My Photography Journey
There is a common belief that photography is always strictly documentary, while painting is pure fantasy. But sometimes, the exact opposite happens. There are shots that look far less real than hyperrealist canvases.
I was fortunate enough to capture a couple of such frames. When people look at them, they flatly refuse to believe it is a clean photograph – free of Photoshop, tricky filters, or double exposure. Just an honest shot, captured “as is.”
It all began back in 2010. I was wandering through the Ralli Museum in Caesarea. The surrounding architecture put me in a creative mood, but what truly caught my attention was an object right in the center of the inner courtyard. Before a grand carved portal, surrounded by sculptures, stood a mirrored sphere of a golden hue on a pedestal.
Its glossy surface distorted the surrounding space, absorbing the warm tones of the walls and the deep blue of the sky. Striking, fluid narratives began to take shape upon it, subtly reminiscent of Salvador Dalí’s paintings. I simply could not walk past such an optical illusion.
I decided to move closer and take a few shots – to isolate the reflections from the rest of the world. But a funny technical nuance arose. Because it was a sphere, it functioned like an extreme fisheye lens. No matter how I maneuvered around the pedestal, I inevitably ended up in the frame myself.
Back then in the museum, it felt like an annoyance. But later at home, reviewing the material on a large screen, I realized that my presence only made the shots better. Tiny scratches and texture on the metal surface settled onto the image like brushstrokes on a canvas, while distorted, surreal figures emerged within the golden reflection. Human silhouettes could barely be recognized in them, adding an air of mystery to the photographs.
Out of the entire series, two frames truly stood out.
