Alon Shastel is a photographer based between Paris and Tel Aviv. The creation of images has been a pursuit of Shastel’s since boyhood.
At the age of 10, he began using analog cameras and developing the images in a darkroom constructed in the back of an old bus. When using film, he feels he can establish a closer connection to nostalgic visions that relate to memories of his early years.
In his work, Shastel often documents youth in natural landscapes, reviving his childhood memories in Israel. Shastel captures the rawness and sensuality of youth, an overarching theme throughout his work. Largely cast from the street, his subjects appear in their natural state, without makeup and direct in their expressions. But Shastel’s work goes beyond a superficial representation of young people reconciling their beauty and awkwardness. He finds a deeper resonance of the individual — hidden qualities that can be at once intimate and unguarded.
