The World in Front of Me

Los Angeles

In 1978 Bill and his wife Isa left New York City for Los Angeles, first living in Venice Beach before settling in the vibrant Jewish community of Pico Robertson. After ra

Israel

Bill has traveled to Israel numerous times since his first visit as an undergraduate in 1961. In 1980, and again in 2010, he returned, no longer a student, but a professi

Cuba

In 1978 Bill traveled with a group to Cuba looking to document Jewish life there. The Jewish population, once robust and diverse, had shrunken to an estimated 1500 people

Personal Transformations

Bill lost both his parents at a young age; his father when he was 9 years old, and his mother when he was in high school. When Bill was diagnosed with cancer at the age o

Thriving Survivors

In 2005, Bill Aron was approached by Marilyn Harran of Chapman University's Holocaust Studies department to photograph 100 members of the 1939 Society. The project of ora

The American South

In the early 1990's Bill Aron was approached by Macy Hart and Vicki Reikes Fox of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience to document Jewish life in the American Sou

The Soviet Union

In 1981, Bill Aron went to the Soviet Union to photograph Jewish people living behind the Iron Curtain. Many of these Jews were refuseniks who had applied to leave the US

New York

Bill Aron and his wife Isa moved to New York City in 1974, during the heyday of urban street photography. Looking for a career change, but with no clear idea on what he s

Introducing Bill Aron

From a young age, Bill Aron was drawn to photography, but never considered it as a career. Losing his father and mother in childhood, he was pulled by a desire to freeze

Introducing The World in Front of Me with Bill Aron

In the summer of 2025, journalist and writer Ruth Andrew Ellenson sat down with famed photographer Bill Aron, and recorded more than 12 hours of interviews. For nearly 50