ABOUT EUGENE
Eugene was born in New York City
Though his childhood hobbies included breeding guppies and performing magic, he didn’t discover his passion for photography until backpacking solo through Europe and the Middle East after university - the camera his travel companion.
Upon returning to his hometown of Elmont, Long Island -reality hit. It was time to get a ‘real job’. A jacket, tie and an entry level position in a NYC ad agency was a foot in the door for what hoped to be a future in copywriting.
It lasted about a year. Although he had to face the fact that he wasn’t that great at coming up with catchy slogans, he did discover that the visual side of advertising actually did suit him (jacket and tie excluded). So he left Madison Avenue and headed downtown to Chelsea.
The New York Times advertised a 3rd assistant position (lowest guy) at Bruce Wolf Studio in the heart of NYC’s flower district. Sweeping floors, and ordering coffee to the sound of Rock & Roll blasting never felt so good- the smell was always sweet on 28th street & life in the cubicle was gone forever.
Eugene learned his trade totally 'on the job' in this bustling NYC commercial studio. It was during those 4 years, that he acquired techniques specifically in still life and interior photography. He opened his own studio in Soho, NYC and progressively was awarded accounts shooting for brands such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Godiva with regular editorial projects for Cosmopolitan & New York Magazine. After shooting in NYC for a decade and starting a family in his native Long Island, he realized the time was right to pursue another passion. So he packed up his family and his business to live in Israel, where a piece of himself always resided -where that backpacking journey first began.
It was in Israel where Eugene was able to combine his two greatest loves. Love of this land's ancient history and his love of photography. As he captures people celebrating a Wedding or Bar Mitzvah at The Western Wall (Kotel) or as he climbs Masada for the 200th time with a new tour group, he gets to capture his clients falling in love with his historic homeland and relive his own experience of falling in love with Israel, over and over again.
When he’s not shooting, Eugene is usually at his home in Bet Shemesh with his wife Chaia overlooking a spectacular view of The Judean Hills. In Bet Shemesh he’s able to live close by to much of his family who have also made their home there, as well as it being centrally located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv so he can conveniently join his clients coming from all over the globe on their next adventure or special day -wherever it may be.