How did you first become interested in photography?

It started as a hobby. When I finished my military service I started to play around with my camera. My first job was as a flight attendant in the national Israeli airline company El Al. I started to take my camera with me during flights and have it always with me when exploring a new city I just landed in.
I wasn't sure if my photos are good enough until I submitted one to the 1997 Time Out Travel Award competition. It was chosen as a finalist and motivated me to show my other photos to friends and to submit it to photo competitions.

You studied cinematography at the New York Film Academy. Why did you decide to become a photographer instead of a cinematographer?

I studied cinematography for 4 years - first in New York, and then in Tel
Aviv.

My fascination with cinematography and with photography come both from the
same place - capturing feelings and emotions via the visual sense.

I am fascinated by cinematography. For me it is the ultimate contemporary
art form combining a narrative, voices and visuals. I also like working
with actors and exploring things with them, just like I do with my photography models.

But, with all my fascination with cinematography I discovered that I much
prefer the solitary world of photography. I'd rather be alone with the camera. Even my choice of models is guided by this . I work with friends or family, rather than "professional" models.

You've taken your camera all over the world. What is your favourite destination, and why?

Every new destination is fascinating for me. It is the fascination of discovery. It is the personal experience & excitement of exploring, revealing, unfolding stories. So, in a way, my favourite destination is always the last one I have been to.

Like right now it is Brazil and Argentina. But when I look at my archive I find some amazing images that provoke the feeling of previous trips and at that moment this destination become as the favourite one... Cuba, Guatemala, Israel, Nepal, New York and London - everywhere that I have that special "discovery" experience....

Your work covers a broad range of subjects - from rural and urban landscapes, to explorations of gay culture and identity. Is there a particular subject area that interests you more than others?

I am going through phases. When I travel I focus on my landscape & travel bodies of work. When I am in London I focus on my self identity & lifestyle bodies of work and in between I also do different projects.

I am an impulsive artist. I shoot with my feelings. So just like feelings, I explore different areas and subject that all have one thing in common: they are all me, part of my internal world and my personal experiences.

I don't want to sound pretentious, but I find it uncomfortable to call myself a "photographer”, it sounds too technical to describe my relationship with the camera. I use the camera as an extension of my body and senses like I use my eyes or hands. When I "photograph", I feel, I explore, I fantasise, I discover, I try to understand.

So, it is natural I will explore different areas that interest me...

Many of your portrait shots have a very spontaneous, 'unposed' feel to them. What is your secret for capturing that comfortable, natural pose in your subjects?

All models are close friends or friends of friends. I meet "the model" as a friend first, talk, make him feel comfortable and in a way there is some "bonding" between us before I start the session. Then when the camera comes in between us, it is sort of natural, an extension of our "intimacy" , and
not a foreign body which separates us into photographer and model.

One thing that strikes me about your work is the powerful use of colour - your award-winning photo '1700' being a good example. Do you have any particular techniques for bringing out the vibrancy in your images?


At early stage I used a cross-process technique (see my images of Piazza San Marco, Jamaican Girls etc). But later, when I felt more secure about my photography, I decided not to use anymore "artificial" techniques, but to find the colours and beauty in my subject - in the right angle, lighting and time of the day, and to capture it as it is.

What is your top tip for elevating an image beyond the ordinary?

Sensitivity... Just be sensitive, highly sensitive- and be open to see the divine in ordinary things. It will then happen.

Which do you prefer to shoot with - digital or film?

I hardly shoot in digital. I mainly use film.

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1) Why and when did you decide to become a photographer.

I never decided to become a photographer. It just happened.... In the years 1995-2000 I was working as a flight attendant and I was always taking my camera with me on my journeys to different countries. I had an inside need to capture images that stuck in my mind. I always knew I could best express myself visually; so I went to study cinematography in NYC and photography in Israel and gradually I started dedicating more and more time to photography. When my photos, still at an amateur stage, started winning awards, it made me realise I am good at it , not only in my eyes, but in other people's eyes.
My passion became a way of life. I love it!

2) Why a photographer rather than a cinematographer, considering your interest in the nature of reality/surreality.

Good question...:) My first interest was indeed cinematography. I studied cinema first in the New York Film Academy in NY, and then continuing in Tel-Aviv. Still, I love the loneliness, the independence, the flexibility and the freedom of still photography. I need the one-on-one intimacy when shooting people, and I enjoy just wandering around and letting myself absorb the surroundings and being ready for surprises. This can only happen is still photography. I love to discover, uncover and explore the dual nature of reality/surreality, rather than create it. Still, my vision and technique can be sometimes described as "cinematographic" - some of my photos, especially my latest ones, have a "snapshot" feel , a movement, they make you wait for the next action - like in a movie...


3) What is your work about.

It is about self identity, self exploration. Even when I explore, or manage to capture, a surreal moment, or a surreal vision of a place, or a human being - it is my own inside really that I am capturing - my psyche, my dreams, my surprise, my passion and my curiosity... and for me the magic happens when my own personal impression or feeling or mental state, clicks with that of the person who views my photo - this connection is magic, and makes a photo unique. I believe that a photo, like any piece of art can touch a "universal nerve" only if it starts from a personal, intimate experience....

4) Where do you get your inspiration for your work.

I get inspiration from what I see and how it makes me feel - it can be from a full moon on an empty square in Venice , or from someone's eyelash . As from influences and professional inspiration - there are many. My first big inspirational experience was when I watched the documentary about the making of Citizen Kane - the big question of "who are you" and how do you define a person, was something I immediately recognised as a question I kept asking myself since I was a child. This question ins in the back of my mind everytime I look through my camera lens.

5) Viewing your photos is a strangely sensual experience. What insights can you give, about your approach to photography and being a photographer.

I am always asking questions, always searching, always trying to get into the essence of things. Not to keep distance, not to "capture" it as an outsider, but to be inside, part of the experience. I guess this is primarily sensual, as you are using your senses to the maximum. I believe all senses are connected - so when you use your visual sense to the maximum, without feeling distant , and you are not afraid to explore and search for the beauty and the surrealistic secret of your object, your other senses get aroused as well. Some people say my photos make them want to touch, to feel, to go "straight in". For example my fruit stall image ("1700") I remember one of the critics in an exhibition saying "It makes you want to jump straight in". But this is exactly what I feel when I take them - and I am glad my viewers feel the same...


6) How much do you think being gay influences your work. Is it the reason for your search and experiments in dissecting 'reality' and the nature of identity.

Perhaps not the reason, but the mean, or one of the means. Being gay is in a way helping me to ask myself honest questions, it also taught me not to compromise and go deeper and deeper into a question.

On a more physical level, being gay and living a so called "gay lifestyle" gives me the opportunities of meeting people more easily and more openly . For example I am using the gay chat websites to meet potential "models" and do some "research" ...
the directness, variety, and sometime "cynical approach" of gay encounters today, intrigues me and inspires me in many cases. Some of my latest work is a direct result of moving to London, living in Soho, and being exposed to this on a daily basis.

7) Your name is intriguing, is it one you made up.

Not at all. In fact it is quite a common name in Israel. where I come from. Kobi is a common nickname of the Hebrew name Yaaqov (Jacob). People might find it strange or entertaining that , especially in the light of some of my more explicit work, my name has a strong biblical connotation - both my first name and surname are different names of biblical Jacob. Israel mean "fights with god", Jacob got this name after he successfully fought with an angel. I have no intention of fighting with any angels, just photographing them.. :)

8) Why and when did you move from Israel, and why to London. I was originally a Londoner so I am personally interested to know what you think of the city.

I love London. It is a place that inspires me. My second big passion in life, after photography, is travelling. So, both independently and as a past flight attendant I have been to so many places - but I must say, nowadays I find London fascinating - it is perhaps the only true "international" city in the world today - it belongs to the world. When I walk out of my flat in Soho I hear so many languages, see so many people from different places and culture - it is fascinating. Manhattan used to be like that, but I think London now is taking the lead- the multicultural diversity inspires creativity and interactions between people from different places.
I am a foreigner in the UK, but I don't feel a foreigner in London. I am inspired by what I see just walking in the streets. and I even like the weather....

There's another thing about the UK - Going out of London, to the countryside I somehow feel "at home" . I grew up in a residential suburb of Tel Aviv - hot and grey most of the year. As a child I was a "dreamer" . I was a big fan of the books of Enid Blyton . I remember the description of the landscapes of the green hills, rain, clouds, misty air, and dreamt about being there...
So, when I first travelled in the countryside I recognised the landscape from my childhood fantasies, and I still feel this warmth of my childhood home ( visionary, not real. but in my case - the visionary space can be more real than reality...)

9) You have travelled extensively. What is the place you have visited that has inspired you most artistically/photographically.

Every place I have been to inspired me in some way or another. But I guess I felt "an extra magic" in Prague and in Lisbon....
Both places not only inspired me ,but in a way they have a special meaning in my career - In Prague I took my first photo to get published and win an award (Time Out travel photography award) .In Lisbon I nearly lost my eyes when I took my head out of a tram trying to take a photo when it was going uphill, hitting it into a poll... I still have the scars.... I didn't learn my lesson and keep frightening my travel companions when standing in the middle of a motorway or on the edge of a cliff to take a photo...

10) What has been the most monumental moment in your career so far.

Seeing my "fruit stall" (1700) photo displayed in the National Portrait Gallery , as one of the finalists of the Schweppes annual Portrait Prize competition last year...

11) Do you have any links with Brighton. Do you intend visiting this large and famous gay community.

I don’t know much about Brighton, and am looking forward to exploring it during the art fair. I know it is were Londoners go to the beach, but living nearly all my life in seaside towns on the Mediterranean, my "dream escape" was always to the green countryside. But now, that I am living in London, I definitely miss the beach again, and am really looking forward to discover Brighton. I know there is a big gay scene in Brighton. I intended to come to Brighton pride this year, but at the last moment I had a photo assignment for "Attitude" magazine in Amsterdam...

12) What exhibitions are coming up for you over the next year. When and where. What new work can we expect to see in the future.

I am working on new material for a new exhibition, looking for the right space for it...
my main interest is now publishing my work.
My next project to be published is a new photography book called “Intimate Strangers” which is due to come out in spring 2005
Ii is a project I worked on intensively in the last year, and most of it was shot in Soho and Covent Garden in London. Some will see it as the next stage after my first book "Views". It takes my intimate experience with my objects a step further.... I won't tell you much about it. I like to surprise... :)