The Eretz Israel Museum Tel Aviv, in collaboration with Nature Photographers Association, opened an exhibition for Israeli nature and wildlife photography on June 21.
The initiative is a biennial photography exhibition and competition founded about a decade ago by the museum. It features presentations by some of Israel's top photographers who show their work to a professional and independent judging team who vote anonymously.
This year, over 4,000 photographs taken by 410 photographers were submitted to the competition, of which 45 participants were selected. The photographs in the exhibition are divided into ten categories, which showcase the diversity of Israel's nature.
Who was this year's photography winner?
Dr. Tom Schlesinger, a researcher at Tel Aviv University's School of Zoology and Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, was the 2023 winner.
Other finalists include Noam Kortler and Asaf Amran.
The exhibition is set to run through October 14.
Other exhibits at Eretz Israel Museum
In May, the Eretz Israel Museum opened the Black Life White Art exhibit, overseen by the museum’s chief photography curator Guy Raz. It displays the photography of Raed Bawayah, a Paris-based Palestinian photographer. In Hebrew, the exhibit's name translates to Black Is Life, White Is Art.
Bawayah’s subjects range from members of the Romani community to Egyptian farmers, Austrian schoolchildren, youngsters in remote Russian villages, Taiwanese fishermen and Colombian ladies of the night.
Another exhibit, called “Local Testimony and World Press Photo," opened in January. It incorporates images captured by photojournalists in Israel and around the globe during the course of the 12 months prior to the exhibition.
Barry Davis contributed to this report.