The October 7 War / Israel at War 2023-2024 400 Photos by Ziv Koren

From the Preface by Photographer Ziv Koren

We live in such a visually documented age that it is easy to mistakenly think that what was not photographed did not happen. The events of October 7 are a national nightmare, parts of which will remain a kind of black hole. So many stories, tragedies, and human dramas occurred simultaneously on that dark day and were not photographed. The 400 photos chosen for the book out of the hundreds of thousands I took during these months are the “presence” that represents the “absence,” a reflection of the inherent failure to be everywhere at the same time, to document everything at every moment. That’s why I’ve made the unusual choice to dedicate space to those photographs that no one captured. To pay respect to some of those thousands of fateful moments that went undocumented and to the heroes of those moments. “The Photos Not Taken,” which concludes the book, is the monument I wish to erect in honor of those who were there and in memory of those who are no longer with us. For me, as a photographer who has had the privilege of documenting some of the most dramatic events in the world over the past 30 years, this is also a moment of bowing my head in the face of a reality stronger than all of us. A moment of humility.