Category Archives: Photography

Photo of the Week near Avdat

Route <40> connects the city of Beersheva in the middle of the Negev to the makhtesh, a unique geological formation at Mitzpe Ramon. Avdat, founded by the Nabateans in the 3rd century BCE, was the most important city on the Incense Route after Petra, “the rose-red city half as old as time” for some eight centuries until its destruction by earthquake in the early 7th century CE. This photo was taken across from Avdat in the area of Ramilye cisterns.

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The technical details – the photo was taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR and 18-70mm lens in November (ISO 200, 18mm, F10 at 1/320 sec).

For more information about the Negev see my post at https://israeltours.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/negev-desert/

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

Just north of Timna continuing along the Israel trail you follow the Milhan ridge, a great area for hiking and photographs. We stayed overnight at the nearby campground, Be’er Milhan, a site that affords some protection from the wind (no toilets or running water). This photo was taken in the morning. Purple flowering bush is Spiny zilla (Zilla spinosa), a member of the brassicaceae family, you can eat the purple flowers which taste like cabbage.

The technical details – the photo was taken with a Lumix point and shoot camera in March (ISO 80,4.1mm, F4 at 1/320 sec).

For more information about desert wildflowers see my post at https://israeltours.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/desert-wildflowers/

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

Photo of the Week – Flamingo

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The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. At the salt marsh you can find a colony of more than 100 flamingos that vacation just north of Eilat most of the year. According to expert Keith Marsh from Bird Forum besides the flamingos you will be able to spot white storks, herons, waders and a wide variety and number of raptors, especially in the autumn and spring during migration. There are few better birding areas in the Western Palaearctic than Eilat on the Red Sea coast of Israel where more than 420 species of birds have been recorded.

The technical details – the photo was taken with a Nikon D90 digital camera and a 50-500mm Sigma lens in November (ISO 800, 500mm, F6.3 at 1/400 sec).

Even to get a group portrait (shot at 270mm) my regular 18-200mm lens would not have been enough.

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

Timna is a horseshoe-shaped valley in the south of Israel in the southwestern Arava about 30 km north of the Eilat just off of highway <90>. The area is rich in copper ore and has been mined by humans as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. An Egyptian temple from the end of the 14th century BCE dedicated to Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of mining was discovered. Water and wind erosion have created several unique rock formations and there are remains of fossilized trees that grew here some 150 million years ago. In 2002 it was declared a nature reserve. There are marked trails and paved roads to the various attractions; the Israel Trail traverses the valley.

The technical details – the photo was taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR camera with Nikkor 18-70mm lens in February (ISO 400,18mm, F10 at 1/200 sec).

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

Shmuel Browns

December 2, 2012

Hanukah, Christmas and Kwanza are celebrated around the time of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. At this holiday season, I am pleased to announce the opening of my new online store, Designed in Israel, where you can buy products (like calendars and notecards) that include images of my photographs and artwork. As far as I know I am the only Israel guide that has an online store [update, as of 2017 the store no longer exists].

Photo of the Week – Cranes at Agamon HaHula

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Today’s Agamon HaHula (covering an area of one square kilometer — the same size as the walled Old City of Jerusalem) was established as part of a JNF rehabilitation project in the 1990s in the southern part of the Hula Valley, north of the Hula nature reserve. The site has become a winter home or stopover for an estimated 500 million migrating birds (cranes, storks, pelicans, cormorants, …) flying from Europe to Africa and back, and hence a great birdwatching site.

The photo was taken at Agamon HaHula (snow-capped mountain is the Hermon). The technical details – the photo was taken with a Lumix (DMC-ZS5) point and shoot digital camera on February 28 (ISO 25, 18.2mm, F5 at 1/500 sec).

For more of the history of the Hula read my post at https://israeltours.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/agamon-hula-lake/

Some of the birds soaring over Hula valley

You can also visit the Hula nature reserve (part of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority), the first nature reserve that was created in Israel in 1963. At the Visitor’s center there is an exhibition about the Hula and a theater (with moving seats) showing a video about the marvel of migration. From there you can walk a 1.5 km circular trail through the reserve.

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

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