What to Photograph in Israel

I have recently been invited to visit and experience Israel by a non-profit, non-political and non-religious organization called “Vibe Israel“, which gathered four influential photographers from all over the world to come together to a week-long event, during which we were given a tour of the country and what it has to offer. I have been wanting to visit Israel for many years now, so when folks from Vibe Israel contacted me and explained what the organization and the tour were all about, I told them that I would love to be a part of it. I knew that it was going to be an amazing experience being in the company of three other talented photographers, taking pictures of some of the most ancient and historic places in the world. Having previously been to the region (I have previously visited the neighboring Jordan several times in the past few years, check out my article on photographing Jordan), I was aware of what to expect, but I also understood that there was much new to see. And I knew for sure that a week in Israel would not be enough, especially considering how packed the tour schedule was going to be. Therefore, I decided to stay for an extra week by myself in Israel and experience it firsthand – something I really enjoy doing when traveling overseas. In this article, I would like to give you a tour of what I have experienced in Israel through pictures and hopefully inspire you to visit this beautiful country and the region.

Since it was a tour for photographers, the whole week was carefully planned to show us some of the most photogenic locations of the country. We started off from the ancient city of Jerusalem, after which we were taken to the desert for a model shoot, followed by a diving experience with dolphins in Eilat and the last few days were finally spent sightseeing Tel Aviv. It was an amazing experience and a privilege to meet some of the most talented and inspirational photographers I have met to date (I will be featuring these photographers at PL soon). I decided to spend most of my second week in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and on the last days of my visit, I was also able to meet some of our readers in Israel, which was great.

Please note that this article is written by a photographer, for photographers. It has no political, religious, social, ethnic or other agendas attached to it. The media is already full of political commentary regarding the Middle East and therefore, I ask our readers to refrain from discussing politics or religion in the comments section. In fact, to avoid such discussions, I will be removing any abusive or provocative comments. This is a photography website, so I ask that we all stick to photography and remain civil in discussions with one another.

It is important to point out that despite spending two weeks in Israel, I only had limited experience with photographing the country. There is a lot more to see and photograph in the region. Also, I did not want to limit my experience just to Israel, so I spent a few days in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank as well, with images mostly limited to Bethlehem.

1) Safety and Security

Considering everything you see in the media regarding Israel and its surrounding neighboring countries, one might get an impression that it is a very unsafe place to travel to. After visiting Israel, I can confidently say that it is far from the truth – Israel is a very safe country to visit, especially if you are going to stick to popular tourist spots. Israel takes its security very seriously and it all starts from the airports where planes directly fly into Israel.

No matter what airline you will be using to fly into Israel, you will be going through your first layer of security at the departing airport. Once you go through general security, you will be required to go to a specific area of the airport that is closed off and reserved for planes departing to Israel. At this point, expect all your belongings to be thoroughly inspected (I was required to demonstrate that each electronic device properly functions and each lens I carried with me was indeed a lens) and expect each part of your body to be scanned by a special device by security personnel.

The second layer of security takes place once you arrive to Israel. You will be thoroughly interviewed by airport security at passport control. They will ask about the purpose of your visit, where you are going, where you will be staying and if they do not like anything, be ready to go through a long interrogation process. Thankfully, I was coming from the USA and I was being escorted by a VIP service, so my questioning was very minimal and I was out of the airport in less than 30 minutes. If you fly domestically, or you cross any security checkpoints, you might get interviewed again before you are allowed to board a flight or get back into Israel.

In addition to all the security checks, expect to see a lot of IDF military personnel on the streets. They are literally everywhere! Since Israel enforces mandatory service / conscription for most of its young population, you will be seeing a lot of people in uniforms. In addition, don’t be surprised to see Israelis with weapons dressed in civilian clothing – turns out even those who are taking a break are required to carry their arms at all times. The presence of military varies by region and you will find more military personnel in areas with higher potential for conflict. This was especially true in Jerusalem, where there is a big presence of the military. You might also witness frequent ground movement of military transport vehicles and occasional helicopter and jet flights by the Israeli air force.

Personally, I have never experienced such elevated state of security anywhere else in the world. Like I said, Israel takes its security very seriously…

Despite what I heard from other people, I also found West Bank to be a safe place to visit and photograph. I walked on the streets of Palestinian-controlled Bethlehem alongside many tourists from Europe and Asia, and even had a chance to spend some time in a home of a Palestinian family. As long as you take a taxi from Israel into Palestine (with Israeli license plate), you might not even be questioned when crossing borders / security checkpoints.

2) Population and Religion

With a population of over 8.5 million, Israel is predominantly Jewish (over 75%), followed by Arabs (20.6%) and minority groups comprising the rest of the population. Judaism obviously dominates in Israel, with roughly the same percentage as the Jewish population, although those are officially published numbers that do not necessarily reflect the reality, as I found many Jewish people not following any religion (especially in secular Tel Aviv). According to other sources, roughly 44% of the Jewish population identifies itself as secular, with only 20% being religious and Ultra-Orthodox. Although Arabs are the second largest ethnic group in Israel, they do not represent a single religion – roughly 17.5% are Muslims and the rest are equally divided between Arab Christians and Druzes. As with any other country, there are other smaller religious groups and sects present in the country, but their numbers are comparably low.

I also found it interesting that there is a very large population of Russian-speaking people in Israel. It turns out that there are over 1.2 million Russian Jews and non-Jews who emigrated from the USSR and post-Soviet states. In some places in Tel Aviv, it felt like I was walking in Russia, with streets full of Russian stores, restaurants and bars filled with Russian-speaking people. Even in Jerusalem I could hear Russian all over the place – a lot of the people we met during the tour ended up being immigrants from Russia or post-Soviet republics.

3) Camera Equipment

Due to limitations of carry-on luggage on domestic flights (which I knew that we would have to take from Eilat to Tel Aviv), I decided to bring along one camera and a set of lenses. Since I am in the process of reviewing the Fuji GFX 50S, I thought it would be a good idea to bring the camera along, since it is as light as my Nikon D810. Along with the camera, I brought the three announced lenses, the Fuji GF 32-64mm f/4, GF 63mm f/2.8 and GF 120mm f/4 OIS Macro, in addition to my laptop and a few accessories and adapters to make my camera bag as light as possible. As you can see from the images presented in this article, pretty much all the images were captured using the GFX 50S and the native GF lenses.

Without further ado, let’s get started with the tour! Since our journey started in the ancient city of Jerusalem, that’s where I am going to start from. Please select the next page below.

4) Jerusalem

We started our tour in the ancient city of Jerusalem and for a good reason – it is an absolutely stunning place to visit and photograph. Only about an hour away from the Ben Gurion International Airport, Jerusalem is very easy to get to from Tel Aviv by taxi or bus. Although I was quite a bit tired from my long flight from Denver to Munich and then from Munich to Tel Aviv, I could feel the magic of the city as we were getting into it and could not wait to start exploring it. With its ancient structures, old buildings and rich history dating back thousands of years, I knew Jerusalem was what I came to Israel for. In fact, I fell so much in love with Jerusalem, that I dedicated most of my second week in Israel to it, coming back as soon as the Vibe Israel tour was over.

After having a great group dinner at a local restaurant, everyone felt tired and went to sleep, since the next day was going to be packed with the tour of the Old City. My body clock was completely messed up, so after sleeping for a couple of hours the first night, I was up bright and early. When I looked through the hotel window around 5:30 AM, I realized that Jerusalem was still sleeping – not a single soul was on the streets. I mounted the GF 63mm f/2.8 on my GFX 50S and with a fully charged battery, went out shooting.

The streets were indeed completely empty! Aside from a couple of cars here and there, it was dead silent all around me, giving it a very calm, almost eerie feel. Everything stayed pretty calm even as the sun rose at around 6 AM, giving me an opportunity to photograph some of the old streets in warm morning light. Between the streets I found some interesting textures and graffiti to photograph:

And there were a lot of colorful doors all around as well:

As I kept on going, some cars and motorcycles started appearing on the streets, giving me an opportunity to try out some interesting shots with some motion:

Before my trip to Israel, I did not have an opportunity to shoot the GFX 50S for anything serious, so this was the first time I had the real opportunity to play with the camera. Just like all other Fuji cameras, the GFX 50S turned out to be a very intuitive camera to use, so I was able to get going with it pretty quickly.

The morning light was beautiful, so I took every opportunity to shoot anything interesting I could find, including old walls, textures and wall art:

And as I was moving along, two Palestinians hopped off a bus, probably hurrying towards their workplace. Since it was so empty all around and I was the only guy around, they turned towards me and smiled. I asked for a photo and they happily agreed, posing for the below shot:

As you can see, it was a pretty chilly morning. I was glad that I brought a warm jacket with me, since it was also slightly windy, making it feel very cold. It turns out that despite being only one hour away from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem has a very different climate – it is typically colder and not as humid in comparison.

It was a wonderful experience walking on the streets of Jerusalem by myself. I did not feel scared or threatened by anything and the peaceful environment around me really calmed me down. As I was walking back towards the hotel where we were staying at, the city began to awake and more people started to appear on the streets. The below Ultra-Orthodox Jew moved a bit to the left of the bus stop, since there was another female with her children there. I turned towards him and took the below photo from the other side of the street:

As I have previously pointed out, the population of Russian-speaking people is very high in Israel and also specifically in Jerusalem – you can see that the Shoe Maker sign is written in Hebrew, Russian and English, and those are the three most common languages spoken on the Jewish side of Jerusalem.

Moving along, I spotted a street with bright morning light shining right into it. At the end of the street, I saw a man walking towards me. I turned the camera on, focused on one of the trees to the right of the street, stopped down the lens to f/8 for more depth of field and waited for the moment. As the man walked right into the light, he looked down on the ground, since the light was too harsh for his eyes. As he started to pass the area of the scene where I pre-focused, I took the picture:

The Fuji GFX 50S is a wonderful camera, but its autofocus is contrast-detect only, which can be pretty slow at times. For this reason, I quickly found out that if I wanted to get a moving subject perfectly in focus, I had to pre-focus and wait for the subject to enter the focused area.

Similar to other countries in the Middle East, Israel has a pretty healthy population of feral cats. Although the Israeli government tries to control the population of cats on the streets by neutering or spaying them, I found plenty of cats waiting to be fed all around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The below kitty approached me as soon as I stopped on one of the street corners, probably waiting for me to give some food:

And here is another picture of a street cat that fell asleep under a big cat graffiti:

It was time to get back to the hotel at this point, since I was getting hungry and I knew that we had a long day ahead. But I was happy that just an hour or so of walk in the morning let me capture a number of shots I was already happy with – definitely a good start!

After having a fine Turkish-style breakfast at the hotel, our group got together and headed off towards the Old City. On our way, we passed along Mamilla Mall, where we occasionally stopped and photographed some of the buildings, including the below Stern House:

There were also luxurious homes along the way, with beautiful facades and archways:

The streets were busy with life – lots of young people and children were hanging out on the main streets of Jerusalem:

I found Jerusalem to be fascinating in many ways, especially when it comes to its people. So each time I walked in the city, my camera was always in my hands, ready to take a picture. Finding interesting subjects is not a problem in Jerusalem – you will come across many people with different backgrounds, ethnic groups and religions:

Despite the fact that Jerusalem is a much more religious city than Tel Aviv, there are many secular Jews living in Jerusalem as well. I photographed the below young couple who were walking towards me, with the guy passionately explaining something to his girlfriend:

And the nicely dressed lady below was walking towards her parked car after shopping at a local store:

Some of the streets of Jerusalem are very colorful and worth exploring. Juan Jerez, an inspiring photographer from Paris who I immediately became friends with (what an amazing guy!) decided to join me for a walk in the afternoon, so we decided to hit the streets. We found a very colorful alley and decided to wait for some people to show up. Although it was not a very active street, we eventually got some people to capture:

Generally, photographing people in Israel is not a problem, especially if you ask them first. There are, however, some exceptions – I quickly found out that the Ultra-Orthodox Jews do not like to be photographed. In fact, as soon as they would see me raise the camera, they would either cover their faces, or walk in a different direction. I did not get in trouble for this, but it was pretty clear that they preferred to be left alone and not photographed. I am sure there is a religious reason for it, since I found it to be a pattern among this particular religious group. While I tried to approach some of them, either my camera or the language were a problem. For this reason, my two methods to photograph them was the “hit and run” photography, where I would either take a quick shot and move along, or lower the camera to my chest level with the LCD tilted up towards me and pretending like I was looking at the camera. The latter method proved to be the most fruitful, since the GFX 50S does not have a fast AF system for those quick snapshots and looking at the LCD and slowing down allowed me to frame my shots much better.

This is where tilting LCD screens come really handy! While I love my Nikon D810, I often end up using my Nikon D750 for its tilting LCD screen. Kudos to Fujifilm for including this feature on a medium format camera. I wish all manufacturers started using tilting LCD screens on every camera, since it is a must-have for street photography. If Fuji can do it on a high-end medium format camera, everyone else should be able to do it too! A tilting screen does not diminish build quality or weather sealing of a camera – those are just myths and excuses.

Thanks to the chest-level shooting, I was able to capture a number of shots of locals, who had no idea what I was doing:

Sometimes after standing and photographing them for a while they would turn towards me and look, but I would keep the camera moving towards another direction, pretending like I was filming something else.

5) Mahane Yehuda Market

The Mahane Yehuda Market, also known as “The Shuk” (from Arabic word “Souk”, which stands for “market”) is the place to go if you are interested in photographing a busy market with a lot of action taking place throughout the day. Aside from opportunities to take pictures of busy merchants selling all kinds of foods and goods, you also have the opportunity to grab a bite in a local restaurant. And since everything is so busy around you with lots of people passing by, keeping your camera handy at all times might be a good idea.

As you walk around, you will see many opportunities for photographing people. Just be sure that your camera gear is fast enough to capture the action, since nobody is going to stop and pose for you. The Fuji GFX 50S was not a very fast camera for the market, but I took the opportunity to slow down and shoot selectively, which worked out fairly well. In one case, I came across an older couple who were hanging out by a restaurant table. I raised the camera and took a picture and they both gave me this fierce look:

After taking the picture I thanked them and they did not seem to mind, probably thinking “damn tourist!”.

Now if you really want to take pictures of patient folks who are used to being photographed all the time, come to the Iraqi area of the market, where Iraqi Jews hang out and play backgammon. Here, my recommendation would be to take your time, relax and wait for action. Action does happen for sure in this area, especially once the game intensifies, creating reaction from the surrounding observers. Backgammon battles are fun to watch and photograph, but don’t forget your surroundings – other Jews who are not playing often just sit here to chat with each other and wait for their turns. In my case, since I was with the group and there were a number of us photographing the game, I decided to focus on the Iraqi Jews hanging out on the side:

They were very friendly and they kept on conversing despite me standing there and taking their pictures.

6) Memorial and Independence Days

If you are lucky to be in Israel during its Memorial and Independence Days (which vary each year according to Hebrew calendar), you can witness great opportunities for photography. On Memorial day, the siren goes off for a minute in the evening at 8 PM. If you have never seen what happens, it is definitely worth checking it out, especially on a busy street or highway. Basically, everyone freezes in remembrance of the fallen soldiers. Everything stops and all the moving cars stop, no matter how busy the road is. People get out of cars, trolleys, buses and buildings and stand still until the siren stops. Since it was already rather dark after sunset on the Memorial day, I decided to photograph the siren the following day at 11 AM, which lasts twice longer (a total of 2 minutes).

Knowing what was about to happen, I started scouting the streets of Jerusalem. I wanted to find a place where there were a lot of people and preferably, an intersection with a lot of cars. Unfortunately, as the time approached 11 AM, one of the busiest intersections I was standing on got pretty empty. There were only a couple of cars around, along with two tour buses. The streets were not very busy either, since people were most likely in their homes. Still, I was able to capture a couple of shots during the siren:

As you can see, I was not the only one photographing the scene – there were a bunch of photographers around me, who also wanted to get some shots of this moment. Since all the traffic stopped, even the people from the tour bus got out to see what was going on:

While soldiers turned away from each other and had their heads and guns lowered:

I wish I found a busier street to photograph – imagine how cool it would be to capture all this with a lot of people frozen on the streets!

Now here is the shocking part – once the Memorial day was over, the Independence day the following night was the total opposite. The quiet commemoration was replaced by fireworks and parties all over the country!

It was absolutely crazy…from remembering the fallen in the morning to extreme partying and drinking at night. In a way, it all seemed almost apocalyptic:

Every big corner of main streets and parks was filled with music stations and DJs playing trance music. I am not sure if there was a special theme going on, but it was fast-paced trance everywhere, bringing the young crowds together to dance. Young people were walking around with alcohol bottles in their hands and local police / security did not seem to mind it, despite the laws prohibiting the consumption of alcoholic drinks in open containers. Youngsters were also walking around with inflated balloon hammers, harmlessly striking each other on the head with them and spraying foam on strangers. While I was walking back through the crowds to my hotel, a bit of the foam was sprayed on me as well, which turned out to be rather sticky and not easy to clean up. The party went on all night and I could hear music and voices from my room pretty late into the night. And that was Jerusalem….I assume Tel Aviv was even a bigger party!

It was tough to fall asleep, but I was very tired and managed to crash for a few hours. I thought I would wake up to a completely trashed Jerusalem. After eating my breakfast, I headed off to the same streets at around 10 AM in the morning and I was shocked again – the streets were sparkling clean! I am not sure how the locals were able to clean up all that mess, but they did so remarkably quickly.

Since it was the Independence day, Israel was showing off its military might. I thought I would miss it all in Jerusalem (since most of the demos were set up in Tel Aviv), but that was not fully the case – the Israeli air force did fly their best jets over Jerusalem:

There was a flock of F16 jets that flew before these guys, followed by a trio of F15s being fueled by a Boeing 707.

As I continued walking on the streets, I did some more street photography on Independence day. Although the number of people on the streets was pretty minimal (the young were mostly resting at their homes), there were still some people out there to photograph:

As I was walking past a shop, I saw a lady cleaning up the store front. She looked really interesting, with a very doll-like face and dark red lips. I stopped, raised my camera to take a picture, which immediately attracted her attention and she stopped for a moment, wondering what I was doing. I took her picture, said “thank you” and moved on. She was emotionless the entire time:

And here is a Russian Jew (yes, I could easily tell) getting arm-tefillin from a religious Jew preacher on one of the main streets of Jerusalem:

The celebrations were not over – the city hall of Jerusalem hosted an event for young people on Independence day, showing the many different faces of Jewish people from all over the world. There were a lot of T-shirts, baseball caps, flags and other pieces of clothing showing countries where the young groups were from. More music and dancing took place at the event:

And here are some guys with Mexican flags on their backs, along with a Canadian head-umbrella:

I did not stick around for this event much longer, as I wanted to go back to my most favorite part of Jerusalem – the Old City. That’s where I spent most of my time exploring and that’s what I will cover in the next section of this article.

On my way to the old city, I captured a few extra shots:

And finally, we come to the walls of the Old City:

That high minaret you see was built by the Ottoman empire back in 1535 AD (now known as the “Tower of David”), when the collapsing walls of the Old City were rebuilt after many phases of destruction. Here is another view of the walls and the minaret from the other side:

As you come close to the Walls of Jerusalem, you will start to see the real history behind the Old City and what makes it so special. The signs in front of the walls show the many phases of construction they went through over 2500 years, with the building blocks on the bottom possibly dating back all the way to 516 BC.

As I entered the Jaffa Gate, there was a lady playing on a harp:

And that’s what opens the next chapter of the Old City, the Jewish Quarter. Select the next page below.

7) The Western Wall

The Old City is a fascinating place to visit. Due to the significance of the location to all three Abrahamic religions, it is considered to be very sacred and holy. For Jews, this is where the Solomon’s Temple once stood. For Christians, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is considered to be the holiest site. And for Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque represents the third holiest site in Islam. Because of its religious significance, the Old City attracts pilgrims from all over the world. And since each religious group maintained its own holy sites and areas surrounding them over many centuries, the Old City was partitioned into three main sections: The Jewish Quarter, The Christian Quarter and The Muslim Quarter (technically, there is also The Armenian Quarter, but since Armenians consider it to be part of the Christian Quarter, the two can be categorized into one).

I will first start with the Jewish Quarter and talk about its photographic opportunities.

Most likely, you have already seen pictures of the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. The Western Wall is where Jews come to pray, read Torah and weep over the destruction of the Temples. Due to its proximity to the Temple Mount, it is considered to be the second holiest site in Judaism (after Temple Mount itself).

Photographically, the Western Wall is possibly the best spot to be in the Jewish Quarter, due to its significance and the crowds that it attracts. You will see many religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jews coming to pray to the site and occasionally you might even see some Christians visiting the site and dropping their wishes written on notes in between the wall stones. Sometimes people break down in emotions and weep at the wall, so it can be a pretty intense place to be in.

The Western Wall is open to visitors, so you can come pretty much any time and photograph the site. The area is under tight security control and there are only a couple of spots where you can get through. In each location there are security guards and metal detectors (and not all security checkpoints are open for visitors), so if you bring a camera along, it will have to go through a scanner. Make sure that you don’t bring a tripod along, since tripods are not allowed past security checkpoints.

Once you are in, you can walk around and take pictures anywhere. You are allowed to take pictures of people praying, but I suggest to be respectful to the Jews by being quiet and discrete. You do not want to be spraying with your camera like a machine gun, especially if you have a loud DSLR. Keep your distance and do not shove the camera to people’s faces. At the time we were touring the area, the Western Wall was not very busy, so I was able to get a few intimate shots of Jews praying at the wall:

You might also check out the covered area to the left of the exposed wall, where you will find many Ultra-Orthodox Jews reading Torah:

Religious Jewish soldiers also come to the site to pray. As I was taking pictures, I noticed two soldiers walking around. I asked if I could take their picture and they happily agreed:

I messed up my ISO here – after shooting indoors at high ISOs, I forgot to bring my ISO down. The GFX 50S handled it really well despite my error, since I had the shutter set to Electronic + Mechanical, so instead of overexposing the image, the camera simply raised the shutter speed to 1/12000 of a second (electronic shutter).

The Western Wall was also an interesting place to be in on the Memorial day. It was a pretty big day, with the president, party and army leaders, along with many foreign diplomats present during the memorial ceremony. It was very crowded and I could not get very close, so after the event was over, I walked around and took some pictures of the memorial area and the soldiers:

Here, soldiers are attentively listening to their commander after the event:

The Western Wall is a great place to photograph, so if you don’t know where to start, I would definitely recommend it as the first spot to visit with your camera. If you have the time, be patient and wait for the opportunities – they are always there.

8) King David’s Tomb

Another holy site that attracts a lot of visitors is King David’s Tomb. It is a fairly small place to visit, so it can get crowded pretty quickly. Inside the building, you will often find religious Jews reading Torah, many of whom are typically Ultra-Orthodox, which means that they most likely won’t like being photographed. I moved to the side, took a picture and did not see any emotional response, although the older gentlemen dressed in white in the back clearly did not like cameras pointing towards him – as you can see, he is blocking his face from the left side, where another photographer was taking a picture from that angle.

Shooting indoors here was tough – the amount of ambient light was very low and the room was lit by nasty lights that cast a lot of yellow and green colors on the subjects, which is why I ended up converting the image to black and white (Fuji Monochrome Color Profile looks great in Lightroom) and adding a bit more grain in post.

To be honest, there is not much to photograph at this site. The next room contains King David’s tomb and aside from the tomb itself, there is not much to shoot there either. There were a lot of people in this tight room, so after I glanced there a couple of times, I decided to leave and look for other opportunities.

9) Old City Streets

As you walk in the Jewish Quarters, you will find more great opportunities to take pictures, since you will be dealing with ancient walls and all kinds of tourists and religious people walking on the streets. As we toured the area, I looked for interesting subjects and I was able to capture a few interesting shots of religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jews. Here, an Ultra-Orthodox Jew is walking with a cane right next to the ancient city walls:

And as I walked along another road, I found a couple walking towards the Jaffa gate. They were already behind me when I realized that I wanted to take a picture, so I had to run back to a spot and wait for them to cross the area. I found an angled yellow sign, which ended up working well for my composition and framing:

An Ultra-Orthodox Jew passing by a tourist woman in a nearby market:

In addition, you might find interesting colors and textures on the walls, including hand-made mosaic. You might also find beautiful gates to photograph:

Looks like this mosaic is depicting Moses in Egypt:

Take your time and explore the Jewish Quarter – there is much to see and photograph! Let’s now move on to the Christian Quarter. Please select the next page below.

10) The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Christian Quarter is probably the busiest of the three in terms of tourism. A lot of pilgrims from all over the world come to the Christian Quarter specifically for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, so expect to see huge lines of people wanting to get into the church.

As you walk towards the church, you will be going through the busy market where Arabs sell all kinds of goodies for Christians:

Here is an Arab on one of the streets, browsing his phone across from his store:

You will also find stands full of all kinds of rugs, pictures and other goods for sale:

Always remember to negotiate with these folks! Whatever price they give you, start from half of their initial price and move up from there. Everything is negotiable on the markets – if you talk to a merchant who is not willing to negotiate, walk away.

Photographically, don’t forget to pay attention to all the details around you – there are lots of colorful doors and goods waiting to be shot:

At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, most of the people come in groups led by tour guides. So if it gets too busy, just wait it out a little outside the church and you should be able to get in without having to wait behind people. If you are a Christian and you want to see the important sites and the relics, plan ahead and either come really early, or be prepared to wait in lines, sometimes for hours.

If you are waiting outside the church, take a look around and photograph the historic architecture and the people:

Right outside the church, look up and you will see the famous Immovable Ladder:

To the left of the church, you will find an old door with a cross on it. This area gets pretty busy in the afternoon, so either come early in the morning or in the late afternoon if you want to have it all to yourself:

Right before you get into the church, pay attention to its ancient gates that are scarred by tourists and pilgrims that have been coming here for centuries. I had to wait a while to be able to take a picture without someone passing by, but it was worth it:

Once you get in, to your right you will find some steps to climb in order to get to the first holy site known as the “Altar of the Crucifixion”. The lighting here was very tough (mostly lit by candles) and the number of people wanting to see the alter was overwhelming, so after waiting for a few minutes, I decided to move on, as it would have been tough to photograph anyway. I revisited the spot one more time later on and still found too many people there. Like I said, the Christian Quarter gets very busy with pilgrims and tourists from all over the world!

In the center area of the church, you will find the Stone of Anointing, where pilgrims bow down, kiss the stone and pray. Right across from it on the wall, you will see a mosaic depiction of Christ’s body being prepared after his death:

As you move left towards the Aedicule, you will come across a spot where people bring and light up their candles. I would recommend to hang out here for a bit and photograph the emotions of people as they light up the candles. Expect to see a lot of tourists from Russia! Here is a young woman from Russia looking down on the candle she just lit up:

The center of attention is obviously the Aedicule and that’s where you will see most of the action, with flocks of people waiting in a huge line to get in. Make sure to come here at high noon on a clear sunny day, because you will experience something truly magical. Light rays will be piercing through the dome into the church, giving you amazing photographing opportunities:

I wish I had something wider than the GF 32-64mm f/4 here, since I wanted to capture more of the Aedicule. Still, I was happy I could get most of the dome to fit in the frame, although I had to bring my camera pretty low to be able to do that.

As you photograph the dome and its surroundings, don’t forget about the people here. This nun was sitting on a bench and waiting for the others, so I took the opportunity and photographed her as she looked up at me:

11) Other Churches

The Christian Quarter has a number of great churches to visit and photograph. As you walk in the area, you might be presented with some interesting viewpoints. I waited in this spot in front of St. James Cathedral Church for a while, hoping for someone to appear at the end of the alley. Unfortunately, since I was with a group, we could not wait for long and had to move on:

Don’t forget to look up occasionally – there are all kinds of interesting structures to photograph in the area. This clock tower sits right next to St. James Cathedral Church:

And here is a view of St. James from one of the narrow side streets:

As you start progressing towards the Muslim Quarter, you will come across other spots significant for the Christian religion. For example, the below public fountain was built by the Ottomans in the 16th century and named “Sebil Sit Mariam” due to its proximity to the place where Virgin Mary was born:

And as you go right past it, you will come to the birth place of the Virgin Mary:

I did not have a chance to see inside – it was pretty dark and there were people sitting on the stairs, so I moved on.

Lastly, don’t forget to watch around you all the time. These two nuns were right behind me as I was walking in the Armenian Quarter. I quickly turned the camera on, turned around and took a picture:

12) Austrian Hospice

At the end of the Christian Quarters, very close to the Muslim Quarters, you will find the Austrian Hospice, which offers very nice views of the Old City. As you climb up the stairs in the front area of the hospice, you will be presented with a view of the busy rooftops:

But don’t let this view discourage you, since the best spot is at the top of the building. The Austrian hospice knows that many photographers come here to photograph the view of the Old City, so they charge 5 shekels for entry. Not a big deal, since it is worth the cost to come to the rooftop. I took a few vertical shots from here and stitched them for a panoramic view of the city:

Unfortunately, the rooftop is only partially finished and available to use – the left side of the rooftop blocks the view of the Dome of the Rock for a wide shot, so unless you zoom in and take pictures of the details, you will end up with the roof obstructing view as seen above.

Not to worry, as I found a better spot to capture the Old City, which I will reveal in the next section of the article where we will discover what the Muslim Quarter is all about!

13) The Muslim Quarter

No matter what your background is, the Muslim Quarter is an absolute must to visit in the Old City, especially if you are looking for good photographic opportunities. If you understand the history of Jerusalem and the impact Islam has had over many centuries on this city, you will see why you would be missing out a lot if you were to skip the Muslim Quarter.

Throughout many centuries, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times and captured and recaptured 44 times. There is probably not another place in the world that has been wanted to badly by so many different rulers throughout the history. According to historians, the first settlements came in 4500 BC, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world, with over 6500 years of history. Prior to being called Jerusalem, it was known as the City of David (approximately 1010 BC), because King David transferred the capital from Hebron to Jerusalem and reigned for 40 years, after which his son Solomon succeeded him and built the Holy Temple. Unfortunately, Jerusalem was razed to the ground a number of times throughout its history, with Muslims conquering the city in the 7th century and being in and out of control all the way until the 20th century. Before Jerusalem fell under the British Mandate in 1917, it was in control of the Ottomans, who played a huge role in rebuilding the city walls, building the infrastructure and restoring a number of important buildings. It was under the Ottoman empire when Jerusalem truly became a multi-faith city, with a large number of Jews, Christians and Muslims living together within the Old City walls. So when you look at Jerusalem today, you cannot ignore its Islamic history, which can be found in its every corner.

14) The Souk (The Arab Market)

What kind of photographic opportunities are there in the Muslim Quarter? Well, if you are into street photography, I would start with the “Souk”, or the Arab market. The Souk stretches all the way from the Christian Quarter to Damascus Gate in the Muslim Quarter and you truly cannot miss it! If you see a lot of storefronts and people selling goods, that’s the Souk. Start walking in any direction and keep your camera ready at all times! I have already shown you some pictures of the market in the Christian Quarter, but if you want to save up quite a bit of money, walk towards the Muslim Quarter, where you can find the same goods at much lower prices. You will also find a lot of great restaurants near the Souk, so if you are hungry and want to eat tasty falafel, kebabs, hummus and other Middle Eastern food, that’s the place to go.

As you pass through some stores, you might find Arabs dressed in traditional clothing. Most of them are used to photographers and won’t mind being photographed. This gentlemen who sold bread and other goods in a corner store looked straight into my camera as I paused to take a picture:

Two Arabs conversing on the side of the street on a late afternoon:

A Moroccan man selling fragrances, lamps and books:

Also, pay attention to your surroundings and find cool spots where you can stop, compose your shot and wait for interesting subjects to walk into your scene. I did this in a number of spots and found the technique to work really well. Although Souk is a covered area (and for a good reason, since Jerusalem gets pretty hot in the summer), making it tough to shoot at low ISOs, you can find open areas as well. In one particular spot, I saw light passing between buildings and that’s where I decided to stop and take some pictures. The idea was to wait until subjects walk into the light, so I set up my exposure based on the bright area of the scene.

As I was getting ready to shoot, I saw a Jewish man passing by, followed by two Muslim girls, so I quickly snapped the following photo:

Not exactly what I had in mind, since the subjects are not in the spot of light, but the image still worked out, showing the contrast I was after. I moved a bit to the left and patiently waited for interesting subjects to pass by and I was able to capture a few more shots in both vertical and horizontal orientation. Here we have a Muslim woman walking towards me:

And here is a photo of two Ethiopian Christian women walking in the same direction:

As you walk towards the Damascus Gate, you will find even more opportunities to take pictures of the busy streets. Below is a photo of an Arab packing up his grape leaves that he was selling that day:

An elderly man taking a nap right by his store:

Another elderly man walking on one of the streets:

If anything major is going on in the Old City, you might see a lot more Israeli soldiers than usual. As I was walking the Souk on Independence day, Israeli soldiers were busy blocking some of the streets off and thoroughly checking the documentation of the local Arabs before letting them into certain areas. I witnessed a pretty intense moment where an Arab was expressing his frustration when he was not being let into a street by an Israeli soldier. You can see the still faces of people around, as his documents were being checked:

Gladly, the situation did not escalate and things quieted down pretty quickly, although I did not wait to see if he was let in or not. With the arrival of the Israeli president and other high-ranking people to Jerusalem, it was understandable why everyone was on such a high alert.

Just like the Jews, Arabs also love playing backgammon. As I was walking on one of the main streets late afternoon, I saw a number of people playing the game:

And don’t forget to stop by areas where Arabs gather together to smoke the hookah:

Lastly, between the busy markets and restaurants, you might find other interesting places to photograph. You will find barber shops, hotels / hostels and even shoemakers:

Plenty of cool-looking doors as well:

And if you make it all the way to the Damascus Gate, you might want to climb up the steps outside and take some shots of the gate with some people:

15) The Hashimi Hotel

When it comes to staying in the area, you will find a number of hotels and hostels in the Old City. After visiting the Austrian Hostel, I realized that another building had a very large covered terrace that was overlooking the other side of the city. I came down to the first floor and described what I saw and even showed the picture of the location on my camera to the front desk clerk. She told me that it was most likely someone else’s home. I argued that it could not be, since the terrace looked too big to be someone’s home. Definitely not in the Old City where real estate prices are outrageously high. I gave up on her pretty quickly, since it was clear that she had no idea. That same night, I looked up hotels in the area, wondering if it could be a view from the terrace of a hotel in Muslim Quarter. I found a hotel called “The Hashimi Hotel” on Google Maps, so I decided to check out their website and see if it could possibly be the candidate. As soon as I checked the gallery, I found a picture from a terrace that looked just like the one I photographed from the Austrian hospice. Could it be it? I was not sure, so I decided to check it out myself. I needed a place to stay anyway for the next few days, so if the terrace belonged to a nice hotel, why not stay there? The prices online looked very reasonable – much cheaper than what I was paying outside the Old City.

I walked right back to the main street from the Damascus Gate and after walking for about 10 minutes or so, found a sign that said “The Hashimi Hotel”. There was a single door that was shut from the inside, so I had to use the intercom. The door opened right after I pressed the button and once I climbed up a few steps, I saw a beautiful lounge that was nicely decorated in Arab style with large chairs, sofas and carpets. I was greeted by a front desk clerk who welcomed me to the hotel. I explained that I was looking for a place to stay and wondered about their terrace and its potential for my photography. I asked if I could take a quick look at the terrace and she kindly pointed me in the direction of the elevator. The terrace looked just like in the pictures, but best of all – it was all empty and it had a spot for me to put a tripod, with no obstructions whatsoever! I immediately went down to the first floor and booked my stay for the next two days. I was glad that I found an amazing spot to photograph from!

If you are considering to stay in the Muslim Quarters, I would highly recommend the Hashimi Hotel. Aside from its photographic potential for both single images and panoramas, it also has very nice and clean rooms. Their buffet-style breakfast is excellent and very fresh too. Speaking of the view from the terrace, here is the shot I was able to capture that same evening:

I really hoped for some clouds in the sky to get more color, but luck was not on my side for the next two days. However, as the sun set, the haze in the sky helped add some pink and blue to the sky, making me happy! Since the sun sets right behind the building, the terrace would be a great spot for photographing sunsets.

The best part about the view from the terrace, is that you can capture pretty wide panoramas and if you like a particular building, you could zoom in and concentrate on a particular spot. Although I decided to take pictures of the beautiful Dome of the Rock, I also captured a few panoramas. Here is a panorama I captured after sunset that overlooks a big part of the Muslim and Christian Quarters:

You can see a number of important buildings here, including the Church of St Mary of Agony (located to the right of the green minaret on the left of the frame) and Al-Aqsa Mosque (the yellow dome on the extreme right). On a clear day, you could use a telephoto lens to zoom in on the distant buildings and churches on the Mount of Olives. It is a stunning view from here, definitely worth checking out!

At sunrise, the sun comes out from right behind Mount of Olives. Although it can be a bit more challenging to shoot and the weather forecast showed a clear day, I decided to give it a try anyway. As soon as the sun started appearing in the horizon, I stopped down my lens to f/32 to get some sun stars. Next, I took another shot at f/8, since the shot at f/32 was too soft due to too much diffraction. The idea was to merge the two shots in Photoshop and get a single image that was sharp and had the sun stars I wanted. As you can see, the technique worked pretty well and I ended up with a nice shot that has all the details I was after:

Unfortunately, since I was a bit too busy figuring out what I wanted to shoot and walking back and forth on the terrace, I was about a minute late for this shot. Ideally, you want to capture the sun as soon as it starts peaking out – the smaller the sun in the frame, the easier it is to make a nice sunburst. Plus, you have less risk for overexpose in the sky. Still, I would love to come back to this spot and photograph it early in the morning with some clouds in the sky!

As I was getting ready to wrap up, I decided to do another panorama:

This one looks very different than the one I captured at sunset the previous night, so it was still worth the effort in my opinion.

You might also have a nice view from your room window. Mine looked out to the left of the above view, but it still offered interesting views of nearby rooftops:

16) Dome of the Rock

According to Muslims, Dome of the Rock is where Prophet Muhammad started his Night Journey to heaven. After Jerusalem was conquered in 638 AD by Muslims, they discovered a lot of trash on the Temple Mount. It took some effort for both Jews and Muslims to clean up the area, after which the 5th Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered the construction of the Dome of the Rock in late 7th century.

As you have seen from a number of pictures so far, Dome of the Rock is one of the most prominent structures in the Old City. Its golden dome is seen from many different areas, since it sits on the top of the Temple Mount. It is a truly beautiful structure and it has gone through a number of renovations in the past. Being one of the oldest works of Islamic architecture, it has both religious and historic significance.

While some of the best photographs of the Dome of the Rock can be taken from a distance, you can capture great close-up shots as well. If you are Muslim, you can access Temple Mount any time from any of the gates. However, if you are not a Muslim, access will be restricted to certain days and times of the week. In order to access Temple Mount as a visitor, you will need to go through the wooden walkway located near the Western Wall. The visiting hours are Sunday through Thursday 7:30 – 11:00 AM and 1:30 – 2:30 PM in summer and Sunday through Thursday 7:30 – 10:00 AM and 12:30 – 1:30 PM in winter. Make sure to wear appropriate clothes. Men are required to wear long pants and women are required to wear long pants or a long skirt to cover up their legs (a head scarf is not necessary, but shoulders must be covered).

There are plenty of great opportunities around Dome of the Rock. You can photograph the structure itself and you can also focus on the details of the tiles at the entrances:

Since there are different gates from different corners, you can see beautiful archways that can serve as a great foreground:

In the northern corner you will find even more gates to the Temple Mount, without the Dome of the Rock in the background:

Don’t forget to pay attention to all the details and structures around you:

And as you move around, practice using the arches as windows to show the Dome of the Rock:

Although tripods are not allowed, you can still capture panoramas hand-held. Just make sure to keep foreground objects away from you to avoid parallax errors, or simply rotate around your lens axis instead of the camera axis, as recommended in my panorama photography article. Here is a panorama of the Dome of the Rock that I captured hand-held using this technique:

If you move further away from the stairs, you can capture a wider view of the stairs and the gates, with Dome of the Rock in the background:

Lastly, there are all kinds of opportunities to photograph people around the mosque. The below shot is one of my personal favorites:

Unfortunately, access into Dome of the Rock is closed to non-Muslims. It was not always this way – everyone used to be able to walk into both Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa in the past. However, after a few incidents, most notably a rather serious incident in 1969 where an Australian citizen set fire on the pulpit of the Al-Aqsa mosque and caused serious damage to the building, access to the buildings got restricted only to Muslims.

Still, if you want to photograph the beauty of the Mosque from the inside, it is possible – you will need to obtain a permit from local authorities. You can ask the local Arabs walking with radios about the process and they are generally pretty knowledgeable about where and how you can obtain a permit. It takes a few days to process and once you are given access, you will be able to walk into both Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa.

Dome of the Rock is stunningly beautiful from the inside. The dome itself is decorated with gold and it is very well maintained:

Take a look at all the details of the dome:

As you walk around, you will be able to find a lot of color all around you, with beautifully decorated tiles, marble, lamps and chandeliers:

17) Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site for Muslims, so its religious significance is even higher than that of the Dome of the Rock. Muslims believe that Prophet Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to Al-Aqsa during the Night Journey and it is also believed that he prayed there right before the angel Gabriel traveled with him to heaven. In fact, during the first seventeen months after migration to Medina in 624 AD, Muslims used to pray in the direction of Al-Aqsa, after which the direction of prayer was moved towards Kaaba in Mecca.

Al-Aqsa is very close to the Dome of the Rock. In fact, one of the southern gates directly faces Al-Aqsa:

Unfortunately, unlike Dome of the Rock, the view of Al-Aqsa is blocked by a lot of tall surrounding trees, so there is not a good spot from which you can take a good picture of the whole building. You can photograph the front entrance and the building from its side, but due to the fact that the dome is located at the far end of the mosque, it won’t be visible in the picture. There are a few areas from the side that make pretty nice views, so I would recommend to explore those areas. Unfortunately, during my visit, there were lots of metal rods and other items on the ground that were obstructing the view. I am not sure if there was any construction taking place (it did not look like it), but I could not find a good spot to take a picture of the Mosque.

As I walked on the left side of the mosque, I found a beautiful green door though, with decorated marble around it:

Despite its significance, Al-Aqsa does not seem to be maintained as well as Dome of the Rock. Its interior structure seemed to be falling apart. Take a look at the main dome, which seems to have been deformed over the years:

Still, it was worth taking a picture of, so I lowered the camera a bit and took a picture of the area with the hanging chandelier:

Stepping back, there is a more beautiful chandelier behind an arch and plenty of great painted details on the walls:

The ceiling of Al-Aqsa appears to be pretty deformed and some areas are showing paint coming off and deteriorating. It looks like the mosque is due for a pretty major renovation.

18) Church of the Nativity

Bethlehem is a small town located in the West Bank and it is fairly close to Jerusalem. It takes about 30 minutes to get there on a taxi, or you can take a bus, which will take a bit longer. While Bethlehem is located in the zone controlled by the Palestinian Authority, I personally found it to be a safe place to visit. In fact, after seeing many tourists there from all over the world, I realized that Bethlehem is a fairly popular place, especially for Christians. That’s because Bethlehem hosts the Church of the Nativity, which was built right over the cave where Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. Because of this, it is considered to be another holy site for Christian pilgrims to visit, and it has been that way since 339 AD, when the building was first completed. The site of the Church of the Nativity was the first to be listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and it is currently administered jointly by Green Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Apostolic and Syriac Orthodox church authorities. When I visited Bethlehem, the church was going through massive restoration, so most of the building was blocked from access.

Still, it was a fascinating place to visit and photograph. As you walk towards the birthplace of Jesus, you will find some interesting corridors and courtyards to photograph:

Along with different altars and other decorations:

The actual spot that marks the birthplace of Jesus is decorated on the marble floor:

It is a tough spot to access and photograph due to huge lines of pilgrims that want to see, touch and kiss the marking on the floor. The spot is partially lit by candles and partially by lamps, making it even more difficult to take a picture of. I had to wait for a few minutes until I was able to get a clear shot and even then I was quickly escorted out by security, since they did not want anyone to be there for more than a few minutes.

Unfortunately, due to the above-mentioned restoration project and my limited time in Bethlehem, I had to leave and move on to other spots.

As I was leaving the area towards the market, I saw a group of Palestinians silently protesting in an area:

I am not sure what this was all about, but based on the images, I assumed that they were protesting for the release of their relatives from Israeli jails.

19) Bethlehem Market

Another great place to check out for photographic opportunity is the market located in central Bethlehem. It is a touristy place with plenty of great stores and restaurants and if you want to buy any gifts, this is the place to go, since prices are much lower compared to those in Jerusalem. You will find stores that sell all kinds of goodies. From hand-made carpets:

To traditional dresses for women:

As you walk by the stores, don’t forget about street photography opportunities:

In addition to clothing and other goods, you will also find a pretty large food market. At the end of it, there are a few butcher shops. This butcher did not mind me taking his picture:

The light is a bit rough here though, since the area is covered and lit by all kinds of indoor lights.

20) The Wall

I am sure you have heard about “the wall”, the barrier that separates Israel from the areas of West Bank it considers unsafe. Even before flying to Israel, I really wanted to see the wall for myself, because I have heard about it in the media and have seen pictures before. West Bank was an ideal spot to see the wall and the areas around Bethlehem especially are quite popular among tourists due to different writings and graffiti on them. I asked my taxi driver to take me to the wall and show me some areas, which he did:

I have to say, the wall looks nothing like I previously imagined – it is truly massive! I don’t know what it cost Israel to build such a wall, but after seeing it with my own eyes, I wondered what it would cost to build the Mexican wall, if Trump was to succeed in making it happen. These things are not just massive in size, but they are also buried deep into the ground to prevent anyone from being able to dig under. In high security zones, the wall is protected by additional barbwire, in addition to outposts and concrete blocks, as seen below:

This particular outpost clearly has seen some action in the past…

And in other areas, the wall is angled in such a way that it would make it impossible to attempt to climb it:

Due to a number of Jewish settlements in the area, the wall can cross multiple areas, looking like a maze:

And in some places, there are two layers of protection – one is barb-wired and the other is protected by concrete walls:

It just looks unreal… I have never seen anything like this before. In some places, it looks like there are layers and layers of walls that never end. I am not sure how Israel partitioned and designated its safe and unsafe zones, but it was extremely difficult for me to make any sense out of it. Most of it looked very random and unplanned to me.

There was also a stark contrast between buildings in many areas. Houses and apartment buildings constructed in Jewish settlements looked new and clean, while the Palestinian side looked aged and worn out. Within a few hundred meters from each other, the two looked like they belonged to two different parts of the world.

As the day was coming to an end, the Arab taxi driver invited me to his house in Bethlehem for some tea. I did not have anything planned for the rest of the day, so after we grabbed some food in a local restaurant, we headed off to his house. I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some pictures of his family, so I put in my request early on, to which he happily agreed to, especially because I promised to send him pictures after I got back home. The taxi driver turned out to be a very kind man. After I stepped into his house, he introduced me to his children, who were happy to welcome me to their living room, where they shared some refreshments and nuts for the guest. I sat with them for a little while and talked, explaining who I was and what I was doing in Israel. Since it was already getting late, I grabbed my camera and started working. First, I captured a few shots of the family indoors:

I was not very happy with the lack of light (the windows of his house were fairly small and I could only partially open them), so I pulled the kids outside to take their pictures. He has five sons and a daughter, so I knew it would take me a bit of time to take pictures of each one of them. I started out with his youngest son:

He was very camera shy, so making him pose in front of the camera was not easy. The little girl, however, was not a problem at all – she posed naturally and did a great job! I guess that’s what happens when a girl grows up with so many brothers:

The next in line was the second youngest son, who also had a hard time in front of the camera.

Thankfully, having shot many portraits in the past, I know how to act quickly in such situations. The key is to be in control and tell the subject exactly what they need to do. Asking them to act naturally never works, because the camera scares the heck out of them. And considering that these children have never had their portraits taken by a photographer before, it made them even more nervous. I kept it cool, encouraging them, being silly, laughing together and often showing the captured images on my camera in order to boost their confidence. It worked out well and I was able to capture a number of great shots like this:

The older sons were even tougher to deal with, since they did not want to be photographed. I was able to convince two of them to pose for me, but could not get the third one to cooperate. He recently fell of a bike and scarred himself pretty badly, so it was a confidence issue. The brothers did not want to go outside for a photo shoot, since they did not want the neighbors to see. So I had to work with the indoors light again. While there was still some light outside, I positioned one of the brothers near a window and captured the below portrait:

The oldest brother had a hard time agreeing to be photographed, but I made him pose for a couple of shots for me in the living room:

We had to wrap up pretty quickly, because it was getting late and I needed to get back to Jerusalem sooner than later to get ready to pack up – it was time to get back to Tel Aviv. On the way, we stopped in one more spot that was a nice overlook to capture Bethlehem from – that’s where I captured one of the images with the wall and fences that I showed earlier. We were on top of a hill where Jordanians were defending their position during the Six Day War in 1967.

This local shepherd was standing on top of a structure that was used during the war – you could see battle trenches right below him.

I was told that the bodies of several Jordanian soldiers were recently discovered here.

21) The Desert

Before I show you pictures from Tel Aviv, I wanted to go over a few more images that I captured during our week-long tour with Vibe Israel. On our fourth day of the tour, our group was taken to some hills outside of Jerusalem, where we had a model shoot at sunrise (yes, we had some portrait photographers with us). It was a very nicely planned and coordinated event, so we each had an opportunity to photograph several different models with a very nice background. Unfortunately, it was a very hazy day and we did not see any colors at sunrise. However, the light was still nicely diffused for portrait photography.

The team brought an off-camera flash setup, but it was some third party brand that I had never used before (I think it was a Godox unit, but I honestly don’t remember). The trigger was also a third party trigger and I believe it was infrared, because the darn thing would not fire, especially once it got bright. I got it to work at particular angles while being very close to the flash, but it still did not fire reliably. After fiddling with it for a few minutes, I gave up and decided to shoot in natural light. I could not figure out whether it was the GFX 50S that was acting up with the third party trigger, or some other communication issue was taking place between the trigger and the flash unit. I will need to test the GFX 50S with my speedlights and PocketWizards to make sure that the camera is not at fault.

Anyway, below are some images that I was able to capture with the 63mm f/2.8 and 120mm f/4 Macro lenses on the GFX 50S. I used the wider 63mm f/2.8 lens to capture a bit more of the background, while the 120mm was used for more close-up portraits:

There was a young Israeli teenager helping us out, who also agreed to pose for a few shots for me:

After we were done with the model shoot, we headed off with the group to the real desert. The idea was to eat dinner at Timna Park and photograph one of the rock formations that looked like a mushroom with the Milky Way. Unfortunately, due to the rather serious light pollution in the area and other challenges, the night photography idea did not work out as planned, but I was still able to capture a few interesting shots past sunset, such as the following panorama of the Solomon’s Pillars:

I wish I was there in good light earlier in the day, because the lamps were casting all kinds of crazy colors on the pillars, from bright yellow to nasty green.

22) The Red Sea: Dolphin Reef

The following day we headed out to Eilat to dive with dolphins in the Red Sea at a place called Dolphin Reef. It was my first diving experience and although I was a little bit nervous initially, it turned out to be really amazing and something I would love to do again in the future. After we were done, we had a delicious dinner with the whole group and a dolphin trainer, which was great.

If you come to Eilat, I would highly recommend to visit the Dolphin Reef. The most amazing thing about this place is that the dolphins are treated very well here. They are not fed to perform acrobatics or do anything special for the visitors. They are free to roam around and they fully trust the trainers, it is really like a family here.

I knew it would get wet, especially with us diving, so I ended up leaving my camera in my bag. As you can see, these pictures were taken with my LG G4 smartphone.

Big thanks to Vibe Israel for organizing this wonderful event!

23) Carmel Market

All right, we are finally on the last page of the article and I am here to talk about the photographic opportunities of Tel Aviv. Although for me personally Tel Aviv is not as exciting as Jerusalem, there are still some great opportunities for photography here, especially for street photography. Despite its hefty population of 3.7 million, Tel Aviv is a relatively small city, making it pretty easy to move around by feet. We stayed in the luxurious Poli House hotel right in the heart of Tel Aviv, which made it easy for us to access the popular Carmel Market and other popular spots.

The Carmel Market should definitely be on your bucket list if you are planning to visit Tel Aviv. So much happens here, with the busy market full of people buying and selling goods:

You can even find cool looking dogs chilling out here, while their owners are busy selling:

Actually, at the start of the market between Allenby and King George St, there is a nice touristy area where locals love coming and hanging out at. Keep your camera ready here, because you might find lots of great opportunities to do some street photography:

And if you have a moment, check out the top balcony of the Poli House, where you can shoot the street from above:

You might find some locals doing some shots:

Or you might come across a group of Ultra-Orthodox Jews trying to preach to the youth:

Occasionally, you might even come across a street bum:

Right across the street, there are a few restaurants where mostly young people hang out, eat and drink:

And as you walk in the streets, you will come across lots of fun graffiti and art:

If you turn towards Nahalat Binyamin St, you will see even more wall art and interesting people to photograph:

Definitely worth checking out!

24) Levinsky Market

While I was in Tel Aviv, I had an opportunity to host a photo walk. A bunch of people showed up, many of whom attended my photography lecture at Galitz School of Photography. We decided to meet at Levinsky Market at 6:30 PM on Thursday and it turned out to be a bad idea, since the market was already closed for the most part. While the market itself might offer great opportunities earlier in the day, I really enjoyed our walk from the Levinsky Market to Jaffa.

We found great opportunities to shoot some old and new buildings:

And a few tall apartment buildings that offered some nice perspectives:

As we walked on one of the popular streets in the area, we came across a really cool guy who posed for us for quite sometime. With so many photographers around him, even a street cat decided to join the fun:

He was a very nice and kind man!

As we came to Shabazi street, I found a young lady who was checking out her phone, while the late afternoon light was cutting the frame in half, crossing right into her face:

And walking further down, I saw another woman peeking into a store, checking out what was inside:

From here, as you head towards Jaffa, take it slow and check out the areas around the beach. You never know what treasures you might find:

And the beach itself can be a fun place to shoot:

Especially facing the other way, which can get rather crowded on a nice day:

Walk a bit further and you will come across bike racks where you can rent one:

25) Jaffa

My most favorite area to photograph in Tel Aviv is Jaffa – that’s where I spent most of my time. After our tour was over, I booked a hotel in that area and I am so glad that I did, as I had so many great opportunities for photography there. With its historic Ottoman-style buildings that house markets, restaurants and bars, it is easy to see why Jaffa is a popular tourist destination in Tel Aviv. The market itself is absolutely amazing! I loved walking around with my camera here, taking lots of street photos:

Merchants here are used to tourists and if you ask them nicely, they will pose for a shot or two:

A lot of action happens on the streets of Jaffa, so always be prepared to take pictures!

Don’t be surprised to find weird dumps like this, with people just sitting there and doing nothing:

Although I am sure everything is for sale in such spots.

Similar to the Shuks in Jerusalem, there are also some covered areas with merchants selling clothes, rugs and carpets:

And if you are after all kinds of collectibles and antiquities, you will have a chance to see them all as well:

Rug and carpet sellers will sell you everything from new to antique:

And the alleys sometimes offer nice contrast between old and new:

Don’t forget to look up every once a while:

I waited a while for someone to come out, but they never did! More crazy buildings and windows:

This bike shop seemed to attract quite a few people from the street:

There is so much more to see in Jaffa, the list simply does not end. Being on the coast, the Old Jaffa offers even more photographic opportunities. Walk along the narrow streets and photograph the beautiful buildings and colors all over:

And in between the narrow streets you might come across some surprises:

Don’t forget to check out the Mifrat Shlomo Promenade, along with other cool spots like the Wishing Bridge and the Ramses Gate. As you walk the area, you might come across some photogenic tourists to take pictures of:

As you move along Retsif ha-Aliya ha-Shniya St, you will come across stone buildings with beautiful blue doors:

Be patient, pre-focus and frame your shot, then wait for someone to get into your frame. This was a bit difficult to do, since some people were going around me, thinking that I was taking a picture. But every once in a while there were those who did not see or did not care.

The Al-Bahr Mosque is another Ottoman-era building that is still in use. During the photo walk, a number of photographers got busy photographing this couple, who happily posed for us:

And the front gates of the mosque are really beautiful, so we patiently waited for people to come out in order to take their pictures:

As the sun was setting, the other side of the mosque also offered a great opportunity, with people coming down the stairs:

And lastly, aligning the moon with the top of the minaret was also a cool idea by one of the photo walk participants:

With the sun setting in the horizon, couples were gathering up by the coast, sitting and enjoying the beautiful sunset, so it opened up a good opportunity for us to take some silhouette shots:

What a nice way to end the day!

Big thanks to Vibe Israel for organizing this trip. I am very happy to have met a lot of new friends and it was an incredible experience meeting our readers in Israel.

I hope you have enjoyed this 8 page long photo essay! As you can see, Israel offers a lot of travel and photographic opportunities. Although I feel like I saw quite a bit of Israel in the two weeks I spent there, I know that in reality I only touched the surface – this country has so much more to offer! If you have never had a chance to visit Israel, I highly recommend to go there. You will not regret it, I promise.

If you have been to Israel before, please share your experience in the comments section of the next page. And if you have any questions about Israel or any of what I have written in this article, please let me know as well!