Being Authentic
by Aviram Bar-Akiva
Aviram Bar-Akiva on Lens Magazine Issue 34
“My name is Aviram Bar-Akiva. I am a native born Israeli living and working in Tel-Aviv. The passion for photography was always within me, but it was only when I turned 42 that I grabbed a camera and went down to the streets of Tel-Aviv. Everything I learned about photography is from the streets, never took any professional course or workshop. It was the asphalt roads, the concrete pavements and the glossy windows that showed me around and it was the people of the city who were my teachers. In my daily life, I am an Electrical Engineer, designing power to the cities and their mega-structures. It is during the weekends and the late hours that I enjoy walking the busy streets and monumental buildings, passing by the lively coffee shops during the day or the noisy bars and colorful clubs at night. The city’s heartbeat becomes my own, as I watch the city and the people that make it, trying to capture all of that which comes into my sight.”
Being Authentic
Copyright to Aviram Bar-Akiva © All Rights Reserved
Copyright to Aviram Bar-Akiva © All Rights Reserved
“Street photography for me is all about capturing emotions. A street scene without a sense of emotion is like street food without spice. This is what I look for when I walk the streets downtown.
The gesture of a loved one, the passion of a dance, the empathy of faith, the excitement of youth, the comfort of the elderly or it just might be the simple joy of living at the moment. Being in the streets and capturing these special moments requires me not only to keep my eyes open, but also to keep my soul free and my heart open, as I do not know what will come in front of me next and if this spice that I look for will reveal itself through my viewfinder. These moments reflect invitation to be a silent participant in a scene unfolding in front of me. Ted Grant once said “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls”, this is why I shoot mainly in black and white. ”
– Aviram Bar-Akiva
Read the full Article on Lens Magazine Issue #34
Copyright to Aviram Bar-Akiva © All Rights Reserved
