JPix No 1 :The inaugural Jewish Photo Carnival

Photographs

If a picture tells a thousands words, what does a photograph capture?

Is it a fleeting moment of time? An impression, emotion, memory, sensibility?

Is it a 'piece' of ourselves? Our time, space, consciousness? Or is it all of these and more?

Photography has a relatively short but intensive history, no doubt one of the turning points was the issue of the Kodak of 1888, it was sold on the premise any one could use it and came loaded with an impressive 100 shots ready to shoot. Since the time that photography became more and more accessable to the common person, innovation after innovation has kept our interests in photography.

I'm old enough to remember the amazement I felt when I saw my first instamatic Polaroid land camera, it developed pictures, right there in front of you.

I have been told by a reliable source that Jack from Jacks Shack was actually alive when they were using the very basic and inexpensive Student Camera, which doesn't suprise me, Jack's quite an antique...

Speaking of Students and Cameras, in my student days, the price of photography meant there was little room for experimentation, you shot each shot hoping not to waste your money, now days with advancements in digital photography, you can afford to be adventurous, any poor shot is easily editable on your camera, you simply collect the good ones and dump the bad ones with the enormous increase in size of memory modules, it seems the sky is almost the limit to the number of pictures you can take with a digital camera.

There is a long history between Photography and Jews, including one of my favorite Photographers Alfred Stieglitz, but this is far beyond the scope of this humble 'Picture Carnival' , but importantly I'd like to mention what JPix is all about.

What is JPix
Simply put JPix is a carnival for Jews and their pictures, it doesn't necessarily have to be that 'joyous expression of art' which photography can capture, it doesn't have to be just about photos of Eretz Israel, though they are most welcome, its not even about communicating some deep spiritual meaning in a long photo essay, although that's alright too, its about two things.

You're Jewish and you have photos you want to share, wether they be family, historical, artful, funny, quirky its about sharing, so with out further ado, we now begin to look at what is in essence a virtual 'part of us'.

Warts and all welcome to the very first
JPix Carnival of Pictures.

Eretz Israel

I love viewing photos of Israel, and some one I've followed before they even made aliyah was Evan from Planet Israel, Evan's tours of Israel just exude the genuine excitement he has for Israel, he has a personal approach and well its the next best thing to being there. In his photo essay The Road To Beit El we are shown first hand parts of Israel, those of us in the Diaspora never get to see. His visit to Beit El is a indepth series of essays both beautiful and informative, check them out.1. The Road To Beit El 2. The Orange Revolution 3. The Beit El Animal Corner 4. Building in Beit El 5. Back to Beit El for the Aliyah Shabbaton 6. Beit El in History: The Patriarchs and 7. Beit El in History: The Tanachic Period , quite a collection, I know but as always with Evan worth the viewing/reading.

Cosmic X in Jerusalem takes a photo of the mundane that expresses just a little more than first glance S ST STU STUP STUPI STUPID , on a different note he shows the slowly developing change in the western entrance to Jerusalem with Building Bridges In Jerusalem, not quite what you expect from the title, or well its just another day. You've all heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, well Cosmic X thinks he might have found Israel's answer in Scraping It in Tel Aviv.

Jameel from The Muqata has also noted the prevalence of street Graffati and like Cosmic X he ponders its source, his Photo essay is a must see, in this latest bout of Graffitit appearing all over Israel. Check it out Who are the Mysterious Graffiti Wizards of OZ? some how I think Jameel's suspicions on its source might be ri rig right.

Jameel takes us on blast from the past with this midnight adventure, this was a highlight for me and its good to see it get some light again.Amazing Midnight Visit to Kever Yehoshua bin Nun.

For another blast thats very Fresh from The Muqata, Jameel shows us a series of Photos from up in the Golan and Tzefat, yes it's cold and there's Snow pix from Northern Israel today.

With the Western Negev in the News lately, its a good time to pop over to David's blog My LIfe under the Iron Rain and check out this beautiful Postcard from Meflsim. David featured a series of photos showing the expense and trouble locals have to go to to try to endure the raining of rockets. Its a must see, its was from earlier this year but check it out, Changes in the view,changes in the calendar. Even with never ending cahnce of rockets David has captured the beauty of a Winter Casuality.

Dave Bender from Israel at Level Ground goes all arty on us with his rendetion of Jerusalem of Gold and Blue, he gets his more serious self with Israel - Syria cut secret peace deal, I'm not sure of the veracity of the story but the photos of the Golan Heights are beautiful.

Muse from Me-ander has been slowly watching a neighbouring house getting built which is almost finishing the roof , things are getting cold and chilly but there's still beauty in the Winter Mornings. On the erev of Tu B'Shvat Muse takes some strange Erev Tu B'Shvat sights in. Make a note of the origin of the Beautiful Iris which appears in the comments.

As a final gesture of the Eretz Israel section I'd like to feature this Blog which I came across, simply named Photos of Israel the blog Israel4321 has some simply stunning photos, such as this series:
Bar’am National Park, an ancient synagogue and a Maronite church

Sights, Out and About

It seems Treppenwitz was Trippin The Light Fantastic a while back with his journeys to the Edge. His sent us some Postcards from the Edge which truly have to be seen to be believed.

Mottel from Letters of Thought shows us a photo from last year of a well known landmark, 770 as he contemplates what it means to him to be close to his Rebbe for Yud Shvat. He has a wonderful photo essay titled A Story of Five Nights -a Yud Shvat Photo Essay which is definitely worth a look.

The Jetsetting Sara with No H celebrates the Sunshine a while back, from her new state of Residence, Cali as she likes to call it. Just before her departure from San Francisco after visiting a friend she shows us her Last San Francisco Pics, which are definitely showing some California creativity. Sara shares her new home with us, Back Home around the House luckily her house isnt the last house amongst the redwoods.

A Simple Jew posts an amazingly apt photo for a Serious discussion on feelings of being remote and removed from the everyday, titled Guest Posting From Chabakuk Elisha - Isolation, its not quite a photo essay but the photo conveys the essay's theme so well. [Photo taken in Uman Ukraine by a friend of Chabakuk Elisha]

Sarah from Sarah's View has been snapping away again, Sarah has caught the warm glow of a nice day basking a collection of Green Leaves, whilst out walking Down the Street she grabs a few images, some of the every day mundane others from a more abstract angle

Family and Friends

What has to be one of the high lights of family photos is this splendid example from Psychotoddler of why we don't time travel, Like Father like Son, A photo than Just makes you go awww from Dot Co Dot Il is Holding your Head High, just when you think the Photos can't get any cuter theres a Splish Splash.

PsychoToddler answers back with his rendering of things Beautiful in Shutterbug, which is nicely contrasted with a rather rough looking character in the last Photo. Sara with No H shows us the thousand emotions of being a teenager with The Face of a Teenager and then she takes a roll down to Vegas, Baby!.

In complete contrast Stacey from Stagey's Shmata shows us her girls playing in Dallas on a Snow Day

Life as Orieyenta conveys a beautiful story and picture of Her Daughter's Lo, wish for her Teddy to be Jewish, Winston's Conversion, and then just when you think things have settled down Here comes the Kosher Police.

Baleboosteh has a series of Photos of her Three mischief makers, Her daughter Jade celebrates her birthday, everyones ready for a piece of Jade's 7th Birthday cake, it seems the youngest Ruby was busy helping mum make Chocalate Cake by giving A Helping Hand and Amber who has recovered very well from Heart Surgery goes of to school for her first day.

Ok, if a dog is a man's best friend then I suppose its only fair Rahel from Elms in the Yard gets to show of a few of her friends, heres one On Duty and two rather formally dressed friends, Tuxedos, followed by a Downtown Tortie Friend, followed by some action Adventure in Jurassic park.

Occasions

A Simple Jew gets Ready for Shabbos Shira and Muse is Celebrating 29 years Back in Shiloh, she reminisces about the hardships and sacrifices women of Israel have made that helped make the modern settlement of Eretz Israel possible, this contrasts nicely with her photo of a rather sumptuous serving of fresh fruits.

Moving on Up... conveys what must be the most surprising Bank Transaction they've seen in a while, there's a ring on the door bell and .. Tu B'shevat Sameach!

Art fot Arts sake

One of My favorite bloggers A Simple Jew has been doing a series in Black and White, his last major series of Photos of his Shtetl were a must look each week, this week he has gone a step further, what intially looks like the Petals of a Flower which have become almost metalic in appearance,aren't quite what they seem. Check it out; Black & White Picture Of The Week - Week 3 , he follows this up with Picture of the Week - Week4.

While not quite falling under the category of photos, JPix will occassionally delve beyond the realm of the Photo, hence the term J Pix , some of the fractuals featured on the blog Not Quite Perfect are definitely out of this world.
Check out this rendition of Tu B'Shvat 5767 and if that doesn't grab your bizarre taste buds try this Window World if you like fractuals and computer rendered imagery then definitely check out Dzeni's exhaustive displays on his blog site,Not Quite Perfect .

The blog EinHodvisit seems to take the division between what is a Photo and an illustrationand totally strech the boundaries. There's some very wild computer manipulated imagery, a few of my favorites are Reflection of Knobs in Color posted by Reify and Using Batya's Wall Shot, the 'photo' Roofproof crosses that thin line between what is real and what is not real.

Thank you and don't forget to get in your submissions for the next JPix carnival which will be hosted by the first volunteer to contact Bagelblogger. Submissions by 22nd of Feburary, Carnival opening on the 26th

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Essay References:
About: Polaroid Land Cameras
Masters of Photography
Wikipedia: Alfred Stieglitz
BoxCameras.com: Patent for 1888 Kodak

If you like old cameras like me, check out:
Antique Wood Cameras
Old Camera Ads:19th Centry Camera Ads
History of Photography

If you have any questions you can email JpixcarnivalATgmailDOTcom

Bagelblogger Get those entries into JPix..!
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