Israel’s “Family Photographer” and His Heirs

Last week the Israeli photographer David Rubinger—most famous for his picture of Israeli paratroopers standing at the Western Wall in 1967—died at the age of ninety-two. Amnon Lord reflects on his work and his place in the history of Israeli photography, and laments the absence of photographers who can fill his shoes:

David Rubinger was in effect Israel's family photographer. . . . [His] photos reveal first and foremost that Israel is a huge story. Images talk. . . .

Rubinger took the photographs that chronicle the country’s story. One picture, taken in Beirut, shows that he wasn’t afraid to get close to the thick of the fighting, but he didn't produce amazing war photographs. Even his most famous picture, of the paratroopers at the Wall, has something staged to it. It's not staged in the sense that the photographer brought soldiers (or models dressed as soldiers) and placed them next to the Western Wall after the fact and had them stand at the desired angle. Rubinger's picture is in the right place, in the field, and at the moment of truth of Israeli history. But he still placed the soldiers. . . .

But since the 1980s, it's harder and harder to find a winning image—a visual image from a seminal event. . . . The visual digital explosion of the past few decades blurs everything, including the names of the photographers—and the events themselves. Among the flat sea of photographers, only one stands out in recent years: Miri Tzaḥi. . . . Tzaḥi knew how to connect with the disengagement from Gaza and other events full of national pathos, which other photographers missed.