The Jerusalem International Photography Challenge Exhibition will be held between June 6th to August 6th at the Ammunition Hill by KKL-JNF along with JNF USA, Ammunition Hill, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Tourism, Jerusalem and Heritage, GPO and with the support of HP (Scitex and Indigo) and Venture Partners PICO
The challenge is dedicated to the memory of the late David Rubinger, the challenge guru. Curators: Rina Castelnuovo, Gali Tibon, Ziv Koren; Head of Curators team: Avi Ohayon, Founder and Director: Alon Wald, Ammunition Hill
The International Photography Challenge JerusaLENS is held in honor of the Jubilee Year of the Six Days War and became the largest collection of Jerusalem photographs on the web.
For the first time in 5,000 years, photographers from all over the world were invited to upload photographs of Jerusalem from any time on any subject to a special competitive platform.
Some14,500 photographs from 84 countries were uploaded within a month and a half and received 2.4 million votes, a record number for World Cities challenges on the Gurushots site, more photos and votes than Paris, New York and London.
The Jerusalem Photography Challenge attracted photographers from Arab countries as well, including Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Iraq and more.
More than 30% of the total photos relate to the Temple Mount. About 50% of the photographs relate to religious activity in the city (Jewish, Christian and Muslim). The Chords Bridge is among the leading photogenic symbols of the new city. The anonymous and international voting creates a fascinating and unprecedented “equality of power”: For the first time ever “judging” of the city is carried out only on an aesthetic and artistic basis.
Right to Left: Winner Photographer Award (4 most voted images from surfers) “The bagel-man” at the Old City. Photo by: David Mor, Israel; The winning picture in the Guru selection criteria: “Rubinger searched for cosmopolitan simplicity and humanity in the city.” Photo by: Ariel Levanon, Israel; The winning photo by the audience “captures the unique golden light of Jerusalem” Photo by: Dalia Rajwan, Israel.
The surfers chose 3 photographers by shared rating:
- David Mor won the $5,000 prize for the Challenge Photographer
- The photography prize chosen by the audience was awarded to Dalia Rajwan of Israel for $2,225
- Ariel Lebanon won $2,225 in the guru’s category. Rina Castelnuovo made her selection on behalf of the late David Rubinger, the Challenge Guru, who was looking for “cosmopolitan simplicity and humanity in the city”. Lebanon, 76, was among the first wounded from the Paratroopers Brigade in the battle for the Police Academy in 1967. Only after the selection did it transpire that he fought with the father of Alon Wald, the initiator of the challenge, whose father was killed in the battle on Ammunition Hill.
- The $500 Young Photographer Award was awarded to Manny Cohen of the United States by a challenge that was held as part of a youth competition sponsored by the JNF-USA.
Out of the 400 leading photographs, the curators chose 100 photographs that were enlarged and will be presented at the Jubilee Exhibition at Ammunition Hill from June 6th in an exhibition that will last two months. Later on, the exhibition will be touring Israeli and JNF representatives around the world. Admission is free.
The mentors include photographers Rina Castelnuovo, Gali Tibbon, Ziv Koren and the team leader – Avi Ohayon.
KKL-JNF Chairman Danny Atar: “Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people from the First Temple until today. For 115 years, the Jewish National Fund has been working to strengthen Jerusalem, cultivate its lands and strengthen its global standing. We were happy to share the official JNF photo archive with the competition and allow the public to enjoy the beauty of the city, its culture and people, and congratulate the talented winning photographers”.
Challenge Curator Rina Castelnuovo: “I was looking for a picture of simplicity that shows the spirit and the residents of the city as David Rubinger loved it. I came across the winning picture a few days before the end of the challenge and it turns out that it caught the eye of the head of the judging team as well. It took extensive investigative work to locate it again, and the chance that the photographer will be from the 55th Brigade is 1 to 14,500!”
All images are available on www.gurushots.com/jerusalem
Photographs from the meeting with Ariel Levanon at Drobox
Photos credit: JerusaLENS
Among the photographs that will be displayed in the exhibition:
Credits from right to left: KOBI BICACI, EZRA LANDAU, BILAL NASSAR
International Photography Challenge JerusaLENS – Exhibition
6/6/17-6/8/17
Ammunition Hill, Free entrance, Sunday to Thursday from 8:00 to 17:00, Friday from 8:00 to 13:00