TITLE: Nesting Cormorant

I was driving on the highway near Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael in Northern Israel when I noticed scores of Cormorants flying overhead, carrying an odd assortment of twigs and coastal debris to their nests, hidden inside an inaccessible thicket of bushes nearby. Known as ferocious and indiscriminate scavengers, they are the arch-enemies of the Kibbutzniks, whose fisheries are the agricultural settlement's main source of income. To the Kibbutzniks' regret, those fisheries have become a major attraction for a large and thriving colony of Cormorants.

I followed a deserted and potholed dirt road to their isolated nesting area, and - documenting them from a safe distance - was mesmerised by the breathtaking beauty and elegance of the gliding style. It is a wonder that birds with such a colossal wing span can fly so gracefully in the sky.

Taking numerous pictures in quick succession on that memorable and revelatory spring day reinforced my conviction that by observing the environment thru the lens of a camera one can acquire a deeper and sharper understanding of how mysterious, exhilirating, grinding and fragile life on earth is. I have selected a single black-and-white photo of a lone Cormorant bearing a curly twig in its beak (not unlike Noah's dove...) in the hope that it distills this nesting scene to its essence, illustrating how all living creatures sharing this planet struggle to soar above almost insurmountable difficulties in order to persevere and to transcemd mortality.

May I also add that I was inspired, and attempt - in my very humble way - to immitate the calm and uncluttered style of Japanese drawings, which use black ink and white space to capture the timeless beauty and complexity of the natural world.

AUTHOR: Fredi Gruber (Israel)

I was handed my first camera ( a Zorky 4) at the age of ten. A private camera was rather rare in the blue-collar neughborhood where I was growing up. Many of my classmates' photos of themselves in early childhood were taken by my camera. The experience of documents the environment surrounding me may have instilled a desire to document life as a journalist. In 1972 I travelled to the United States to study TV Production at Boston University and then worked for 31 years as a documentary film maker for Israel's Public Television. Crisscrossing the country with a film crew, I often took my stills camera with me to capture people, landscapes and wildlife I chanced upon during a busy work day.
Many of my stories focused to environmental topics, alerting the public to the need to protect and preserve out planet. A photo of two fox cubs hiding in a tunnel near a busy coastal beach in Northern Tel Aviv was published last year in the Guardian.