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BIRD'S-EYE VIEWS
By Susan Goodman
Jerusalem Post
Aug 30 2005
When we decided to take some aerial pictures of the Temple Mount
a voice from the control tower roared at us, 'Are you out of your
minds?! You can't fly over the Temple Mount. You'll cause a world
war!'"
This was one of the hazards mentioned by Moshe Miller in taking the
photographs for Jerusalem of the Heavens: The Eternal City in Bird's
Eye View.
Flanked by desert and surrounded by hills and valleys, a mixture of
old and new, Jerusalem is breathtakingly photogenic from an elevated
perspective. In this book, by Moshe Miller and Yehuda Solomon, the
camera soars above the city revealing a broad canvas of patterns and
textures formed by people, buildings and landscape.
Other times the camera hovers only a few meters above the ground,
bringing us intimate pictures of the faithful preoccupied with
religious ritual - the distance doesn't remove us from the scene but
enables the camera to observe without intruding. We see a Franciscan
monk about to turn a page of his book, and the Armenian Catholic
archbishop washing the feet of children. The rich religious pageant
of this city is laid before us with great artistry and sensitivity.
The authors write about the difficulties they encountered with
religious authorities when preparing this book. "The muezzin forbade us
to photograph the Aksa mosque, while the Greek Orthodox clergy didn't
want us to shoot the Roman Catholic ceremonies the ultra orthodox Jews
were of course infuriated when we drew our cameras on the Sabbath."
However, they also pay tribute to those who helped organize photographs
of religious activity and identify rituals. At the back of the book
are short explanations of the content of each photo and these give
us further understanding of the spiritual diversity that is the focus
of much of this heavenly book.
You'll find another book of aerial photographs, Skyline Jerusalem,
in most Jerusalem bookstores. The pictures were taken by two former
Israel Air Force pilots, Duby Tal and Moni Haramati. The book can't
boast the artistic merits of Jerusalem of the Heavens, but does
offer us a "peek into different neighborhoods" from a new angle. I
especially like the pairs of photos showing the same scene in golden
summer sunshine and also in winter white.
It was a photo by these two former pilots which inspired a painting
by Martin Rink of White Storks flying peacefully over the Holy City
- a true bird's eye view. The painting is reproduced at the end of
Flying with the Birds by Yossi Leshem and Ofer Bahat.
Wedged between the Syrian-African Rift to the east and the
Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel lies directly on the route of
500 million birds migrating between Europe and Africa - producing a
real risk of bird-plane collisions.
This unusual book is the result of an extensive study into bird
flight patterns over Israel. The research enabled the Israeli Air
Force to reduce these midair accidents by changing the location of
training flights.
With its extensive descriptions of worldwide animal migrations and bird
flight, Flying with the Birds includes some remarkable photos of planes
sharing Israeli skies with flocks of birds. Most of us rarely glimpse
these millions passing overhead, some of them at altitudes as high
as 7 km. The landscapes below look little more than an indistinct blur.
Far above the birds, at heights of about 700 km, the satellites watch
over us. For the ultimate bird's eye view of your street and home,
log on to http://earth.google.com. This free Google Earth program
enables you to zoom in on almost any part of the Earth's surface. You
can even rotate and tilt the angle of view. It's an absolutely stunning
piece of software.
By Susan Goodman
Jerusalem Post
Aug 30 2005
When we decided to take some aerial pictures of the Temple Mount
a voice from the control tower roared at us, 'Are you out of your
minds?! You can't fly over the Temple Mount. You'll cause a world
war!'"
This was one of the hazards mentioned by Moshe Miller in taking the
photographs for Jerusalem of the Heavens: The Eternal City in Bird's
Eye View.
Flanked by desert and surrounded by hills and valleys, a mixture of
old and new, Jerusalem is breathtakingly photogenic from an elevated
perspective. In this book, by Moshe Miller and Yehuda Solomon, the
camera soars above the city revealing a broad canvas of patterns and
textures formed by people, buildings and landscape.
Other times the camera hovers only a few meters above the ground,
bringing us intimate pictures of the faithful preoccupied with
religious ritual - the distance doesn't remove us from the scene but
enables the camera to observe without intruding. We see a Franciscan
monk about to turn a page of his book, and the Armenian Catholic
archbishop washing the feet of children. The rich religious pageant
of this city is laid before us with great artistry and sensitivity.
The authors write about the difficulties they encountered with
religious authorities when preparing this book. "The muezzin forbade us
to photograph the Aksa mosque, while the Greek Orthodox clergy didn't
want us to shoot the Roman Catholic ceremonies the ultra orthodox Jews
were of course infuriated when we drew our cameras on the Sabbath."
However, they also pay tribute to those who helped organize photographs
of religious activity and identify rituals. At the back of the book
are short explanations of the content of each photo and these give
us further understanding of the spiritual diversity that is the focus
of much of this heavenly book.
You'll find another book of aerial photographs, Skyline Jerusalem,
in most Jerusalem bookstores. The pictures were taken by two former
Israel Air Force pilots, Duby Tal and Moni Haramati. The book can't
boast the artistic merits of Jerusalem of the Heavens, but does
offer us a "peek into different neighborhoods" from a new angle. I
especially like the pairs of photos showing the same scene in golden
summer sunshine and also in winter white.
It was a photo by these two former pilots which inspired a painting
by Martin Rink of White Storks flying peacefully over the Holy City
- a true bird's eye view. The painting is reproduced at the end of
Flying with the Birds by Yossi Leshem and Ofer Bahat.
Wedged between the Syrian-African Rift to the east and the
Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel lies directly on the route of
500 million birds migrating between Europe and Africa - producing a
real risk of bird-plane collisions.
This unusual book is the result of an extensive study into bird
flight patterns over Israel. The research enabled the Israeli Air
Force to reduce these midair accidents by changing the location of
training flights.
With its extensive descriptions of worldwide animal migrations and bird
flight, Flying with the Birds includes some remarkable photos of planes
sharing Israeli skies with flocks of birds. Most of us rarely glimpse
these millions passing overhead, some of them at altitudes as high
as 7 km. The landscapes below look little more than an indistinct blur.
Far above the birds, at heights of about 700 km, the satellites watch
over us. For the ultimate bird's eye view of your street and home,
log on to http://earth.google.com. This free Google Earth program
enables you to zoom in on almost any part of the Earth's surface. You
can even rotate and tilt the angle of view. It's an absolutely stunning
piece of software.