The Old City of Jerusalem: Photo Workshop tour

Although I have lived in Tel Aviv for the past few years, I have lived in Jerusalem for four years (for my university degrees) and since I graduated I hardly ever visited it before I wrote about the city on the blog. To my delight, this week I managed to reach her as part of a photography workshop in the Old City.

Pini Snir's photography workshop

This workshop followed the invitation of the Pini Snir instructor, whom I know personally from past collaborations. At the same time as a high-tech man, Pini has been practicing photography and performing arts for years, and recently he has also begun giving workshops in the Old City of Jerusalem, so obviously I had to come to study. The workshop is called New Angle in the Old City and lasts three hours on Friday. It includes lots of tips on interesting and unconventional photo angles, good lighting and the thinking behind the photography to capture the moment perfectly.

In the alleys of the Old City of Jerusalem

The workshop began at nine in the morning when the Old City of Jerusalem was not yet awake and it was possible to walk in its alleys comfortably and quickly, which provided relatively rare photographic moments. Spoiler: By the end of the tour here, the alleys will be completely filled with people.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is at the end of Via Dolorosa st, through the anguish of Jesus through his crucifixion and burial. The complex is a must-visit for tourists to the Old City, and contains a lot of hidden corners that the guide showed us and was fun to photograph. By the way – have you ever noticed the wooden ladder that stands under the right window in the front of the building? Apparently, the status agreement between the four churches that run the complex meant no one moved the ladder away for more than 150 years. I did not find any pictorial evidence from the 19th century but I found pictures with this ladder from 1926.

Austrian Hospice in the Muslim Quarter

From the Christian Quarter, we continued on Via Dolorosa st towards the Muslim Quarter, where there is a magnificent and completely different structure in the local landscape – the Austrian Hospice. As a student I have a lot of good memories from here: the apple strudel of the cafe here has a reputation that precedes it before it. The hospice roof is considered one of the most beautiful vantage points in Jerusalem. We took the time to shoot at the Golden Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Elia photo service

Because we are on a photo tour, we have also visited a store that has been doing this for three generations, with thousands of ancient photographs of Jerusalem since the late 19th century. The owner of the place, George Kabadian, continues his grandfather Elia Kabadian who started the business with his own hands after surviving the Armenian Holocaust and rolled into Jerusalem alone as a teenager. George would be happy to tell you about the history of the family and the store as you look at the old pictures, such as that of the ladder in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher I showed above.

Address: 14 El Khanka Street (right near Hummus Lina)

Jafar's Kanafeh - the best sweets in the city

All of these shots have made us hungry (and mainly because of the fried falafel scents) and we stopped for the most delicious kanafeh in Jerusalem, and there is a rumor it’s the best in all Israel – Jafar’s kanafeh, in the heart of the Muslim Quarter. At a cost of NIS 14 per serving of this dessert, you will receive a sweet and sweet piece of God.

I recommend to those who are hungry at the end of the workshop to also stay in one of the many authentic restaurants with hummus here, such as Abu Shukri hummus or Lina hummus.