JerusaLENS: Jerusalem Photo Challenge Exhibition

The Jerusalem International Photography Challenge Exhibition at Ammunition Hill is being held from June 6th to August 6th.

Jerusalem Photography Challenge Exhibition - a small taste

Please note that some of the photos have been slightly adjusted to size for the purpose of this online slideshow.

This is the image gallery webpart

Jerusalem of Gold. Photo by Michael Shmidt
Jaffa Street. Photo by Kobi Bichachi
Lovin the Shuk. Photo by Yonit Schiller
The first new Jerusalem quarter outside the Old City walls. Photo by Ephraim Loeb
The Jewish Batman. Photo by Tal Or-Miller
Waking Up. Photo by Dror Farkash
The exhibition is an initiative of KKL-JNF, JNF USA, Ammunition Hill, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Tourism, Jerusalem and Heritage and the Government Press Office, with the support of HP (Scitex and Indigo) and Venture Partners PICO.

UPDATE: JerusaLENS now the largest Jerusalem photo collection on the web

The challenge is dedicated to the memory of the late David Rubinger, the challenge guru. Curators: Rina Castelnuovo, Gali Tibon, Ziv Koren; Head of Curators team: Avi Ohayon, Founder and Director: Alon Wald, Ammunition Hill

JerusaLENS - International Jerusalem Photography Challenge, is being held in honor of the Jubilee Year of the Six Day War and the subsequent reunification of Jerusalem.

The JerusaLENS challenge has now become an the largest collection of Jerusalem photographs on the web.

For the first time in the 5,000 years of the city's existence, photographers from all over the world were invited to upload photographs of Jerusalem from any time period on any subject on to a special competitive platform.
Some14,500 photographs from 84 countries were uploaded within a month and a half and received 2.4 million votes, a record number for World Cities challenges on the Gurushots site, more photos and votes than the challenges for Paris, New York and London.

The Jerusalem Photography Challenge attracted photographers from Arab countries as well, including Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Iraq and more.

More than 30% of the total photos relate to the Temple Mount.
About 50% of the photographs relate to religious activity in the city (Jewish, Christian and Muslim). The Chords Bridge is among the leading photogenic symbols of the new city.

The anonymous and international voting created a fascinating and unprecedented "equality of power" - voters had the opportunity to leave their political and/or religious identifications at the wayside, allowing, for the first time ever, the "judging" of the city to be carried out solely on an aesthetic and artistic basis.

Jerusalem Photography Challenge Winners

Please note that the photos have been slightly adjusted to size for the purpose of this online slideshow.

This is the image gallery webpart

Winner Photographer Award (4 most voted images from surfers) "The bagel-man" at the Old City. Photo by: David Mor, Israel
The winning picture in the Guru selection criteria: "Rubinger searched for cosmopolitan simplicity and humanity in the city." Photo by: Ariel Levanon, Israel
The winning photo by the audience "captures the unique golden light of Jerusalem" Photo by: Dalia Rajwan, Israel.
Winner of the Youth Division: 'The Art of Capoeira'. Photo by Manny Cohen

UPDATE: And the winners are...

The surfers chose 3 photographers by shared rating:
  • David Mor won the $5,000 prize for the Challenge Photographer
  • The photography prize chosen by the audience was awarded to Dalia Rajwan of Israel for $2,225
  • Ariel Lebanon won $2,225 in the guru's category. Rina Castelnuovo made her selection on behalf of the late David Rubinger, the Challenge Guru, who was looking for "cosmopolitan simplicity and humanity in the city". Lebanon, 76, was among the first wounded from the Paratroopers Brigade in the battle for the Police Academy in 1967. Only after the selection did it transpire that he fought together with the father of Alon Wald, the initiator of the challenge, whose father was killed in the battle on Ammunition Hill.
  • The $500 Young Photographer Award was awarded to Manny Cohen of the United States, in a corresponding youth challenge that was sponsored by JNF USA.


Out of the 400 leading photographs, the curators chose 100 photographs to be enlarged and presented at the Jubilee Exhibition at Ammunition Hill, which will run from from June 6th until August 6th. Admission is free.

Later on, the exhibition will be travel around the world, to be displayed at Israeli official offices and KKL-JNF offices overseas. Admission is free.

The exhibition mentors included photographers Rina Castelnuovo, Gali Tibbon, Ziv Koren and the team leader - Avi Ohayon.

KKL-JNF Chairman Danny Atar: "Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people from the First Temple until today. For 115 years, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund has been working to strengthen Jerusalem, cultivate its lands and strengthen its global standing. We were happy to share the official KKL-JNF photo archive with the competition and allow the public to enjoy the beauty of the city, its culture and people, and congratulate the talented winning photographers".

Challenge Curator Rina Castelnuovo: "I was looking for a picture of simplicity that shows the spirit and the residents of the city as David Rubinger loved it. I came across the winning picture a few days before the end of the challenge and it turns out that it caught the eye of the head of the judging team as well. It took extensive investigative work to locate it again, and the chance that the photographer will be from the 55th Brigade of the Six Day War is 1 to 14,500!"

All images are available on www.gurushots.com/jerusalem


International Photo Challenge: Jerusalem

Hosted by: GuruShots, Feb-March 19, 2017
www.gurushots.com/jerusalem

Any photo, any time, from any angle - show that “you are Jerusalem” to the world: Perhaps the best photo of a symbolic, human, formative or rare moment of Jerusalem is by you!

Share it on #JERUSALENS (subject to regulations)

We are making history by collecting and ranking the largest pool of Jerusalem photos ever.
A total of $10,000 in cash prizes for the first four winners!

Tell a Friend, tag #Jerusalens

hyperlink: Join challengeKKL-JNF Israel, along with JNF USA, the Ammunition Hill National Heritage and Memorial Site in Jerusalem, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, and the Government Press Office, with the support of HP (Scitex and Indigo) and PICO Venture Partners, calls all photographers of Jerusalem to join in an historic photo challenge in the spirit of worldwide cooperation.

In the first phase of the Challenge (until Feb 28th, 2017) everyone is welcome to upload their photos of the city, from any period, on any subject, to show the many faces of Jerusalem (subject to the terms of GuruShots).

In the second phase (from March 1st until March 19, 2017) everyone is invited to rate the most beautiful and exciting photos.
A total of $10,000 in cash prizes will be split between the 4 top ranked photos.

100 from the top 400 ranked photos will be chosen by the curators' team to be shown in an exciting and unique exhibition, which will open in spring 2017 at Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem, and later on in other places around the globe.

Mentors: David Rubinger Curators: Rina Castelnuovo, Ziv Koren, Gally Tibon
Head of the team of curators: Avi Ohayon
Entrepreneur and Manager: Alon Wald, Head of Operations, Ammunition Hill, Jerusalem

We call on you to spread the word on all and any channels at your disposal: a newsletter, website, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, groups, WhatsApp or any other means you may have. The more people that participate, the richer and better mosaic of Jerusalem we will get.