When the idea to photograph Israeli athletes for the London 2012 Paralympic games came to mind, the second athlete I met was Pascale Berkovitch.

Pascale, 44, lost her legs in a train accident in the suburbs of Paris when she was 17 years old. She now lives with her partner and two daughters in Tel Aviv and is part of the Israeli Paralympic staff for the 2012 games in the field of Hand Biking.

During my first meeting with Pascale, I was struck by the expression ‘sport spirit’. The more time I spent with her while training in the park, at home with her partner or while wandering around her neighborhood with her little girl, the more I felt this was an understatement.

Pascale, like many other Paralympians, has a very optimistic character. I could feel that in her case, this character expands to become something outstanding. Pascale gives the impression that she has no self pity over her physical condition and the way she lives with her disability is totally ordinary.

I witnessed Pascale going up three stairs at the playground with her child. She jumped off her wheelchair, pulled her body over the stairs and then with a powerful lift carried the wheelchair and jumped back on it in an impressive acrobatic move. She commented “I am like a little monkey jumping, going up and down and moving myself from place to place – I’m really a little monkey.”

The physical disability of Pascale is very visible but getting a little closer to her you can feel that the disability is physical only. On the mental level you find a strong, vivid and very energetic person.

She is also very aware of her powerful spirit and makes a living as a motivational speaker using her personal story as the basis for her presentations.

“This is how I am. Everyone has disability, mine is physical, but this is where it ends,” Pascale said. When I try to honestly think about it, I find the statement to be very true.

As an Israeli and a resident of “ultra” secular Tel Aviv for most of my adult life, Purim — the celebration of the Jews’ salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther — has always been a time of partying and dressing up, for me.

Images of Orthodox Jews celebrating Purim were always very familiar. But being present at one of these celebrations was a different experience altogether.

This year I went to photograph the Vizhnitz Hasidic community in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city some 7 km (4 miles) from Tel Aviv. The Vizhnitz community members tend to emphasize the joyous gatherings and celebrations commemorated in the Jewish tradition.

When I arrived at their huge hall, it was mostly empty, but within less than an hour it was packed. The atmosphere was welcoming and warm. Thousands stood on grand-stands surrounding the hall and waited for their Rabbi to arrive. When he entered, there was a burst of singing and clapping and one could clearly feel the excitement. They sang songs praising God and emphasizing the importance of being happy during the festival with enthusiasm even though they had fasted the whole day, as is customary on Purim. They also read in unison from The Book of Esther. The atmosphere was electrifying. Looking around, many of them seemed entranced as they joined in to the loud singing and dancing.

Photos and video by Nir Elias, Ronen Zvulun and Baz Ratner.

At some point the place emptied and I figured that many had left to go home and break their fast, only to return some time later for more dancing and singing, but also drinking alcohol. This part of the evening is all about dancing and drinking and singing and continues until the early hours of the morning. The practice of gender separation was also clear throughout the evening. I didn’t see one woman all evening and I was there until around 1am. As I drove back to Tel Aviv I saw people dressed up and probably on their way to a Purim party. I passed by a man dressed in his underwear and soon afterwards spotted a couple wearing black leather costumes as the woman held onto her male partner with a heavy metal chain attached to his collar.

I thought to myself: Here were two Israeli communities living literally next to each other but celebrating the same holiday in such different ways — an embodiment of the contrasts and contradictions that make up this country.

When I got the senior photographer job in Shanghai in late 2005, Reinhard Krause, who was China’s chief photographer, well advised me to drop any preconceptions I might have about the place.

Below is an audio slideshow based on my portfolio of work from China, where I discovered a land of contradictions.

Below is a selection of some of the portfolio images. Click here for a full slideshow.

Models display jewelery of Cartier High Jewellery during a private gala dinner in Shanghai January 26, 2007. REUTERS/Nir Elias

Li Renying (R), 70, and her husband Zhang Kunlin, 74, stand in front of a backdrop during a photography session in a studio that caters especially to the elderly, in Shanghai October 20, 2007. REUTERS/Nir Elias

A Chinese worker rests as he paints a newly built crane in the Long Wu port in Shanghai December 14, 2005. REUTERS/Nir Elias

Xiaoqing (L) and a consultant take part in an interview with Reuters at the Time Plastic surgery clinic in Shanghai February 4, 2010. The 21-year-old, who would only give her name as Xiaoqing, is seeking extensive plastic surgery to look like U.S. actress Jessica Alba, mainly because she hopes to win back her boyfriend who she said always wished she looked more like the Hollywood star. The hospital has agreed to do it for free to showcase their surgery skills. REUTERS/Nir Elias

Boys hang on a bar for five minutes as part of a training session at the Gymnastics Hall of the Shanghai University of Sports August 7, 2007. REUTERS/Nir Elias

A staff member of a tanning salon in Shanghai looks out of a tanning cabinet August 1, 2006. REUTERS/Nir Elias