About Yael Barzilai

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Yael Barzilai has lived next door to Eunice and Stephen Nemeth in Sunnyvale for five years.

She finally worked up the courage to ask if she could photograph them.

"It took me a long time to get to that point," said Barzilai, a 42-year-old software engineer and mother of three who is originally from Israel.

Her winning photograph was the very first she shot of the couple, while they were just sitting down.

"Just this one, I took before they were really ready," she explained.

"I think it was more natural and shows more of their character."

Barzilai likes the contrast between Stephen, still and looking calmly at the camera, and Eunice, almost a blur of motion and not quite settled.

"I like the reaction between them and how special they both are in different ways," she said.

Barzilai has always liked photography but became serious about it two years ago when some friends gave her a photography class as a gift.

She enjoys capturing people in their environments and mostly takes street snapshots for the reality they reveal.

"When you try to have a planned photo, people start posing and it's a bit difficult," she said.

Barzilai hopes to capture more of the diversity of her Sunnyvale neighborhood with future photographs. She has lived in Sunnyvale for 9 years.

This was her first time submitting to the photo contest.

--Molly Tanenbaum