Street Photography in Tel Aviv

The Carmel Market is the city's main shuk, a long street of produce stalls and cheap clothes running from Magen David Square toward the sea. Kreslavsky calls it probably the most popular place for street photography in Tel Aviv, and several well known photographers work it almost daily. Friday morning is the peak, as everyone shops before Shabbat. The awnings leave slices of sun on the ground, so find one bright gap and wait for a face to cross it. It is closed on Saturday. Vendors shout and joke, but some will wave you off; move on without arguing.

Nachalat Binyamin is the pedestrian street running beside the Carmel Market. On Tuesdays and Fridays it hosts an arts and crafts fair with stalls down the middle and street musicians. It draws a crowd of characters that Kreslavsky says photograph really well. Come on Friday late morning, when the fair and the market overlap. Stand behind a musician and shoot the faces of the people who stop to listen. The Bauhaus and eclectic facades above give you strong lines if you shoot upward. The Friday crowds are dense, so keep your bag closed.

Rothschild is a wide boulevard with a shaded walking and cycling strip down the middle, lined with kiosks and cafes. It is where Tel Aviv shows off its daily life: cyclists, office workers, dogs and people reading on benches. Morning and late afternoon give you dappled light through the trees, which is good for isolating one figure in a pool of sun. Stand near a kiosk and let people come to you. Watch for e-scooters and bikes on the central path, which move fast and quietly.

Dizengoff Square is a round plaza in the White City, the district of 1930s Bauhaus buildings on the UNESCO list. The plaza was lowered back to street level in recent years, and its circular shape gives you curves and repeating shadows. On some mornings an antiques and flea market sets up here. Come in the late afternoon, when people walk home and the low sun cuts across the circle. Shoot from the edge with a wider lens so the curve leads to a walker. Dizengoff Street runs north from here for more shopfront scenes.

Florentin is a south Tel Aviv neighborhood of small workshops and cheap bars, popular with students and artists. Kreslavsky mentions it for its graffiti covered walls and busy nightlife. By day the workshops and wholesale shops give you working scenes, while at night the bars spill onto the pavement. I'd come around 17:00 to catch both. Use a mural as the background and wait for a passerby to add scale. The Levinsky spice market sits on its northern edge. Late at night, stay on the busier streets.

The flea market spreads across the old streets just inland from Jaffa's clock tower, with old furniture and junk piled into the road. It gets busy in the early morning, when sellers lay out their stock, and Kreslavsky notes beautiful morning light there. He also warns that this is one of the places where people do not like being photographed. Shoot wider scenes of buyers digging through piles rather than close portraits of traders, and ask first if you want a face. It is closed on Saturday. Cafes around it make a good base.

Jaffa Port is one of the oldest harbors in the world and still has working fishing boats below the old city. It is quieter than the rest of Tel Aviv and suits slower work. Come in the late afternoon, when fishermen mend nets and the sun drops into the sea behind the breakwater. Frame fishermen against the water, or shoot silhouettes on the breakwater at sunset. From the hill of old Jaffa above, you can look back along the beach to the Tel Aviv skyline. The quay has no barriers, so mind the edge.

Gordon Beach is the central city beach, with an outdoor gym on the sand and the promenade running above it. F. D. Walker called the beach walk from Jaffa to the port one of the longest continuously active beach walks in any city. Late afternoon is best, when the sun is low over the water and players of matkot, the local paddle game, crowd the waterline. On Saturdays, when Shabbat closes much of the city, the whole beach fills. Shoot silhouettes against the backlit sea, or stand on the promenade and look down. Avoid close shots of people in swimwear.