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Nov. 16, 2007
A life in photographs
David Rubinger's work is part of Israeli heritage.
RON FRIEDMAN
Reading the autobiography of veteran photojournalist David Rubinger is like reading a history of the state of Israel. Rubinger's personal life story, that of an older man, is the history of the young country.
During his 60 years working as news photographer, Rubinger has seen it all: war and peace, moments of great elation and moments of dismay, the monumental and the everyday. And, through it all, he carried his camera. The result is a wonderful collection of photographs depicting some of the most memorable moments in Israeli history. But his book, Israel Through My Lens, co-written with Ruth Corman, isn't just a series of pictures. The 150 or so photographs are interwoven into a skilfully written narrative describing the incredible circumstances under which many of the shots were taken and charming accounts of life as it was in Israel throughout the years.
Rubinger was born in Vienna in 1924. He immigrated to Israel when he was a teenager, together with a group of friends from his Zionist youth movement, and joined a kibbutz. When the Second World War broke out, he volunteered to join the British military and fought in the Jewish Brigade. Rubinger lost family members in the Holocaust and, once the war was over, returned to Israel to begin life with his new wife, a survivor of the camps.
Rubinger fell in love with photography during the war and became determined to become a professional photographer. Through a combination of luck, skill and connections, he was able to make the dream a reality and he has been able to travel Israel and around the world working as a freelancer and also as an employee for some of the biggest and most prestigious international publications.
Israel Through My Lens, published by Abbeville Press, is divided into a series of short, easy-to-read chapters, each with a theme of its own. In each section, which is generally set up in chronological order, Rubinger combines a pleasant mix of historical data, vivid description, revealing anecdotes and personal opinion. Each chapter also includes two or three of his photos.
Readers are sure to recognize some of the pictures, since several of them have become part of Israeli heritage. For example, the book's cover photo, perhaps Rubinger's most famous, shows paratroopers at the Western Wall following the conquering of the Old City during the Six Day War. There is also the shot of a Yemenite immigrant in the 1940s, bringing home chickens for Shabbat.
Rubinger possesses the enviable ability to capture a moment on film in a way that tells a whole story. That, together with his uncanny tendency to be at the right place at the right time to take the perfect picture, makes him one of Israel's top photographers. The only problem with this book is that not all the photos that he describes are reproduced, so that, in some cases, you wish that, instead of describing them, he would have simply included them.
Rubinger will be in Vancouver this month as part of the Cherie Smith JCCGV Jewish Book Festival. You can hear him speak and view a documentary about his life and work on Monday, Nov. 26, 8 p.m., at the Norman Rothstein Theatre. For tickets, which are $12/$15, call 604-257-5111 or order online at www.jccgv.com.
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