Alon Shastel Photographs The Raw Spirit Of Israeli Youth

The coming-of-age period of youth is a challenging and exuberant time, and generations of artists have documented this transient period of hedony and awkward beauty. Alon Shastel’s imagery is a testament to just this: photographs of nonchalant teenagers perched on fruit trees or with intertwined limbs against a backdrop of river water, look like they could be stills from a Luca Guadagnino film. The photographer’s eye for light makes his imagery sensual, and his intention to capture the focused gaze of his subjects, purveys an intimacy with visceral emotion. Shastel began photography at the mere age of 10, where he learned to develop analog images in a darkroom constructed in the back of an old bus. His work shows that the spirit and realness of such an age exists confidently—using film, Shastel feels he can establish a closer connection to the nostalgic visions from his early memories in Israel.