Chanukah is about humility, accepting something beyond you, and allowing it in. It's about spreading the light of truth, justice, and freedom (and good photos). Once upon a time, in a kingdom down the block, I designed graphics. It came about in a kingdom even further away, in a 400 year old house made of stone. Where an iMac stood glittering under a bare bulb, in stark and beautiful contrast to the walls around. Upon this machine there magically appeared a copy of Photoshop.
How it got there, where it came from? Trying to understand magic is akin to sucking the beauty out of life. Like a giant psychotic mosquito. I'd like to think it was planted by the sock fairy (you know, the one that takes socks from the drier and puts software on your computer instead).
I met some wonderful people in the magical kingdom of Safed, Israel, and one of those fellows was putting out his first musical album. Google searched I did, a tutorial I did find, and a cover did I make. It wasn't even that bad (it wasn't used though).
I did that for a few years (among other things), and at some point I was frustrated at the lack of quality Jewish stock photos available. I then made the best unwise decision ever. After wasting way too much time doing some intense research on DPReview (never again!) about the differences between two identical systems, I picked up my first fancy shmancy camera. A few weeks later I bought a (what i then considered) fancy lens (which I paid $100 in cash so my wife wouldn't freak out). Eventually I realized I liked photography much better than design, and I was actually good at it (graphic design on the other hand...:) ).
I still do some odd jobs here and there, and this magazine is one of them. Lucky for me (and them) I get to pretty much use whatever images I want.
Here is the latest SOULWISE magazine. Decent design. Good photography. Awesome articles.
