I bet you weren’t thinking of a beach when you thought of Tel Aviv, Israel but thoughts of conflicts, riots and soldiers come to mind. Oh, what a surprise Tel Aviv was!
Tel Aviv does indeed have a beach with a promenade filled full of life. It’s about 4 – 5 kilometres long and may take several hours to walk, but it is not hard to fill those hours with street photo opportunities, as they are plentiful.
Walking the promenade you will find many street cafes and restaurants, some with small bars that provide an opportunity to sit down and rest with a cold beer while you watch the world go by. I also found the promenade is most active in the afternoon filling with people who have come to enjoy a meal with family and friends or to simply watch the sunset on another day.
This photo of the boxers took a number of attempts to achieve. Unfortunately, this meant that I spent longer photographing the scene to capture the precise moment which resulted in me being asked if I was getting some good shots. It turned out that all three of these gents were ex-pats, two Australians and one American who are working in Israel. What was even more surprising was that the all of us Aussies were from the same city back in Australia. What are the odds?
Some times, keeping your back to the beach pays off with photographic opportunities such as the three gents all crammed onto the bench. They stood out like a sore thumb, and they were just waiting to be photographed and it just had to be captured, and this is my favourite photo from the trip.
I also found most people don’t mind having their photo taken but there was a nagging feeling street photography is not a big thing in Israel. This may be because of the ongoing conflict involving Israel may be viewed with suspicion and I can’t be sure but street photography may not be culturally acceptable in Israel.
Oh, and don’t forget to turn around and watch the sunset, because you never know you another photographic opportunity stop right in front of you.
Happy Shooting.
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