HOW I GOT THE SHOT: My interest in photographing fruits and vegetables is directly proportional to the enjoyment I receive in consuming them. My eyes bulge and my mouth waters when gazing at the bounty of choices on sale in the supermarket or the shuk. My curiosity as an artist and photographer has led me on countless off-road treks to spy on the produce of the land before it arrives in the market. And there is no better time of the year for a field trip than fall harvest season.
This shot of yellow grapes in the Judean Mountains emerged during a period of experimenting with a style of diving head and camera first into the heart of low-lying trees and vines. I sought through my efforts a more perfect subject, dramatically accented by a lucky bolt of light bouncing off a stem, branch or leaf.
To succeed, the shot requires pinpoint focus on a simple subject with a lot of depth so that the remainder of the image is out of focus. The eye, like my head and camera before it, tunnels through the foliage to find its mark. Like many unscientific experiments, I failed 19 times out of 20. When it worked, however, it worked well. And when I failed, I had a nothing but an earful of dirt to reward my errant ways.
TECHNICAL DATA: Camera: Nikon D700, handheld, manual exposure, center-weighted metering mode, f/5 at 1/400 sec, ISO 200. Raw file converted to Jpeg. Lens: Nikon 28-105 mm macro zoom at 105 mm. Date: Oct. 17, 2013 at 5:01 p.m. Location: Gush Etzion, Judean Mountains.