Photo Live Magazine First Issue Photo live - cat's add in 2017 versioin | Page 61

drawn to people, especially elderly
people. Again I felt anonymous there,
which gave me the mental freedom
to quietly point my small mirror-less
camera at people in the street, all
the while hoping they would not see
me, but smiling if they did. I love both
colour and texture, as well as people
and emotion.
Tell us about photography in Istan-
bul... any challenges or restrictions?
Oh Istanbul. Istanbul is a captivating
city, full of so many layers: from shiny
metal super modern skyscrapers, to
crumbling stones and walls of velvet
colours and textures. It arcs around
the Bosphorus, the beautiful harbour
there, with boats and seagulls, fish-
erman and the people of every im-
aginable background from ultra reli-
gious to on-the -edge in both dress
and outlook—everything and more
is there. Once you go there you can
see why it is a city that inspired po-
ets, painters, writers and photogra-
phers over the centuries.
I am very lucky to know another pho-
tographer there, which meant I could
feel part of the city. It is possible to
walk for endless hours through back-
streets and suburbs, always a new
discovery around each corner.
We are hoping to have a collabo-
rative exhibition of street photos
sometime in 2018 or 2019. Both
of us have had quite a profound in-
fluence on each other’s photogra-
phy. He opened my eyes to looking
up, noticing birds and buildings and
modern contrasts, and also to being
meticulous in editing any particular
photo with both it’s framing and tex-
ture/tones.
No real challenges there except
the same challenges you have with
street photography anywhere real-
ly. Lots of people have a camera in
Istanbul. and like everywhere in the
world, even old ladies in long head-
scarves are taking selfies every-
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