Paul Margolis will discuss his stunning black-and-white exhibit, Israel Impressions. Paul’s photos of Israel reflect merchants, fishermen, rock festivals, and other compelling scenes showing the vibrancy of street life. Margolis will conduct a Q and A about his use of film rather than digital, his personal connection to Israel, and his approach to documentary photography.

About Paul: Paul Margolis first picked up a camera at the age of 9.  He is a documentary and fine art photographer, as well as a writer and lecturer. His subjects include people living on the margins of society, vanishing Americana, historic architecture, and the vibrancy of life on the streets.  While he has adapted to digital photography, he still works almost entirely with black and white film, which he processes and prints himself for the classic look that medium gives, as well as for its archival permanence as a historical record.

Margolis’ projects have included documenting the small Jewish communities of Cuba and Ireland, as well as Jewish poverty in New York City.   After September 11, 2001, he recorded the effects of the destruction of the World Trade Center on New York City.  He also did the photography for a historical guidebook to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

More recently, Margolis has been pursuing a number of ongoing documentary projects: photographing individuals who reenact the wars of the 20^th century, traveling to Israel to record everyday life there, photographing political demonstrations in New York City and documenting the interactions of senior citizens and their pets.  Since March of 2020, he has been photographing the effects of the Pandemic on New York City, in a project called Plague Days.  His work has been exhibited in the United States, France and Israel; he has been the subject of a feature TV interview; and he has had extensive press coverage in both American and Israeli publications.

Documentary and fine art photography have always been Paul’s first loves; however, his background includes working as an editor, teacher, photojournalist and commercial photographer. Largely self-taught as a photographer, he also has an M.A. degree in Teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a B.A. in History from Bard College.   His work is found in museums, historical archives and private collections.  Paul lives in Manhattan and has recently retired from an agency of the City of New York in order to work full-time on his photo-documentary projects.

There is no fee, but please RSVP for planning purposes. For more information, contact Program Director Ilene Tatro at itatro@cbisd.org.

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