Kiki Rothenberg  
Ontario, Canada

"We really appreciate the wonderful job you did for our bar mitzvah celebratiion. Everyone who has seen the pictures has commented how great they are, but more importantly, your presence enhanced our simcha - you were so patient and accommodating and worked very hard. You also really captured the very important and meaningful aspects that only in reviewing the pictures afterwards reminded us that they happened. Thank you very much for all you did and the beautiful album presentation and other gifts you added in. "

"We received a family portrait session by Yehoshua as a gift from friends, and it was a wonderful present from beginning to end. Yehoshua expertly blends professionalism with a great sense of humor, making it an enjoyable experience for all of us. Our kids had such a good time that they keep asking when Yehoshua is going to come back to take more pictures of them."

Leah and Shmuel Bowman, Efrat

Arieh Lev Breslow Jerusalem School of Tai Chi

"Yehoshua's photography goes beyond form, color and light. He captures the emotions of real people in real situations. In my opinion he is a great photographer because he embraces his art and his subjects with love and sensitivity."

"Yehoshua Halevi possesses the rare combination of an artistic eye that skillfully captures our magical moments along with an easy-to-work with personality that helps create them. From portraits to landscapes, Yehoshua's images are both awe-inspiring and reasonably priced. I recommend him wholeheartedly for corporate projects as well as the family simcha."

Avi Lowell
Vice-President of Marketing & Design
Oleh! Marketing Communications and Design

Moshe and Atara Taragin, Alon Shvut

"We, as well as our parents, have used Yehoshua on various occasions (bat mitzvah, 60th birthday parties for grandparents, and private portraits). We have always been extremely happy with the highly professional results. Yehoshua's prices are very affordable, he is so pleasant to have around, and he is wonderful with the kids - very patient. In addition to the superb portraits, the candids are also really great. We highly recommend Yehoshua Halevi for any simcha."

"I'd like to recommend Yehoshua Halevi as a great photographer for family pictures. He took pictures of our family and had the pictures ready a couple of days later for us to pick. They were fabulous. They weren't just portraits, they were fun too. We're so happy, and so are our parents who have been waiting for good pics of their grandchildren...Yay!"

Yael Goldstein, Efrat

Yehoshua Halevi: Professional Biography

"I got a Nikon camera. I love to take photographs.
Oh mama, don’t take my Kodachrome away." - Paul Simon

My father, of blessed memory, bought me my first camera when I was about 11 years old, an Olympus Pen Half Frame, which shot 72 pictures per roll. Sometimes an entire year would elapse before I burned up a complete roll. I remember once sitting in a hotel in Palm Springs, Calif., during school vacation, while my father taught my sister and I the basics of photography one afternoon. He had worked briefly as a commercial photographer in the 1960s and I still use some of his rugged old Nikon equipment.

That was the extent of my formal education in photography until years later, when I attended the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. There, I entered a darkroom for the first time and a world of boundless creativity opened up before me. I was hooked. From then on, wherever I lived, I devised a small darkroom, setting up my equipment in bathrooms and closets and basement crannies, so I could get my fix of staring into a pool of developer under a dim red bulb, watching my art magically appear before my eyes.

As I worked my way through several reporting and editing jobs, I found myself continually returning to photography to complement my writing. From 1992-1998, I owned and published the Jewish News of Western Massachusetts. Opportunities for serious photographic projects were limited, but I did manage to organize and participate in a Day in the Life of the Jewish Community, which the paper sponsored and published. In 1998, when I relocated with my family to Israel, I adopted photography as my primary profession.

I am nearly entirely self-taught, which is to say that while I never attended an institute of photography, many other photographers have inspired my creative vision with their images and books about their craft. Some I have had the pleasure of meeting and others have been silent mentors. From these teachers and from countless hours with camera in hand, I learned the essentials of great picture taking: master technique, learn to see light and detail, engage with your subjects, rise before the sun and be patient.

My professional assignments have taken me to the tops of mountains and out to sea chasing Humpback whales. I have had the privilege of traveling to 27 countries on five continents to work on a variety of editorial, advertising, public relations and personal projects. My work has been exhibited in California, Massachusetts and Israel and has earned numerous awards for both art and photojournalism.

These days, when out in the field, I’m most likely to be shooting Fujichrome or using my new digital camera. The digital photography revolution has forced all photographers back into the classroom to learn how to get the most from our new camera-computers.

Whether the job demands film or digital, I continue to accept a wide range of assignments while managing a stock library of images from around the world with an emphasis on religion, spirituality, and the Middle East. And no matter what or where I’m shooting, I continue to nurture a vision of our world that allows me, through my camera, to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary.

To contact Golden Light Images Photography, email me or call 054-637-2170.