Dave Bender: Uncommon Israel Artistry From Behind the Lens (Judean Rose)

Dave Bender is a sensitive soul, thank God, because that acute sensitivity informs his work from behind the lens. Bender is a photographer and videographer, but then he is many things, for example, a prize-winning radio journalist, beekeeper, and a husband to Miri. Still, it’s the photographs that grab you as you scroll through your Instagram feed, if you’re lucky enough to follow him. The viewer finds he must pause his mindless scrolling to fully appreciate each arresting image as it appears. Dave Brian Bender has an eye for the perfect moment and an uncommon artistry; his work is a thought-provoking pleasure to behold.

Born in the Bronx, Dave grew up in a then small town on Florida’s west coast, until 1972, when he made Aliyah with his dad while still in middle school. In Israel, Bender was sent to boarding school for a couple of years, and it was during this time that he had his first personal experience with war in the form of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, a prominent marker in his life. At this point, Dave returned to the States, where he remained for a decade before making Aliyah once more, this time for good. Today, Dave and Miri live near Tzfat (Safed, if you prefer your Hebrew Anglicized), where they tend to their beehives and artisanal honey and honey products company, Neshikha. And of course, Dave is taking those photos and shooting that footage—at events, and whenever the mood strikes or something catches his eye, which is often.

Dave Bender with a young bee safari visitor.

Here, Dave talks about his early life, his craft, and what inspires him today:

Varda Epstein: We’ve been acquainted for some time. When I first knew you, I thought of you mainly as a writer, something we share in common. Then more and more, I began to see your photographs and videos. Would you say that today, photographer/videographer is your main gig? Was it a conscious decision to narrow your creative focus?

Dave Bender: Yes, on both counts – I was never a good typist or note-taker; due to the distraction of sitting next to the ebulliently lovely Susan Walton in Mrs. Haney's typing class. Susan was no less than the head of the Stratford Sr. High School Spartanaires cheerleader team. Let's just say that – for a neighborhood newbie dork like me - focusing on IBM Selectric touch-typing inevitably took second place to sharpening my situational awareness and side-glance visual acuity skills, which would later come in useful in “reading” subtle cues by interviewees and covering breaking news events.

So, Susan, if you’re reading this: thanks for, well - just being you. And yes, I really did want to take you to the prom.

Nor did I ever formally learn the news-gathering craft via Journalism or communications courses at university or college, where fast, accurate typing is a prerequisite – never went to school at all, actually. In fact, I was actually expelled from my sole journalism class, being summarily told off by my instructor: “...face it, Dave: you're never going to be a journalist.”

Guess I made up for it tho, even picking up a GA Associated Press radio award or two along the way. So – maybe – her dismissal planted a hard seed of “Oh yeah? Hold my beer...” that took a lot of tough living in the interim to germinate.

"Shacharit on the beehives in the backyard Beeyard during Covid. Their hum is very centering."

However, in my defense, I did later earn a BA at The Life U School of Hard Knocks, and a second degree in news coverage at Whossamotta U (Google it); I learned shoe-leather reporting the “old-skool” way via the bullpen, first at the JPost Breaking News Desk, and later at a raft of other outlets, locally and internationally, and branching out into radio, and later video, as the Internet came to the fore.

While I worked for decades as a print, radio, and, later, TV reporter and editor in both Israel and the US, I'd always been attracted to photography and videography; as time went by I'd often end up shooting more and more stills and video footage covering breaking news events, at features, in interviews, and commonly used the imaging as a tool to better describe and flesh out the dry text.

When I worked a three-year stint at NPR affiliate radio stations in Georgia (WJSP-FM as a bureau chief, and WABE as a freelancer), I'd often record audio and shoot simultaneously which sometimes seemed, at least to me – others just stared - the only way to sufficiently absorb what the story was about.

Street scene, Shuk HaPishpeshim, Yaffo

Varda Epstein: How did you get bit by the photography bug? When did you get your first camera? Can you tell us a bit about that camera and your earliest days behind the lens?

Dave Bender: About as far back as I can recall as a kid, my dad “loaned” me his Yashika camera – then a Japanese mid-range model, which stopped production around 2005. As I remember, not only did I use it for photos, but it became my first “tear-down” device to see how it worked – ages before YouTube creators glommed onto the idea; I'm insatiably curious like that. The Yashika, regrettably, never went fully back together, and I seem to recall having a few leftover parts after the reassembly... not long after that, I came to own a cheapo Super-8 camera which I used to shoot clips of my model car collection and whatnot.

Varda Epstein: What do you enjoy most? Videography or photography? What can you capture in a photo that you cannot in a video?

Dave Bender: I'm a quick study in both genres; I shoot video nowadays mostly for marketing our honey and bee products buzzness (see what I did there?), Neshikha, and the still photography for my own professional development and personal pleasure.

Both skill sets and philosophies really merge though; I really think that the technical, compositional, and “telling a story in one shot” are crucial to mastering both crafts. Indeed, as, for example, smartphone still and video quality continue dramatically improving – and over 90 percent of my work nowadays is shot and edited on my Samsung S22 Ultra (and previously, others, and whatever comes down the pike next) – I believe we're starting to see a melding of the genres, and – maybe next year or a decade from now – won’t even understand the primitive dichotomy between still and moving images, and view “imaging,” maybe with fully immersive tactile, aural, and other abilities – as a continuum, and not as separate conceptual boxes. You already see glimmers of it in AI-assisted photography - which nowadays means pretty much anything digitally recorded, and not necessarily a clunky AI text or visual prompt.

Varda Epstein: The black and white event photos you’ve shared on Instagram are probably the main reason I wanted to do this interview. Those photos, are to me, more beautiful than any color photos you might have taken of the same scene. What can we see in black and white that we might not see in color?

Dave Bender: I’m really flattered - thank you (and - as you know - I’m usually the kind to prefer chewing hot glass to accepting a compliment. The check is already in the mail as we speak).

Anyway, in the words of advertising and documentary photographer, Elliot Erwitt, “Color is descriptive. Black and White is interpretative.” Often, visualizing, composing and shooting (or post editing) in black and white strips away the visual clutter and distraction inherent in a color photo and forces the viewer to quietly notice shape, form, and the geometry of buildings, poses, and, hopefully, whatever the photographer wanted to feature in the image. And - no less importantly - the sense of time passing; something about black and white always looks contemporary, as it’s been said, and I’d sign off on that.

As legendary Canadian newspaper photographer, Ted Grant, once memorably put it: “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!” Just to stress: I'm nobody's pretentious fotogsnob, and love photos and footage of scenes drenched in color, or dulcet, pastel soft tones. Maybe it's a left brain/right brain kind of thing. American film director, Samuel Fuller, once cleverly quipped: “Life is in color, but black and white is more realistic.”

Hachnasat Sefer Torah, Kfar Hananya

Varda Epstein: Who influences your work as a photographer and why?

Dave Bender: Well, one quote that really grabbed me was by Jennifer Price: “What I love about Black & White photographs is that they're more like reading the book than seeing the movie.” so she’s on my list now, lol.

UK-based Sean Tucker is among my current photographic “spirit animals,” among others, and his achingly honest self-critique, soul quietude and Zen-like focus on the philosophy of imaging really gets me where I live - or, at least, aspire to rent.

"This one, of a greengrocer sorting through greens after hours, looked like a stage set as the play begins, with lights, dark shadows, and 'popp-eye' color - was already composed and all I had to do was notice the scene, and take the shot."

Locally, there are so many; if I named one, I’d be inadvertently dissing another, but - offhand, on mobile, Ido Izsak does some funky fashion stuff; Dina Alfasi does phenomenal iPhone street portraits - many of them on her daily commuter train route; I’ve hired and would love to work with powerhouse, Rebecca Kowalski; Laura Ben-David has a great eye; there’s a long list actually, and I see many of them via my social media feeds.

Oh, also there’s an astounding collection of fotog talent over at Fearless Photographers that I’d frequent for sheer, bold inspiration when I was actively shooting weddings and similar family events.

But - growing out of being a DSLR photographic gearhead, and centering on mobile photography (which also has its own gear - just commonly much smaller, lighter, and more inexpensive…) - forces you to zone in on classic technique: subject, composition, and lighting, and not rely on $5k DSLR bodies wedded to $10k lenses to get the “money shot.”

Apropos, there’s an amazingly instructive - and often unintentionally hilarious - video series many of my fave, top-end shooters have taken part in over the years dubbed, “The Toy Camera Challenge.”

 

There, world-famous fotogs head out for some impromptu street or fashion photography, but wielding a Playskool, Lego, or - gawd help us - a Barbie camera, instead of a heavy camera backpack or two of camera bodies, lenses, lights, and assistants.

What’s fascinating, and inspiring, is how they’ll gamely - if sometimes ironically - take on the challenge, and, along the way happily share their trade secrets, honed skills, comprehensive technical knowledge, and flat-out talents - to get remarkable, and even artistic, images, despite the limitations of the device. It really separates the pros from the dilettantes…

"Still life with Scruff"

Varda Epstein: Recently you shared some of your street photography. My husband remarked that your work was reminiscent of Edward Hopper. What is it about street photography that is so compelling for you as a genre?

Dave Bender: “Nighthawks” Hopper? We are not worthy… shooting street - and I’m a relative newbie on this playing field - demands a quick eye, absolutely knowing your gear and how to deal with fast-changing lighting and composition - and an ability to discreetly meld into the scene, and not draw attention to yourself. As Tucker calls it, one can be a “hunter,” or “fisherman” fotog, and that’s a useful way to divvy up the approaches: you either actively seek out or patiently wait out the “decisive moment.”

I’m still learning.

Street scene

Varda Epstein: Some years back, you did your first model shoot, right? Can you talk about that? What was it like?

Dave Bender: There’s a fun, Israeli social media-based photography group I belonged to that hires/barters a rotating cast of models for remote shoots, like at the Dead Sea, Mitzpe Ramon, or sites at various beaches. It was the first time I'd actually worked with models, costumes, makeup and props, and it was invigorating to see how the some three dozen photographers - at all experience and equipment levels - succeeded in working with the professional (and patient) models and dancers.

It was a very intensive gig and set in an inspirational wild and desolate setting, located in the desert at Mitzpe Ramon. I had a blast and learned a ton about that side of the biz during the two-day event, including how to integrate with the group as the (apparently) sole outwardly observant (kipa and tzitzit-out) Jew; not being a particularly modest or subtle guy anyway, it never occurred to me that - fortunately very few - others in the group would look askance, or even aghast, at me for “daring” to be there, working the shots with the rest of the fotogs, with the flamboyantly, lightly clad models. I really didn’t think of it as immodest; there was nothing perverse or kinky going on - and, no, I’m far from naive, having grown up totally secular and assimilated - since it was a very respectful and informal scenario for both the models and the team. I felt mostly at home and comfortable.

I’m proud of the shots I got and edited, and share here. Interestingly enough, afterward, when I showed the photos to my wife and our coterie of strictly religiously observant local female friends - all admired and loved the shots, with some noting that they showed strong, independent, secure and proud women, “owning” the visual space. Crazily, ironically, some secular, self-declared feminist friends in the US took a far less kind take on the images, accusing me of “the male gaze” and objectifying the models. The native Israeli female fotogs I was ducking and weaving right along with at the shoot might take issue with that reflexive presumption of guilt.

Varda Epstein: Okay, enough about you. Where and when did you meet your wife? How did the two of you end up in Tzfat? What made Miri become a beekeeper? Did she ever think, when she was a little girl, that she’d grow up and be a beekeeper in Tzfat?

Dave Bender: Miri and I met via the JWed/Frumster dating app, and met, dated in real life, and, married in Tzfat in 2013. Miri, as a 24-year US Army veteran, had made several close friends during her service who had, eventually, made Aliyah (emigrated) to Israel, and some to Tzfat, and she, essentially, made Aliyah in their wake.

She’d always viewed professional beekeeping as an intensive, creative, and possibly profitable retirement activity, and, soon after we married signed on to an intensive, year-long, weekly, hands-on beekeeping course taught by a senior beekeeping professor. I, initially, thought it was, frankly, sweetly eccentric, and shrugged, not even liking honey… I came around after a few years of doing scut work, and, later, took my own year-long COVID-era online course via Michigan State University’s “Hives for Heroes” course for US military personnel and dependents - and, I was, um, “stung” with the beekeeping bug.

Miri, in beekeeper mode.

Miri explains the business of making honey.

Varda Epstein: A lot of people who make Aliyah find themselves doing things they’d never thought of doing, to make a living. Would you say that’s true of you and your wife? What do you think you would have ended up doing professionally in the States?
 
Dave Bender: And how. After living here a year during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and, later, making final Aliyah a decade or so later in my mid-20s, we’ve collectively invested five decades of our lives here. Frankly, not only do I have no earthly idea what or where I’d be in the States by now - I’ve long since ceased entertaining the question.

Dave and his daughter in-law feeding the bees in winter. 

Varda Epstein: What’s next for Dave Bender?

Dave Bender: In the inestimable words of Marlon Brando in The Wild One, “Whaddya’ got?”

***

To learn more about Dave Bender and his professional event and editorial photography, video, editing, and mentoring services, or to purchase prints, see: http://www.davebrianbender.com/.

---

---

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon! Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.  Read all about it here!