Jerusalem Festival of Light 2014: Cosmogole and Daisy

“Cosmogole” (Philippe Morvan, France) in the foreground, left. “Daisy” (Franck Pelletier, Studio En Attendant, France) on the right. The first photo was not easy, because “Cosmogole” and “Daisy” have cycles of dark/light, because I wanted the bright spotlights to be lit for a starburst effect, and because too long an exposure would cause the bright “Gate of Dreams” (center, back) to be completely washed out. It would have been nice to catch “Cosmogole” at a slightly brighter moment in its cycle, but that might not have been possible.

From above, on the walkway by Old City wall:

Now the center ball is well-lit, but the bright spotlights aren’t on. In this exposure, the “Gate of Dreams” is starting to look washed out. Combining installations in the same frame always requires compromises!

“Daisy” was fun to photograph but you had to catch it at a good time in the cycle and fiddle with the shutter speed. This shot was taken with a tripod. If you want to know the technical details, click the photo to go to the Flickr page. The aperture was f/32 because I was trying to get a starburst effect while photographing “Cosmogole” and hadn’t changed it to something more normal. OTOH, it sure compresses the depth of field! The “Palace of Dreams” is quite far behind the “Daisy.”

The last shot was actually hand-held (.5 second exposure), which I don’t recommend unless you have really steady hands and a way to brace your camera.

Festival of Light 2014: First Night

The sixth Jerusalem Festival of Light opened last night. I think this year’s exhibits may be stronger than last year’s, although admittedly I’ve only seen the White and Red trails. The “Garden of Dreams” (above), by Luminarie De Cagna, was a spectacular opening installation. My husband remarked that some of the installations in this space in other years have been a bit wishy-washy. This huge castle was gorgeous once it was lit.

There were several very good video-mapping installations (more on that in another post). Batei Mahsei was transformed into a “Circus of Light” (Nuno Maya and Carole Purnelle, OCUBO), with clever animations and Terry Gilliam-like collages.

O*GE (Gaston Zahr and Meirav Eitan) constructed an unusual house of cards, based on Jean David’s iconic deck, in the plaza by the Hurva synagogue. The installation took about a month to create, requiring very precise welding at the angles. Gaston pointed out that the corner cards are actually square. When you create a real house of cards, you can overlap them. When the cards are panels of lights, a different solution has to be found.

The wall at the end of Armenian Patriarchate Road usually has a small video-mapping work. This year’s “Arch” (Theoriz Studio & BKYC) was beautifully coloured.

This year, unlike the past few years, there was no paid performance in Gan Habonim. However, you could sit on lawn chairs around Philippe Morvan’s “Cosmogole,” watch the pulsating lights and enjoy the music.

A few final thoughts: The crowd control is much better than it has been in the past. The Jewish Quarter route (White Trail) in particular has had very serious crowd issues in the past. This year a one-way system of traffic has been enforced, so that you enter from Jaffa Gate and leave by Zion Gate, which will take you to one end of the Red Trail. You can do the White and Red Trails comfortably in one evening.

Second, although the festival begins at 8:00, we found that many of the exhibits started late and were much more impressive in full darkness, so I recommend arriving no earlier than 8:30.

Third, in case you have never been before, parking is impossible and there are large traffic jams. It’s a good idea to read the info about traffic arrangements. Leave the car at one of the outlying parking lots and come to the Old City by light rail, shuttle bus, or on foot. Enjoy!