Jews living in poverty in New York City. The small Jewish community in Cuba. And an even smaller one in Ireland.
Paul Margolis has photographed them all.
But what about Jews in Israel?
The Manhattan-based photographer has captured them, as well — in his signature black-and-white style — and his photos and accompanying stories are on their way to two Bay Area locations this month.
As part of a two-hour public Yom HaAtzmaut celebration, Margolis will present “Israel Impressions,” a slideshow of his work, from 4 to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 12 at the Peninsula JCC in Foster City. Co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation and Sterling Bank and Trust, the event is free.
In addition, photos from the slideshow will be on display from Wednesday, May 11 through June 27 at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Margolis will attend an opening reception there from 5 to 6 p.m. May 13.
“Paul’s black-and-white photographs of Israeli street life express a fascination with the diversity of people and cultures that make up a complex country,” says Rabbi Lavey Derby, PJCC’s director of Jewish life. “A slide presentation of his art will help transport people to Israel for a short while, and is a fitting way to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day.”
Margolis’ photographs of Israel were taken during trips to the Jewish state in 2013, 2014 and 2015. “Israel fascinates me,” he says.
That’s borne out in his striking photos of Israeli life. Captured with a classic Leica camera, the images include a merchant enjoying a smoke, a bread market at night, a woman in a burqa shopping for athletic apparel, and a pregnant woman baring her belly in the Negev desert.
Before his recent visits to Israel, Margolis went there in 1985 for his brother’s wedding, and he also lived there for two years in the late 1970s.
“I was in my mid-20s then, so young,” says Margolis, 64. “Last year when I got off the plane, when I stopped to wash my face, I noticed my stubble was coming in gray, rather than the reddish-blond it was back when I made aliyah. It reminded me of just how much time had elapsed.”
Margolis has filled his years taking pictures and taking part in exhibitions of his work, which is found in museums, historical archives and private collections. His subjects often include people living on the margins of society and the vibrancy of life on the streets. After 9/11, he photographed the effects of the destruction of the World Trade Center on New York City.
He has held jobs as a photojournalist, documentary photographer, writer and teacher, and he recently retired from a photography job with a city agency in New York.
“Leaving work has turned out to be a gift,” Margolis says. “Now I don’t have to think about city-related digital photography and I can concentrate on my old-fashioned stuff.”
Margolis, who first picked up a camera at 9, says he has always preferred mechanical cameras and black-and-white film, which he processes himself.
“Film is a real tactile medium, but images made from zeroes and ones are not,” Margolis explains. “Besides, I understand the technology, and using it keeps me plugged into a 175-year continuum. We still have glass-plate negatives from the 1840s.”
At a recent public event, an audience member asked Margolis why he has spent so much time photographing Jews in Ireland and Cuba and living in poverty in New York City.
Surprised by the question, Margolis’ answered, “These projects were a search for my own identity as a Jew. I come from parents who were not interested in or particularly happy about being Jewish, so I have used the best vehicle I had at hand to explore the world, looking for my identity and capturing images that I hoped would have personal resonance for me.”
Response to his photos is generally positive, Margolis says, though the picture of the pregnant woman has sparked some debate. “One show was afraid to display it, concerned it would offend people, but I fought to keep it in,” he says.
Margolis took that picture during his 2014 visit to Israel.
“At the end of a two-week trip, I had just shot an indie rock concert at the border of Gaza and I was tired,” he recalls. His tour guide insisted on making one more stop on the way back to Tel Aviv, and there was the pregnant woman, being photographed for a pregnancy album.
“A professional photographer was posing her against a block house, but I saw her against the desert, about to pop,” Margolis says. “She allowed me to photograph her, and it’s one of my favorites.”
Margolis says he will bring his camera to San Francisco, his first visit here in 30 years. He plans to tour Alcatraz and visit the SS Jeremiah O’Brien at Pier 45 because his dad served as a radio officer on a similar World War II Liberty ship. And he will stick around for the Bay to Breakers on May 15, camera in hand.
“That should be interesting,” he says.
“Israel Impressions,” slideshow and talk by photographer Paul Margolis, 4 p.m. Thursday, May 12, part of Yom HaAtzmaut Celebration at Peninsula JCC, 800 Foster City Blvd., Foster City. Free. www.pjcc.org
“Israel Impressions: The Photographs of Paul Margolis,” Wednesday, May 11 through June 27 at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F. Opening reception with photographer 5 p.m. May 13. Free. www.tinyurl.com/sf-margolis