While waiting for a meeting in the famous governmental district of Den Haag, I was browsing through a local magazine stating that the market in the city is the largest one to be found in Holland. Remembering what a professional photographer once told me “Whenever I get to a new city, the first think I do is grab my camera and go to the local market”, I decided to follow.

Arriving to the market was definitely not a disappointment, it has about 500 stands, covering everything from food, home appliances, clothes, shoes, music and more. I started wondering around, waiting for some nice photo opportunities.

Photo opportunities in a market are plentiful, but I did encounter two main challenges. The first was picking human subjects- walking around with an SLR isn’t very low profile, and while some people don’t mind it at all, a lot will prefer to stay out of your frame, and will either politely move away or simply tell you so. One of the solutions was to focus on hands and transactions,  the other was to put people in the background.

Less challenging but just as satisfying, some of the commodities in the market make for excellent photographic subject, and when it comes to fruit and vegetables, they hardly ever protest. Color and textures of different products are easily accessible and supply great compositions to play with.

As for the gear, I was using my solid entry level Olympus e-420 with its 14-45 kit lens. I’d recommend sticking to either your mid range zoom lens or switch to a wider one. If you want to come closer to an object, you can just walk up, and using a tele-lens will limit your wide angle snap shots.

Markets to give a glimpse into local culture, and if you don’t find cultural enlightenment, you can at least catch a glimpse of the local commodities. I have to say my strongest memories from the Den Haag market were food, and shoes.

Did you find an interesting market and photographed it? Post it on The Wide Lens

Tel Aviv has a justified reputation of a none-stop city. It can match just about any other metropolitan in the world with it’s around the clock activities and easily outrun the majority of other cities on the globe. It’s this character that easily allows nightlife photography to take place in various spots and scenarios.

I had the opportunity to get into a concert of a few unknown local rock bands, some excellent and some will definitely raise an eyebrow with the average listener, like myself.

The interesting point was actually the venue- a huge loft over an old warehouse, with the band located right in the middle, and a set of extremely strong lighting which could make the entire room brighter than daylight. The lights were effective enough to point out that sunglasses are recommended.

Hearing about this set of performances at the particular set up translated clearly into a photo opportunity. Equipped with my trusty, though somewhat slow Olympus C-8080, I headed out.

The lighting conditions kept changing dynamically throughout the night and every few seconds. Which made the use of flash virtually impossible to set up in time. Aperture priority and lots of snapshots became the immediate tactic, while also trying to get the lighting, musicians and crowed into the composition. Black and white post processing also seemed to add a bit of atmosphere to some images.

Beyond the special event and unique lighting conditions, this was my only attempt so far with band photography, a genre I encounter quite a bit at personal galleries of photographers. It’s actually fun an challenging, as the combination of items and composition is both endless and dynamic.

Have you tried band photography as well? Why not let us all see?

Photography is often all about being an opportunist. I’ve caught on my camera this sight of a woman feeding about 30 street cats, when I was never expecting it, but the sight and its results are touching.

Old Jaffa is a tourist attraction and generally an interest point worth visiting, ancient history, narrow alleys and an assortment of art galleries. It’s proximity to the beach and to the city of Tel-Aviv (they actually belong to the same municipality) ads to it some coffee shops and restaurants to rest at, when you’re just about tired of exploring.

My exploration of the old city and its sights was interrupted- for the better- when I stumbled upon an alley full of cats, patiently waiting for their daily meal.

Street and stray cats are a very common sight in the cities of Israel. This lady has made herself a habit of feeding the street cats of the old city of Jaffa on a daily basis for the past 15 years, no less. “Some need much more love and attention than food“, but there is definitely no need to spare in that department as well.

Each cat has its own name and is invited to its plate by that name, except for the ones very recent to this culinary arrangement. With 30 cats or so, one cannot but appreciate the attention. A line of clean plates is placed against a wall, and then a two course meal is served while the cats wait patiently to their turn. Those don’t get an assertive comment from the chef, as there is “more then plenty for everyone“.

Society in a way got us used to consider people feeding cats obsessively as being odd and lonely, but if you ever walk around the alleys of old Jaffa in a late afternoon, look for the woman feeding the street cats there. You just might be charmed enough to confuse strange and odd with compassionate and rare.

Have you photographed a touching/interesting interaction between people and animals? send your story over