Street photographer Avrom Rubinfeld captures those elusive shots that show a slice of real life

You don’t know his work, and you won’t find his prints on any walls. Avrom Rubinfeld, a talented finalist in the Mishpacha 20th Anniversary photography contest, is a kollel yungerman with a niche interest, and he’s honed the instinct to tell when a scene can create one of those elusive shots that show a slice of real life

“Midday is usually a photographer’s nightmare,” says 23-year-old hobbyist Avrom Rubinfeld. He’s a street photographer originally from Boro Park currently living in Jerusalem, where he gets the majority of his shots. “But it’s one of my favorites. Everyone’s looking for soft photos, but I like very deep shadows.”

It’s born from practicality also, because Rubinfeld is constantly on the lookout for a shot that tells a story, and stories don’t only happen at golden hour with the soft light of summer. A really good photo doesn’t happen as often as he’d like, but he’s honed the instinct to tell when a scene he comes across will make a beautiful shot.

“There are three things. There’s lighting, there’s the composition, and there’s the story. If I have all three, it’s a good shot. I’m trying to make it look like a painting, with a nostalgic Judaica feel,” he says.

You don’t know his work, and you won’t find his prints published anywhere or hanging on any walls. He’s a kollel yungerman with a niche interest, that’s all. And although he’s been doing this for a while, there wasn’t a Big Moment that got him into photography.

“I was on a road trip in yeshivah and I just decided I wanted to take some nice pictures. That was it, like landscapes and stuff. Something that would make a nice postcard picture.”

That was about seven years ago, when he was 17. Since then, he spent time researching and refining his craft. Reading, practicing, and teaching himself everything he knows, and about three years in, he realized that landscapes weren’t doing it for him any longer.

“I love those photos, but they aren’t special. A beautiful landscape is a dime a dozen. It didn’t speak to me like a portrait does,” he said.