. DECEMBER 2012 BACK ISSUE I was born and raised in Jerusalem to a Persian-Israeli mother and ex-pat American father. My dad, Richard Nowitz, believed it was never too early to pass down his trade and by the age of eight I had learned how to use a camera and work in the darkroom. My mother found it strange, but for me it was simple - none of my toys could compete with the thrill of seeing an image magically fade up from a blank piece of paper. My father taught me the fundamentals of photography. I learned how to use composition, motion and lighting to create compelling and aesthetic images. We would sit together at the light-box, each with our own loop, and he taught me how to recognize a great shot. I learned that the success of a picture depends not only on imagination, but also on mastery of the technical aspects of photography and of storytelling. My dad always says, "You don't take a great picture, you make a great picture." My father worked for publications that sent him on assignments all over the world and when he could, he took me along as his assistant. It was on one of these photography trips that I discovered my desire to become a filmmaker. We were in Montana, shooting an article about a girl my own age who grew up around a ghost town from the 1800s. We discovered an amazing location, a wild west graveyard set on top of a hill overlooking the town. By the age of twelve, I had been with my father to many places but never had I experienced a setting so theatrical. I was immediately inspired and for the first time I asked my dad to allow me to create one of my own photographs for the magazine. I wanted to illustrate the moment at which the heroine discovers the truth about her town's past. I asked her to dress in her everyday, modern clothes and to kneel with a lantern beside one of the graves. A short distance away, I positioned two actors, dressed as 19th century cowboys. I wanted it to be unclear whether the cowboys are really there or just a figment of the girl's imagination. To tell this part of the story I had to draw on my dad's technical expertise and received my first great lesson in exposure and special effects. By optically ghosting the cowboys, I was able to tell the story of my heroine and her town. It was at this moment when I first allowed the story to dictate the aesthetics of one of my photographs, that I was propelled on a path toward cinematography. Daniella’s first magazine spread, taken whilst working with her father. Sunset in San Francisco. The San Francisco's Farmer's Market. Saint Anthony's Feast in Boston. Sunset in Brugge, Belgium. A director on his film set in Tel Aviv. A street performer in London. Rain in Quebec City. The town of Copan Ruinas in Honduras. La Ronde amusement park in Montreal. A re-enactor in historic Williamsburg, Virginia. The Church of Scientology in Boston. Street performers in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. Jellyfish at the Monterey Aquarium in California. Tropical plants in Honduras. Teenage punks in Tel Aviv. Back to current issue