What does "Pride" mean in relation to your photograph?
I am obsessed with eyes and the look that they convey. You can gaze at any of my images and at first see a beautiful young man - but when you look into the eyes you will find many trapped emotions - fear, hope, sadness, an urge for love, passion etc...
In this case the eyes project many different emotions, confusing to the viewer, but also confusing to the boy... he is waiting. For what? For whom? He is afraid, but at the same time he is excited. He is insecure, vulnerable and worried, but also proud in himself - in his youth and beauty, in his independence... This is the kind of "pride" that appeals to me - a "natural" pride that is only one part of the whirlpool of emotions and feelings...

How does your photograph relate to your larger body of work?
My projects are always some kind of journey into my inner world of memories, conflicts and trapped emotions based on my own experiences.
So is this specific image, one frame is a series of photos titled "Fragments of Life", where I try to recreate and contrive fragments in my own life and psyche as a young Israeli, discovering sexuality in a "macho" society .
The trapped emotions in the eyes of this young man are my own....

Can you tell me a little "behind-the-scenes" information about the photo, location, models, circumstances under which it was shot?
In this case, I went "all the way" in reframing a fragment of my own life, and decided to shoot the photos in the original location, where I remembered myself hiding in a car in my army uniform (I was a young soldier at the time), full of fear and excitement, checking out the activity at the "Gay beach" in Tel Aviv just below the "Independence Park" (a known cruising area in Tel-Aviv). I was fascinated and aroused, but also terrified that someone who knows me will recognize me.... It was quite strange going back to the same place, at the same time of the day (twilight) with a young guy I was using as a model and the photography equipment....
Strangely enough the model was exactly the same age I was when I "lived" this scene ten years ago...

Any significant stories or anecdotes about the shooting of the photo that might be interesting? Well many people ask me about my models . I like to find them "in real life environment" - clubs, streets, beach... they are not professional models. The one in this photo, Eyal, is straight and is 20. I saw him in a club and was immediately drawn to the sensitive look in his eyes and face. We became friendly and spent many nights in long " spiritual " conversations about life, sometimes both of us just in underwear (he knew all about me and the meaning of the photo of course) and although we never had any sexual contact, I felt great intimacy with him.

How has being out and gay influenced your work as a photographer?
For many years, I photographed mainly nature, urban scenes and landscapes, always looking for an "emotional" content in the object, even though it was a building or a landscape. In a way, I think it was an emotional substitute to what I discovered later, when I "came out" in my photography.... It took me 10 years to move on and start dealing with real people and use " real people " and be able to challenge my own personal emotions by recreating old and current feelings and emotions. Although personally I "came out" quite a while ago, in my photography I "came out" only in the last 2 years.....