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Nino (Chananya) Herman (born 1952) is an Israeli art-photographer.
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Biography
His paternal grandfather, Dr. Yehuda Hugo Herrmann (1887-1940), born in Mährisch-Trübau (Moravská Třebová), was one of the leaders of the Bar Kochva organization, editor of the "Selbstwehr" and "Jüdische Rundschau", he was a writer, a publisher, and worked with Shmuel Yosef Agnon on the edition of the Passover-book "Chad Gadya" (1914) and of the Hanukkah-book "Maoz Tzur" (1918). He immigrated to Israel in 1934 and went to live in Jerusalem. His father Gaby (Gabriel) Herman, was among the founders of Kibbutz Ein Gev.
His maternal grandfather Erich Pintus was one of the directors of the Shell Oil Company in Germany. His mother, Lore Herman, was born in Berlin. After the Nazi takeover, her family fled to the Netherlands. In World War II, after her twin brother Heini was captured and murdered in Mauthausen, the family went into hiding in Amsterdam. Lore was active in the Dutch resistance movement. After World War II Nino's parents met in Amsterdam and made "Aliyah". In Israel, Lore took on painting.
Nino Herman was born in Tel Aviv, and raised in Ramat Gan as of the age of four. His has an older sister Judith. At the age of two, Nino became affected by poliomyelitis, the disease left him handicapped. By the age of 17, Nino began to work as assistant at the photo-studio of Ephraim Kidron in Tel Aviv (1969-1971).
He also worked as freelance photographer for newspapers, for "Olam HaKolnoa", together with the journalist G. Itor (1971-1973).
In 1973-1974, Herman worked in Tel Aviv as photographer on behalf of the Government Press Office. Together with photographers Shaya Segal and Shmuel Rachmani, he founded the Photo-Agency 24+, providing pictures to the Maariv newspaper (1974-1977). He worked on behalf of Maariv as news and feature photographer, and later as photographer at the Jerusalemite edition of the newspaper. Together with the photographer Eli Hershkowitz he founded the photo-agency "Zoom 77" which provided pictures to Yedioth Ahronoth, Associated Press, and Time Magazine (1977-1979).
Between 1979 and 1986, Herman was back at the Government Press Office. He provided photographic coverage of the Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt, and accompanied Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, and Shimon Peres in their trips in Israel and abroad.
Herman's pictures, from the archives of the Government Press Office and of the Maariv newspaper, appeared in official brochures, in books and in various group exhibitions. In 1979, Herman married Tchiya, in 1981 they were among the founders of Nataf, a small community-village on the hills of Judea, and went to live there. They had three children.
In 1987-1998, Herman worked as pictures editor at the Maariv news desk. After an accident that left him injured, he quit this job. In 2000 his son Yair, who served as photographer in the IDF, was killed in a road accident, and Nino stopped photographing.
In 2009 he came back, as art photographer, specialized also in snapshots of people.
Ronit Tzur, the curator of the exhibition "Tel Aviv – Berlin in transition", wrote: "In dozens of snapshots taken of ordinary people on the street, and of various ethnic groups, he draws a map of Tel Aviv South. His approach with sensitivity, and full respect for every individual, enables Nino to produce a sort of authentic and credible documentary. His camera catches sidewalk scenes and captures the atmosphere of the city whose life flows on streets and in coffee shops."
Herman pictures also nature, his recent collection "Outside my window", shown in the framework of "Daily Images" in August 2015 at the "Erev Rav" site, entertains a dialogue with painting.
In 2000-2012, Herman was art advisor at "Set Productions" for the movies of Dan Setton, the winner of the Emmy Award.
His writings and pictures appear in the "Grand angle" blog 2011-2013, in Maariv nrg "Wind objective", in "Photographs on site, and "second opinion". Since 2009 he keeps a personal picture blog "Domains of the heart".
He is a member of the cooperative Gallery "A place for Art", at Kiriat Hamelacha, Tel Aviv South. He also exhibits in "under 1000" gallery, Florentine, Tel Aviv.
In 2016 he exhibits solo exhibition at the The Laurie M. Tisch Gallery at JCC Manhattan in New York.