Dov Fox • Digital dreamscapes in the world of wonders of a Haifa scientist, researcher, writer and photographer

He has many faces to the scientist Dov Fox. During the years of his life, he wandered in aviation between the security systems and research laboratories, with his head drilling plots and stories for two books on the one hand - and phenomenal photographic creativity with the help of AI software on the other.

Scientist, researcher, writer and digital art photographer

Dov Fox was born in Haifa (1948), and has a bachelor's and master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Technion. For many years he worked at Rafael in the field of rocket propulsion. He was a scientist in the Israeli defense system, and a researcher who spent several years in the research laboratories of the American Air Force and then worked in the field of business intelligence.

Dov Fuchs published two books: the first: 'The End of the Millennium' (Tel Aviv: Tones, 1998) and the second: 'Seeing Through Walls' (Tel Aviv: Midda, 2014).

Today, Dov Fox is an international photography artist, who combines photography and digital art to create conceptual images in the expression of surrealist works.

"I live here too"

Here is the section that brings you fascinating Haifa characters in their homes where the introduction is through the stories, the charges and the unique point of view of the people who make up the human mosaic of our city Haifa. That is, these are the people who live and live here, just like the name of the section - "I also live here".

As part of this section we will get to know Haifa characters and their place of residence. The introduction is not through the square footage of the apartment, or a real estate evaluation or a design description only - but the essence of this introduction is to get to know the hosts' house, the stories, the emotional charge and the unique personal point of view.

The parents: mother Orika and father Mirce

During the Holocaust, in the city of Iasi in Romania, one of the most brutal pogroms was committed against the Jews during which approximately 15,000 Jews were murdered and many others were beaten, tortured and humiliated. Jewish private, commercial and communal property was openly looted and many of the surviving Jews were deported from the city to concentration camps. After the war - a small Jewish community remained in the city. And so, in 1946, shortly after the recovery from the war, Orika/Golda and Mircea got together, ran away and walked all the way to France.

There they managed to team up with the people of the Hagana's Mossad Le Aliya B and with their help they set off with the immigration ship 'Lekommiyut' (ie: towards independence) organized by the Mossad Le Aliya B.

Does Dov count as qualifying?

'Community' was an immigration ship, organized by the Mossad for Aliyah B of the Hagana. In 1948, on February 19, the British discovered the illegal ship. The next day while they were in the middle of the sea about 90 miles from Haifa off the coast of Beirut, a plane passed by and an hour later a British destroyer arrived.

The ship then sailed with the help of sails when the destroyer began to escort the ship in the direction towards the land. After the ship was discovered by a British plane, a destroyer attached to it. An agreement was reached with the British that they would let the ship continue alone towards Haifa, and the British would board it about three miles from the coast. The large number of children on the ship dictated passive behavior. On February 20, the ship arrived at the port of Haifa, but the illegal immigrants were deported to detention camps in Cyprus.

After about 4 months, a baby was born in Haifa to Orika and Mirza. Is Dov considered a qualifier?

Haifa's childhood in the shadow of the austerity period

In 1948, Dov was born in the old Rothschild Hospital, which at the time was located next to the Technion in the Hadar neighborhood. The family lives on Hatzamtu street near the 'Dagon silos'. Dov tells about his childhood during the austerity period, in which the economic rationing policy instituted by the State of Israel between 1949-1959 applied.

As for the young children, the main phrase remembered is a period of cutting back on food in particular, but also contentment with little in all other elements of everyday life in general.

At the same time, Dov describes a happy childhood of games where everyone had "nothing with nothing - because everyone was poor".

Puberty and military service

When Dov was about 3 years old, his parents divorced and his mother, her parents: the grandfather and grandmother, as well as her only brother Binyamin Horowitz the XNUMXth, who later fell in the Yom Kippur War, stayed at home.

Dov finished his studies at the "Fields of Carmel" elementary school, where the Haifa City Museum is now located, and later attended Municipal High School 1. Dov studied for one year at the academic reserve and at the end of it he enlisted in the army. During his childhood, Dov dreamed of becoming a pilot, since even then the topic of aviation impressed him, but due to medical problems he was prevented from realizing this dream. He did his military service in the communications corps.

Academy and degrees for the most part and alongside them the hobby of photography

Dov completed his first degree, B.Sc in 1973 at the Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering at the Technion and in 1982 he already received his M.Sc degree from the same place.

As a hardworking, curious and scholar since 2015, Dov carries with him another degree and with honors from the Open University on behalf of the Department of Psychology and Education.

In addition to this, in 2017 he completed his studies and received an MA degree in the Department of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, in the creative writing track, at the University of Haifa.

As a researcher and hobbyist, Dov is a photographer-artist. During his childhood he had a camera - and later even a photography lab, initially for developing black-and-white photographs and later a laboratory for developing color photographs.

Over the years, he studied and completed 'photography studies', as well as 'creative photography and photographic expression' at the "Harel" studio. He also studied at Teltan College: photography courses for beginners and advanced students. Recently, over the course of about a year and a half, he uses and implements the ability to use artificial intelligence software in his photography works.

Deb Fox's dreamscapes ► Watch

Work, training, marketing and consulting

From 1974 to 2007, Dov worked at Rafael, where he was the head of the section responsible for the research and development of solid engines for air-to-air missiles and other missions. He was also a marketing manager responsible for a variety of international marketing activities of the Manor Division and later a marketing manager at the Space Chassis Directorate .

During the 80s, he went on 3 years of training in the USA, during which he stayed at the US Air Force bases in California as a visiting scientist, where he carried out research on solid rocket propulsion. In 2007, Marfael took early retirement and established a marketing consulting office in the hi-tech field. . 

Surreal and conceptual works

Without any doubt, Dov Fox is a multi-faceted personality. Today he is a photographic artist, combining photography and digital art to create surreal and conceptual works. As a way to document reality, Dov uses the camera as a tool for the creative process and self-expression. On a digital canvas, he is not afraid to experiment and creates a fictional reality on his computer using the parts of the many photos he took with his camera.

Recently his works are focused around self-portraits, in which he plays in allegorical stories and is even in the role of the main character. These works are the result of the photographer's reflections on life alone with himself - on his memories, dreams, feelings, on his thoughts as well as his opinions about the surrounding world - all this, through the prism of his life.

Universal themes

Dov's works take the viewer out of his comfort zone and force him to look at reality from a slightly different angle.

Many of them deal with anxieties, which are both personal to the artist and universal, suitable for all human beings. For example thoughts related to: fear of aging, fear of change, fear of being left behind or fear of making wrong choices in life. All these feelings are familiar to all of us, but everyone feels them differently.

It is possible that even after looking at his works, we can recognize ourselves in the pictures, or maybe even understand something new about our personality through them.

The Fox family

Dov Fox has been married to Leah nee Hertz for 50 years. Leah was born in Haifa and even lived close to Dev, but during their childhood they did not know each other. Leah's father is the late Yitzhak Hertz who was among the approximately 1,200 Jews who were employed in Schindler's factory. The people on Schindler's factory employee list were saved from the Nazis, thanks to the fact that he bribed German army officers so that he could employ Jews, even though he risked his own life by doing so .

Leah teaches Hebrew expression at the West Galilee Academic College, previously served as a teacher and district teacher instructor in literature, expression and speech culture. She was a columnist on social literature and education in the local press in Israel and the USA. The Foxes have two sons Yaniv (born '75) a professor at Bar Ilan Hagar University in Kfar Yona Veyron (born '78) who used to be a professor at the Technion and is now a research director Lives in Haifa biology company. Today, Leah and Dov Fox have 5 grandchildren.

View of the house: Carmel Park

About 12 years ago, the Fox family from Kiryat Haim arrived in the current Meuna bordering the Carmel Park. This park is a sequence of national parks and nature reserves on the high Mount Carmel. The view from the house is the main reason why this residence was purchased.

During the fires that happened in the Carmel area, the family members were indeed evacuated from their residence, but fortunately - their house was not damaged.

The house is spacious and everyone has their own office as well as grandchildren's rooms and guest rooms. One of the grandchildren's rooms was nicknamed "the fortress". The permission to enter this room and stay in it is only according to the kindness and desire of the zatots.

The view from the window of the spacious living room is a pastoral view of the national park area which is considered particularly beautiful. In the distance is the area known as "Little Switzerland" because it has nothing to do with the scenery of Switzerland. It has holiday parking lots, scenic birdhouses and marked walking trails. In the territory of the park there are many trees, among them common oak and those of Eretz Israel. Many flowers bloom on the cliffs, including a black lily. The travelers in the area, from the vantage point, will even be able to see the rock faces in the thicket of vegetation.

During the hot summer - to the study

Dov is a persistent person. At dawn, in the winter and summer seasons, and sometimes even before the warm weather - he wakes up, and already at 5 in the morning he enters the study. According to him, this is a time when everything is silent: phones do not ring, the silence is blessed and at its best. This is Dov's favorite time to engage in his reflections and thoughts. A time when ideas come easily to his fevered mind.

During this morning, Dov reads and is updated on the various aspects that are happening in Israel and the world on the one hand and on the other hand what is being done in the field of technology. In his understanding, in the current era "even to stay in place - you have to run fast", because all the time things are progressing, changing and improving.

Favorite room: the bathroom

Adjacent to the bedroom of the house, is the bathroom and the bath, which also has a large shower that contains a bench. This is Dov's 'thinking bench'. Fox points out that it is precisely while bathing that you can think of "things that you see from here you don't see from there". He even increased his photography skills and developed, from the bathroom, a number of photographic works dealing with this subject.

Recently, his works focus on self-portraits, where Dov plays the role of the hero in allegorical narratives. These works are the result of his reflections on life alone with himself - on his memories, dreams, feelings, thoughts and opinions on what is happening around him through the prism of his life.

It is very suitable for Dev to use himself as a photo model to express himself. The photographs from the bathroom help to describe this artistic way.

"Equipment Room" Has the white wall background

Dev is comfortable using his image as a model for his photographs in order to express himself. According to him, he is always available and can even afford to look "not the most beautiful" in his works. Yes, because he has no goal to "look handsome" and in addition to that it is most important for him not to depend on anyone, as the saying goes - "If I don't have myself - who will?".

This arsenal of ideas can be implemented with the help of the set of items found in the "equipment room". Against the background of the white wall and with the help of the camera and drone, he applies the compositions to his works.

In this room he spends many hours to sew and assemble a multi-layered image which is then brought to the "computer lab", where the final magic of his creations is created.

Nikon  Z6

In his works, the "principal bride of joy" is Dov's camera. This is a very good Nikon 6Z model camera, which has no limit on shooting time and exposure calibration. This is a camera in which the dynamic range can be changed by changing the overexposure recovery and there is even the possibility of canceling the noise reduction system, while maintaining the quality of the image and color.

The camera is high-quality and excellent because it is a stable camera in every field - although it is not recommended for beginner photographers but for the skilled ones in the group.

the drone

In order not to be dependent on any foreign factor on the one hand and on the other hand to be able to photograph from a high range - Dov used a drone. In today's world, where the art of photography is only getting better and better, there is a large increase in demand for drones of various types. Dov's drone allows him to take spectacular photographs from diverse and unique angles, and this is how he produces his artistic photos.

The design of a glider has a rounded appearance, which includes large propellers, which give it a long flight time. The glider has a control that works with joysticks. Its weight does not constitute significant excess weight, so it is convenient to work with it. This is a drone with a successful design, and it can easily be taken anywhere, when it goes without any effort into its designated bag.

the computer

The highlight of Dov's study and the most important item is the stationary personal computer. The great advantage of the personal computer is the possibility to choose a desired specification according to the needs and budget of each user. Thanks to the rapid technological development typical of the field, computer components are constantly renewed and the prices of components that were considered the latest up until that moment, drop significantly in a short time. The three main components that determine the performance level of the computer are the processor, the memory (RAM) and the motherboard.

Dov's mind is "tailored" according to his special needs. It is a fast, powerful and good computer with a very powerful graphics card. Although this computer was bought "only" about two years ago - but with the technological renewals so fast, it is possible that this computer will soon be replaced by an even more modern computer.

'One Hundred Years of Solitude'

The book that created a great vibration in Dov's soul is the story of the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia "One Hundred Years of Solitude". This is a novel that is one of the masterpieces of Latin American prose nowadays. The plot discusses family history, which is a kind of microcosm that operates according to internal laws, which do not depend on the real world and time, and is actually a chronicle of all humanity.  

Dov, most of whose works deal with anxieties, which are both personal to the artist and universal to all humans - such as fear of aging, fear of change, fear of being left behind or fear of making wrong choices in life - this book contains a hundred years of love and faith and despair, a desire for happiness and disappointment and finally back to the loneliness of the individual. The main storyline of this book is embedded in a colorful array of fascinating folk tales and it excites the imagination of readers all over the world in general and of Dov in particular.

Fox even immortalized his deep connection to the plot of the book by creating the photograph "The Miraculous Heavenly Ascension of the Beautiful Remedios" (the beautiful Remedios was said to be more beautiful than all the girls from Kondo; many men died of love or passion for her) - a photograph that is in the living room of the house.

'Stories instead of chocolate'

Next to Garcia's masterpiece lies another work in Dov's heart and it is the collection of stories by his wife Leah Fox.

The book 'Stories Instead of Chocolate' is a collection of short stories for third and fourth year olds and their families. These are stories that were written following Leah's treatment of her father, the late Yitzhak Hertz, and even during her volunteer activities in nursing homes in Haifa.

The book includes 40 stories that depict life experiences through a smiling and optimistic lens. Dr. David Cohen, the former head of the geriatric department at Carmel Hospital, reports that Leah Fox's stories seem to have been written by elders from different faiths - for both old and young. He emphasizes that at the end of the book the author shares with the readers her thoughts while writing, and even turns to the readers' experience and dealing with joy, pain and above all with the meaning of life. Leah Fox's story even "corresponds" with most of the photography subjects that occupy Dov, the man she is with.

And more on the subject of the library and books

Dov Fuchs published two books, which clearly indicate that he is a 'man of clusters', an educated person with deep and wide-ranging knowledge in many diverse fields of science, society and spirit.

1 . 'end of the millennium' 

About 26 years ago, Dov published his first novel, "The End of the Millennium" (Tel Aviv, Shades Publishing House, 1998). The book tells the story of a successful Tel Aviv lawyer who discovers that he is in love with a beautiful journalist, just at a time when there are signs of total anarchy in the air, considering an imminent disaster. At the time mentioned, the government is at a loss and in the background the prophecies of Nostradamus' wrath are being fulfilled: a group of zealots is trying to build the Third Temple and set the whole world on fire.

During the plot the question is asked what happens when the electricity supply stops? The CEO of the Nega Company, the company that manages the Israeli electricity sector, warns that Hezbollah knows how to make life in Israel intolerable, bringing about a total catastrophe. Is Dov Fox's novel a work of science fiction, in the genre of apocalyptic disasters, a figment of his imagination? Or is it a self-fulfilling prophecy that may happen in the coming days?!

2. 'seeing through walls'

His second story "Seeing Through the Walls" was published about 10 years ago (Tel. Tel Aviv, Midda Publishing, 2014). In this book, Dov Fuchs unfolds before the reader a multi-layered and deep plot and combines with sophistication plots between events from the Second Temple period and the present events of the publication of the book which have a fateful effect on the future which is the contemporary present.

The book discusses international hi-tech companies involved in developing the ability to see through walls. The competition is which of those companies will be the first to reach the desired goal and gain control of the global markets

Among the competitors for the grand prize is also an Israeli company that reached a breakthrough in the development of the revolutionary device. The people of the company are doing everything they can, and beyond, to win the huge deal they are competing for. They have no idea that the exciting discovery will open up to them hidden worlds from an ancient era: not far from the northern shores of the Dead Sea was the "Sect of the Judean Desert", whose members believed that Adam's fate was determined on the day of the creation of the world. Brother Yonatan and brother Daniel set out on a journey, in a desperate attempt to save the sacred scrolls, which encode ancient secrets, from the approaching tenth Roman legion, on its way to eradicate the rebellion in Jerusalem and destroy the Second Temple.

'Saba Dov' - full time

Three times a week, Grandpa Dov collects his Haifa grandchildren from the Pichman school in the Ramot Ramez neighborhood. The attention and extensive experiential investment with Grandpa Dov causes, for every reasonable person, to dream "if only I were among his grandchildren"...

Every meeting and meeting, fresh zucchini soup with dill is cooked for the 11 and a half year old grandson, while for her younger granddaughter, fresh snitzels are waiting for her in the thickness she wants, accompanied by baked and well-burnt potatoes.

Furthermore, with Saba Dov you can prepare a Power Point presentation on artificial intelligence, as well as understand how a huge plane whose weight can reach 400 tons travels quickly on the runway, and towards the end, this big thing detaches from the ground and takes off into the air.

'Saba Dov' explains that it's all thanks to a phenomenon called the lift force or simply - the lift, which acts on the aircraft where the front part of the plane's wing splits the air in two. The wing is built so that there is a difference in air pressure between the area above the wing and the area below the wing (above - there is less pressure, and below more pressure). The pressure difference is what lifts the plane up, until the air meets again, at the back of the wing, and then there will be air pressure differences between the air above the wing and the one below it. As mentioned, these pressure differences are the causes of the formation of the lifting force that keeps the plane in the air.

International recognition and Haifa exhibition

About every 15th of a month, a new monthly edition of the Living the Photo Artistic Life digital magazine is published, which publishes the works of the members of the AWAKE artist group. In the July 24 issue, two of Dov's works appear. On page 47 of the magazine, two pictures of Deb Fox were published, one is called "The Coral Reef" and the other is "Trapped on the Mebius strip".

Following this international recognition, next month a solo exhibition of Dov will be held in Haifa. On Saturday morning, August 31.8.24, XNUMX, his exhibition on the subject: "Alone with myself" will open at the Chagall House of Artists, accompanied by the curator: Dina Bova.

facing the future

Many are the thoughts running through Dov's mind, as well as the curiosity to know what the future holds. He wishes for peaceful and better days in which peace and tranquility will prevail in our districts.

But since there is another vision for the time - in the personal aspect, Dov continues to focus on his family members and his upcoming trip to a four-day 'international digital photography art workshop', which will be held in Birmingham, England under the unique guidance of the artist Brooke Shayden.

And in the national aspect, now alive - according to him, the State of Israel is still fighting one of the hardest wars in its history. The heavy and painful prices that the campaign exacts every day, turns it into an existential war for our lives and the security of the country. All that remains is to wish and pray, all of us together, for the end of this difficult period.