Bruce Shaffer
Welcome to Hidden Sparks Photography, my portfolio of faces and places found mostly in Israel and the West Bank/Palestine. With my camera, I'm looking for the inner light of my subjects, as they inform ordinary life in this extraordinary Land. Photographer Robert Frank said, "I’m looking for those moments I can’t explain." I'm similarly seeking the inexplicable clues that lead beneath the surface, to ask what's happening and how does it feel to be there.
These images can invoke the master stories of this region, but my interest lies in the lives of individuals often found in the margins. The flash through mirco-second openings to my camera, into my heart and mind. In some collections, I provide brief descriptions, captions and links to related material, but I resist reportage impulses. I’m not offering objectivity, thoroughness or balance. In the field, my eyes follow my instincts and biases, capturing sights that I later re-see and re-arrange to make sense to me. Perhaps these images will spark your own deeper exploration of this center of the world's gravity.
My style is informed by documentary and street-photography sensibilities. I'm operating viscerally, always looking for what to look for. I'm thankful to Irus Hayoun Rozenfeld, Jack Greene, Elisabeth Relin, and Bruce Henderson for mentoring, and to the Jerusalem Photo Club and Zane Shaffer for ongoing critique.
I somewhat nomadically reside between Boulder CO and Jerusalem, my base for leading Youth Photography Workshops for groups of combined Israeli and Palestinian students and assisting other bridgebuilding projects with my camera. My work has appeared in Ha’aretz, The Times of Israel, The Forward, The Third Way film and I've photographed for Tiyul-Rihla, Roots/Shorashim/Judur, Taghyeer, Machsom Watch, Women Wage Peace, and Pashut Ahava. I’m open to journalists, writers, NGOs, and guides for assignment in the region. Please contact me here.
These images can invoke the master stories of this region, but my interest lies in the lives of individuals often found in the margins. The flash through mirco-second openings to my camera, into my heart and mind. In some collections, I provide brief descriptions, captions and links to related material, but I resist reportage impulses. I’m not offering objectivity, thoroughness or balance. In the field, my eyes follow my instincts and biases, capturing sights that I later re-see and re-arrange to make sense to me. Perhaps these images will spark your own deeper exploration of this center of the world's gravity.
My style is informed by documentary and street-photography sensibilities. I'm operating viscerally, always looking for what to look for. I'm thankful to Irus Hayoun Rozenfeld, Jack Greene, Elisabeth Relin, and Bruce Henderson for mentoring, and to the Jerusalem Photo Club and Zane Shaffer for ongoing critique.
I somewhat nomadically reside between Boulder CO and Jerusalem, my base for leading Youth Photography Workshops for groups of combined Israeli and Palestinian students and assisting other bridgebuilding projects with my camera. My work has appeared in Ha’aretz, The Times of Israel, The Forward, The Third Way film and I've photographed for Tiyul-Rihla, Roots/Shorashim/Judur, Taghyeer, Machsom Watch, Women Wage Peace, and Pashut Ahava. I’m open to journalists, writers, NGOs, and guides for assignment in the region. Please contact me here.