My Very Own Unboxing Video

A friend and coworker made this short video of my photo going up on the wall of his home office (that means it’s also in the background for his conference calls and on-line meetings). I feel like I’m right up there with the new iPhone! 🙂

The photo is an HDR rendering of the Western Wall, from 2010. I’ve never seen one of my works printed on 20×30″ canvas before. I’m really bad about printing my photos because I’m always chasing the “next, best” image.

Ahava Sculpture, Israel Museum

Robert Indiana’s Ahava (Love) sculpture (1977), photographed before and after sunset. A lot of my sunflare photos didn’t turn out well because I forgot to clean the filter. Important to remember!

Big Bambú after Dark

More photos of the Big Bambú (full photo set on Flickr).

Guy davening mincha (afternoon prayer):

View of the center of the structure:

At night, the Big Bambú is lit by small lights within and larger lights on the perimeter.

Center of the Big Bambú, showing one of the walkways:

Big Bambú by Day

The Big Bambú is an interactive installation at the Israel Museum. Twin brothers Mike and Doug Starn have created Big Bambú installations in New York, Venice, and now Jerusalem. If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s still some time, because it has been extended to the end of October. Admission, in addition to the general admission to the Israel Museum, is 10 NIS for adults and 5 NIS for children (museum members get in free). You need to book in advance because the numbers are limited. Make sure you read the rules before you go, because you can’t wear flip-flops, clogs, or high heels (sandals seem to be OK). Full photo set on Flickr.

It’s the size of a small apartment block, with many different levels. I think the best time to see it is around dusk, so that you can see the sunset and changing lights. At night, the Big Bambú is lit. According to the Israel Museum site, this installation took:

10,000 bamboo poles, 80,000 meters of climbing rope, 25 rock climbers, 7 weeks, 350 hours, and not a single architectural sketch. American artists Mike and Doug Starn were invited to use the Museum’s Art Garden to create Big Bambú – a 17-meter high installation built entirely of bamboo. The artists chose to name their Jerusalem installation 5,000 Arms to Hold You.

View of the top level, from below. People are sitting on couches.

The larger levels have comfortable areas for sitting and enjoying the view.

The Vort (Engagement Party)

My son is engaged! Here are some photos from the Vort (engagement party). The mothers break a china plate (inside the pillow case) to symbolize the finality of the commitment. We broke an ordinary side plate, not the painted one in the photo above. Full photo set is on Flickr.

Power failure in the middle of the evening. They’re used to it.

The young people sat outside in the heat, while the oldies (like me) were inside with the air conditioning.

Jerusalem Wine Festival at the Israel Museum

This year was our first visit to the Jerusalem Wine Festival at the Israel Museum. We tasted some good wines, some bad wines, wandered around and had a good time. There was plenty of food to go with the wine–cheese, sushi, preserves, and pizza. Most of the wineries were kosher. The ones that weren’t were clearly marked and clustered together, so navigating wasn’t as difficult as I’d expected. Most of the wineries were the large ones like Recanati, Tishbi, and Carmel. I had hoped to see some of the smaller companies, like Saslove, but alas.

The Big Bambu sculpture had free admission during the wine festival. The catch is that you’re not allowed to climb if you’ve been drinking alcohol, so you have to climb before you start sipping.