries, trendy restaurants, cocktails, shopping, and lots and LOTS of laughter. We didn't even let the weekend's truly atrocious weather slow us down much (though it did keep me from breaking out the camera as often as I'd hoped).

We set the tone for the weekend during a visit to a photography exhibit at the Tel Aviv Art Museum when we started making up pseudo-intellectual commentary on the Very Important (but oh so uninteresting) Photographs. By the time we were done there was nothing to do but order fancy cocktails with lunch and laugh ourselves silly.

On the better received end of the artsy part of our weekend, the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Litvak Gallery next door to the museum was every bit as spectacular as anticipated, and the artist feature at the restaurant we chose for lunch turned out to be the very current and oh so fun David Gertstein - the whole restaurant was full of his colorful and whimsical pieces.

That pretty much concluded the high culture portion of the getaway, after that it was pure silliness, just the thing for letting go of all the strife and stress of day to day life.

We had such a great time at this year's getaway in fact that we've already started planning next year's - Zichron Yaakov, here we come!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My photography is available for purchase - visit Around the Island Photography and bring home something beautiful today!

.

If the photo you're wishing for is something you've seen here on the blog which isn't in my etsy shop yet just let me know and I'll happily list it for you.

.