Marc Israel Sellem
"[The Dead Sea] was supposed to be one of the Seven New Wonders of the World. I wanted to photograph pictures of the Dead Sea from different points of view.
"I did it from the air to change the scenery. The Dead Sea is amazing, and in 20 years, it won't be around."
Marc Israel Sellem
"It was in the middle of the night. It was amazing to go there. I went with Tovah [Lazaroff, a Post correspondent.]
"We weren't sure if something would happen. Someone told Tovah something would happen. I was the only photographer on site at the beginning. You can see it's night. The man there has a helmet because they were afraid what the reaction would be [to the demolition].
"You can see the shadow of a police man. At the end, settlers made a little trouble. But we were inside a settlement, not Palestinian territory where you can feel unsafe. [The settlers] just started throwing stones."
Marc Israel Sellem
"I saw that all the houses that are very close together. You can see on the bottom right there is a yellow van, and I though the composition was very nice.
"You never see [Nablus]. You can imagine it's a different way of life than Israel, and Jerusalem. Everything is very close, there is no room to breathe.
"I really liked how close [the buildings] are together. Everything is upside down."
Marc Israel Sellem
"I took these shots because in one picture she is smiling, and in the other she is not smiling. The difference in time is 23 seconds. When she saw me [photographing] she started to cry because there was a camera. She is a professional cryer. They pay these people.
"I'm not sure if they pay them to cry for the release of Palestinian prisoners or not. They're carrying pictures of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. And they go there to ask for their release. I was probably the only photographer that saw her smiling."
Marc Israel Sellem
"This picture was taken 23 seconds after the first one."
Marc Israel Sellem
"I took this picture now because of the issue of advertising women in Jerusalem. This picture was to illustrate the fact that there are pictures of women [on public display] now in Jerusalem.
"I called this the Impossible Kiss. You can see the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) is kissing the woman. It's why I think I did it, because I think it is powerful. Because it looks like the haredi's kissing her."
Marc Israel Sellem
"It was October 3, and it was the “March of the Million”. It was a demonstration in Jerusalem, and when I got there, I saw lots of people. I tried to compose a photograph so I could see lots of people.
"I went to the apartment building above the supermarket in the square. I tried to go to the roof, but it was impossible. I started ringing on people's doors, on the last floor, and some people opened up and I asked them if I could go to the porch.
"'I need to to take a photo,' I said. 'Can I take a photo of the protest?' Everyone was flabbergasted by the event."
Marc Israel Sellem
"It was on Nakba Day. We went to see the protests and demonstrations of the Nakba.
"This picture was taken in east Jerusalem, in Issawiya. We were going to go to Shuafat, but we decided to go to Issawiya instead.
"While we're there, a fire erupts in a house with people inside. [An IDF] soldier stops what he is doing to rescue the Palestinians inside."
Israel
is a stunning country for the photographic eye, Jerusalem Post's chief
photographer Marc Israel Sellem said recently, citing the great variety
of people to visit the country’s natural beauty present in the nation's
diverse topography.
While Israel is home, Sellem isn’t shy to admit that the region's greatest events of 2011 occurred outside of Israel's borders.
"This
past year had a lot of issues outside of Israel," he said in a phone
interview days before 2011 came to a close. "There was the issue of the
Arab Spring, Tunisia, things like this," he listed in a thick but
comfortable French accent. "A lot of changes happened in the region."
And while he contended that the year was not Israel's most eventful in
his 11 years at the Post, there were still moments that inspired him
both artistically and personally.
"It was the first time there
were economic protests shared by both the Left and the Right," he said,
adding that even the issue of settlements did not stand in the way of
the social protest movement that spread on a national level this past
summer.
For Sellem, the year's biggest story was undoubtedly the
release of Gilad Schalit from more than five years of Hamas captivity.
He said that he wishes he could have snapped a shot of the IDF soldier
reunited with his family.
Still, Sellem elegantly captured a
number of pivotal events that occurred as 2011 edged on. One highlight
was photographing Israeli soldiers saving a Palestinian family by-chance
from a burning building in an east Jerusalem neighborhood. He
excitedly
recapped his experiences snapping birds-eye-view shots of Nablus, the
Dead Sea, and the Jerusalem “March of a Million” in September.
But,
while the year's events provided Sellem with ample fodder for his
artistic eye, it’s Israel's natural beauty that interests him more. This
preference is evident in what he chose as his favorite photograph since
he began his tenure at the Post in 2000.
"My first picture in the Post was my favorite: Jerusalem in the snow," he says. "I hope there will be snow this year."
And
the best annual event in Israel to capture behind the lens? "The best
thing about Israel are the birds. They come from Asia to Europe and then
from Europe back to Asia. I photographed it three years ago. It's
amazing. You can see millions of birds," he explained.
Looking
forward to 2012, Sellem was hopeful for "great inspiration" without
violent conflict. "I hope we can avoid the bad times," he said. "No
violence, no sadness. I hope there will be beautiful pictures, not
pictures of conflict."
The following is a gallery of Sellem's
own top photographs of 2011, chosen by the artist. He explains each
different experience behind the lens, providing a personal look at this
year in photographs.