David Mor’s picture of a man pushing a heavy cart of bagels up the steps of the Old City won the $5,000 first-place prize in JerusaLENS, an international online photography challenge created as part of the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.
This photo by David Mor won first place in the JerusaLENS photo competition.
An exhibition of the 100 top vote-getters in JerusaLENS opened last week at Ammunition Hill National Memorial Site in Jerusalem.
“Jerusalem of Gold by Michael Shmidt is among the most popular JerusaLENS photos.
Some 14,500 photographs uploaded within a month and a half came from 84 countries and received a total of 2.4 million votes. That is more votes than similar competitions for photographs of Paris, New York, and London.
The competition attracted photographers from Arab countries, including Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Iraq. More than 30 percent of the photos received were of the Temple Mount.
Kobi Bichachi trained his lens on a Jerusalem skateboarder for JerusaLENS.
About half the photos depict religious activity in Jerusalem, with the Old City attracting the most interest. In the newer part of the city, the Bridge of Strings received a high number of submissions.
Yonit Schiller titled the JerusaLENS photo “Lovin’ the Shuk.”
The second most popular photo, Dalia Rajuan’s picture of a man walking through the narrow streets of the Old City with the morning light peeking through the buildings, won $2,225.
Dalia Rajuan’s photo of a pedestrian in the Old City got the second most votes in JerusaLENS.
JerusaLENS was dedicated to the memory of the late Israeli photographer David Rubinger. The competition was curated by Rina Castelnuovo, Gali Tibon, Ziv Koren, Avi Ohayon and Alon Wald, founder and director of Ammunition Hill.
Castelnuovo selected one photograph on behalf of Rubinger: Ariel Lebanon’s photo of teenagers sitting on top of the Old City’s walls won $2,225.
This photo of teenagers on the Old City walls was taken by Ariel Lebanon.
Unbeknownst to Castelnuovo when she cast her vote, the 76-year-old Lebanon was among the first wounded from the Paratroopers Brigade in the battle for the Police Academy in 1967. Moreover, Lebanon fought alongside Alon Wald’s father, who was killed in the battle on Ammunition Hill.
Yemin Moshe, the first Jerusalem quarter built outside the Old City walls, is captured in this JerusaLENS photo by Ephraim Loeb.
Tal Or-Miller’s “The Jewish Batman” was snapped at the Western Wall.
The free exhibition, running through August 6, also includes photos from the collections of Keren Kayemet L’Israel-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF); the ministries of foreign affairs, tourism, Jerusalem and heritage; and the Government Press Office. Keren Kayemet L’Israel-Jewish National Fund representatives plan to take the photo exhibit on tour around Israel and world Jewish communities.
Originally posted at Israel21c.