Jerusalemites — The Photography Book | Sharon Gabay

Jerusalem is usually documented through its stones. This book turns the gaze toward the people.

How a Book Is Born

Not every book begins with a plan. Jerusalemites began with a life.

Fifteen years of walking the streets of Jerusalem. Thousands of hours of watching and waiting. A million and a half moments caught in the lens. And a full year in front of the screen — day after day, hours at a stretch — trying to draw out of that cloud the photographs that tell the city's true story.

The work of selection, as I wrote in the book's introduction, proved a longer and more grueling journey than the photography itself. Letting go of certain images was as hard as a farewell.

The Jerusalem You Haven't Seen

Most photographs of Jerusalem fix on the stones. The Western Wall, the spires, the walls. Monumental images that have hardened into symbols.

Jerusalemites asks for something else.

The book turns the gaze from the symbols toward the living fabric. From the myth toward the reality. This is a Jerusalem of flesh and blood — exposed, complex and human.

Two nuns, a woman in a hijab pushing a stroller, an ultra-Orthodox man — all at the same gate of the Old City, in the same moment, breathing in the smell of the same bagel.

The camera does not try to decide. It documents.

A Native's Eye

The perspective in this book is that of someone born and raised in this city — not a visitor, not a tourist, not a journalist who flew in to file a story.

My grandfather used to take me, as a boy, on a standing Saturday-morning walk through the alleys of the Old City. I remember how merchants would rise to greet him, welcoming him with a warm embrace. My father taught me the secrets of the market. My mother taught me to love Jerusalem in spite of its flaws.

These are not just memories. They are the gaze behind the lens.

The Book Born Out of the War

After documenting Kibbutz Kfar Aza in October 2023 — among the hardest work I have ever done — I withdrew into the studio. The war was outside. The work on Jerusalemites was inside.

It was the need to finish the book that drew me back out into the street for the first time, at the end of 2025. Jerusalem took me back the way it always does — with the same alleys, with faces both new and familiar, with that singular light that has no equal anywhere in the world.

What's in the Book

Jerusalemites is my sixth photography book. A visual and documentary essay, carefully built — not a collection of pictures, but a narrative sequence.

The book is dedicated to the memory of Aner Shapira, a hero of Israel. Aner's handwriting is woven into the title design on the cover — with his family's blessing.

Jerusalem in Pictures — What You'll Find in the Book

The book presents images of Jerusalem you won't see anywhere else. Not the Western Wall familiar from postcards, not the Dome of the Rock from a tourist's angle. These are pictures of real people in real moments — a vendor in the Mahane Yehuda market who has fallen asleep at his stall, an ultra-Orthodox boy playing soccer with an Arab boy in an Old City alley, nuns walking alongside soldiers at the Jaffa Gate. Jerusalem street photography that documents life as it is — without staging, without filters, without an agenda. The book records the Jerusalem of markets and gates, of alleys and stone steps, of unexpected encounters between different worlds that share the same space.

How the Narrative Sequence Was Built

Jerusalemites is not a photo album. It is a deliberate journey with a beginning, a middle and an end. Every picture in the book is placed in relation to the one before it and the one after. The anchor images — the once-in-a-lifetime moments that will never return — serve as load-bearing columns, and the entire narrative is built around them. The selection process was punishing: out of a million and a half photographs taken over 15 years, only a few hundred made the book. Letting images go was as painful as a parting. But in the end, every page received the picture that was born for it.

The Book as a Jerusalem Gift

Jerusalemites has become the perfect gift for anyone who loves Jerusalem. Readers abroad who receive it feel they've been given a piece of the city. Diplomats, business leaders and heads of Jewish communities around the world already own it. Thanks to its three-language edition — Hebrew, English and Arabic — the book speaks to everyone. It makes a fitting gift for Jerusalem Day, for the holidays, for birthdays, for corporate events, and for anyone who wants to give something unique that you can't find on Amazon.

Who Stands Behind the Lens

Sharon Gabay was born and raised in the Nachlaot neighborhood of Jerusalem. Before he became a photographer, he worked for years in management and communications. At 38 he picked up a camera and went out into the street. He hasn't stopped since. Jerusalemites is his sixth photography book. His work has been exhibited at the United Nations building in New York, the U.S. Congress in Washington and the Israeli Knesset. His portraits serve as the lead images in dozens of Wikipedia entries for Israeli public figures — politicians, Israel Prize laureates, Nobel Prize winners and military commanders. His photographs are used in the public-diplomacy work of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Tourism.

Jerusalem — The City You Cannot Photograph

Every photographer who comes to Jerusalem shoots the same things — the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, the walls of the Old City. These are the images of Jerusalem we've seen a thousand times. But the real Jerusalem is not the stones. It is the people who live among them. It is the vendor in the market who offers you tea you never asked for. It is the nun waiting for a bus beside a soldier carrying a weapon. It is the boy running down an alley with a ball, among tourists from Japan. Street photography in Jerusalem is a challenge unlike any other city in the world, because here every corner holds three religions, ten cultures and 3,500 years of history all at once. It is this Jerusalem that I tried to capture in Jerusalemites.

Technical Details: Format 28x25 cm, roughly 304 interior pages, 170 gsm matte chromo paper, hardcover with matte lamination, a trilingual edition — Hebrew, English, Arabic.

To Purchase

Last signed copies, available on the site.

Questions & Answers

1. What is the book Jerusalemites about?

Jerusalemites is a street-photography book documenting 15 years of shooting in the streets of Jerusalem. It turns the gaze away from the city's monumental symbols and toward its living human mosaic — people of every faith, culture and identity who share its streets.

2. Who is Sharon Gabay?

Sharon Gabay is an Israeli photographer born and raised in Jerusalem. For 15 years he has documented the city's streets. Jerusalemites is his sixth book. His work has been exhibited at the Knesset, the United Nations building and the U.S. Congress.

3. What languages is the book printed in?

The book is a trilingual edition — Hebrew, English and Arabic.

4. Where can I buy the book?

The book is available for purchase on the site at sharongabay.com/shop

5. Who is the book for?

For anyone who loves street photography, Jerusalem, human documentary work and visual art. The book speaks a universal language — about a person in a city, about time and about memory.

6. How much does Jerusalemites cost?

The standard edition is 299 NIS. The artist's edition, which includes a luxury slipcase and the photographer's personal signature, is 499 NIS.

7. Does the book make a good gift?

Absolutely. The book makes a fine gift for lovers of Jerusalem, photography and art. Thanks to its three languages it suits readers abroad as well. Many buy it as a gift for Jerusalem Day, for the holidays and for corporate occasions.

8. Is the book still available?

Yes, the book is available for purchase on the site. It is a limited edition — once it's gone, it's gone.

9. What are the book's technical specifications?

Format 28 by 25 centimeters, 304 pages, 170 gsm museum-quality matte chromo paper, hardcover with matte lamination. A trilingual edition in Hebrew, English and Arabic.

10. Where has Sharon Gabay's work been exhibited?

His work has been shown at the United Nations building in New York, the U.S. Congress in Washington, the Israeli Knesset, and in galleries and institutions in Israel and around the world.