HIS PROJECT 'THE SURREALIST PILLOW' HAS MADE HIM A GO TO FOR COMMERCIAL WORK, BUT NOW RONEN GOLDMAN WORKING ON 360 VR IMAGES

RONEN GOLDMAN

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you first got into photography?

Hello! My name is Ronen Goldman. I’m a commercial photographer from Tel Aviv, Israel.

I was actually educated as a scriptwriter at Tel Aviv University, but soon after graduation, while doing reserve duty in the desert with a friend(our job was to guard pretty much nothing, in the middle of nowhere) he showed me his camera and got me hooked on the whole process. I have been photographing ever since.

'The ice King’ - Digital, 2014 ,Limited Edition

Your a commercial photographer who shoots for some really big names, whats it like working in todays market as a commercial photographer?

Its pretty interesting how the commercial landscape has changed in the last few years for commercial photography. There are so many great photographers in every corner of the planet, that getting called upon by brands and agencies to create imagery is harder than ever. Nowadays clients prefer to work with someone who is physicaly close to where they are, and will only really hire someone from "out of town" if that person has a unique vision and style that fits with what they need. Living in Israel, I have been fortunate to get hired to do all kinds of commercial work from all over, I feel pretty forunate in that regard that my style fits what people are looking for.

'Making it out alive’ - Digital, 2015, Limited Edition

A lot of your shoots feature portraits, would you say this is something you prefer doing or more something you’ve become known for?

Drama, comedy, and storytelling usually has something to do with people, so naturally I am attracted to find interesting stories being conveyed by different people. I love portraits, and even more- to have people operate within a "story frame" - a portrait with some action.

'Identity Crisis’ -Digital, 2011, Limited Edition

You live and work in Tel Aviv, what impact has this had upon your practise and the way you shoot?

Tel Aviv is beautiful, and has endless locations to discover and look at in different angles. Cities are fascinating and I love to wander around and find spots that can work as backdrops for various conceptual works. But being a short flight away from Europe is sometimes daunting for clients that want to hire me to do things in their own cities, though it really is just a hop away.

'Master Magician’ - Digital, 2010, Limited Edition

“The Surrealist Pillow” is your personal series of photography, it differs to your commercial work, tell us more about the concept and how its created?

For the past eight years, I have been working on something I call “The Surrealistic Pillow Project.” Basically, they are reconstructions of dreams I’ve had during this period of time that were made into visual creations. The resulting images convey happiness, sadness, exhilaration or sheer paranoia – as dreams often do. All photos were created at one location and in one session in order for all the lighting to be believable and realistic even when the situation is not. Also, Its pretty interesting how many of my commercial clients found me through this personal project of mine, and often want me to recreate new images for them in the same style.

'Why Worry?’- Medium Format Film, 2016

Have you any upcoming plans to showcases “The Surrealist Pillow” or your other shoots?

These days I am expanding on the series- I have created the first 360° VR image to go with the series www.ronengoldman.com/dreams-in-360-the-storyteller . Which is a fully immersible VR surreal environment. Also, I am pushing to create new images for the series using medium format film cameras (the newest one is attached "Why Worry?") this gives a whole new "feel" to the images and is such a long and inspiring process to go through.

'The Storyteller’ - Digital 360° Vr, 2017