12/11/2019 15:59
Black-and-white photos capture the essence of Beach Volleyball
2019 FIVB World Tour 1-Star - Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv, Israel, November 12, 2019. Beach Volleyball and photography are somehow naturally a good match. Last week’s 1-Star event in Tel Aviv was an opportunity for an accomplished photographer, Mr Dan Shiray, who has now been working for many years for the Israel Volleyball Association, to capture some shots of the players competing at Frishman Beach and to ‘unleash’ his creative side.
“Lately I have been capturing pictures of athletes as part of a much bigger project on body art,” Shiray recounts. “With the historic FIVB 1-Star World Tour event held in Tel Aviv I had a truly special and exclusive opportunity to photograph some athletes and to capture the general atmosphere we could experience and enjoy during those days.”
Shiray has been a professional photographer for many years, with a
strong background in the fashion industry as well. “Sports and arts have
been ‘kissing’ each other since the days of ancient Greece and Rome a
few thousands of years ago. I choose photography as a tool to take
athletes out of their comfort zone and thereby gain more intimacy while
trying to capture snapshots of their inner feelings,” Shiray continues.
The event in Tel Aviv last week was the first tournament of this kind to take place in Israel. Many up-and-coming and even more established players decided to travel to Tel Aviv to contest the last tournament of the CEV 2019 Beach Volleyball season. “The beauty and the aesthetics of photography without any special makeup or styling, with the only ‘help’ coming from natural sunlight and of course the photos captured immediately after a game show the strong and natural beauty of Beach Volleyball as a sport,” Shiray says.
Most if not all of the photos he shot last week in Tel Aviv are black and white. “I chose black and white for a number of reasons, from the viewer’s focus to the special light and much more. Looking at someone’s face or into their eyes, without the distraction of any colour, can provide a stronger emotional connection to your subject,” Shiray explains. “You often feel more connected to a person in a black and white image over a colour picture; this could be the reason why I opted for this. With no colour, the picture and the viewer’s reaction to it are purely about the connection you establish with the subject,” he concludes.
For further information, visit the official website www.danshiray.com.
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