Geula, Jerusalem
Archive for March, 2010
Photographs of the day
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010Mea Shaarim, 2010
Friday, March 19th, 2010
An image from the series Mesamche Lev.
I learned a new word this week: “Schmeichl” (Smile!) It’s actually an old word in Yiddish. But spending time in Mea Shearim, Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox neighborhood, it seems that Yiddish is alive and well. Photographing in Mea Shearim is like having a chance to go back in time to take pictures. This picture is from a fundraising series I began this week for Mesamche Lev, an organization that gives out 60,000 pairs of shoes in Mea Shearim for Passover. The only one who didn’t schmeichl was my son, Ya’ar, who we posed in the picture to show some “diversity”…I guess I need to teach him some Yiddish.
‘Engrossing,’ ‘New Yorkers will be startled’ New York Times Book Review
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Coney Island is the perfect scene for a crime novel. This was my first impression as I exited Brooklyn’s final subway stop and strolled through boarded up Freak Show stands, the circa-1950′s “Cyclone” wooden roller-coaster, and a limping crack-headed hooker mumbling a solicitation from across Surf Avenue. I had arrived at the infamous Coney Island to film a book trailer for Matt Rees’ new novel, The Fourth Assassin, recently reviewed in the New York Times Book Review.
When I mentioned to Matt that I was going to New York City last year, he asked me to shoot some scenes for the upcoming book trailer which I would be producing for his latest novel in the acclaimed Omar Yussef crime series. In addition to my day in Coney Island, which brought me within inches of getting mauled by a vicious Rottweiler guarding the Headless Woman Concession Stand, my filming adventure took me to the Little Palestine of New York – Bay Ridge. I felt transported back to the holyland while filming at the “Ramallah Cafe”, where I was interrogated and searched by a group of suspicious Palestinian hookah-smoking hoodlums, who finally chased me out of the neighborhood. All in a day’s work…
-I hope you enjoy the trailer and buy the book.
