[CLICK on each photo to isolate and enlarge]
How much can photographs tell us about the nature of a city... or, to put it another way, the experience of a city, the experience in a city. Experience are subjective but often when travelling we do speak of sharing an experience.
Below are photographs of Istanbul by four photographers, Dieter Sauter, Ara Guler, myself and Alex Webb. Dieter Sauter lived in Istanbul for decades as a journalist supplying the leading German magazines with copy. Ara Guler, the Eyes of Istanbul, the most famous Turkish photographer, is a Armenian who lived in Istanbul and began taking photos in the early 1950s. Me, you know... and we have encountered Alex Webb's photos of Istanbul when we looked at his life and career, especially his sun-soaked photos from Mexico, Haiti, Cuba and so on.
Dieter Sauter
Sara (in the picture above) had lost count of the number of times she had visited Istanbul, her favourite city. She wanted to share her city with me and we arrived in April, 2010 just hours before all air traffic in Europe was locked down following the volcanic eruption in Iceland. We stayed near the Blue Mosque, in the old city, and visited it often, day and night. But on our first morning we crossed the Bosphorus and ascended the steep hill (probably in the funicular cars) to Taksim, the most modern suburb.
Just as we entered the area we spotted a notice about a photographic exhibition and entered. The photos were all by Dieter Sauter; the above B&W all portraits of workers, with more general photos on another wall.
Dieter Sauter's photos were a wonderful introduction to our (extended... as a result of the volcano) stay in Istanbul. They provided a kind of mind-map. See what you think. ...
Mostly we avoided tourist restaurants and ate in very simple venues such as the lokantasi (during the day) or cafés offering all kinds of fish dishes in the evening. We stopped in at this particular eating place (1) so that I could sample their savoury pancakes and (2) because they were advertising live music.
At the next table were a group of five women of widely different ages and corresponding styles of dress. Only the youngest had any English but they were keen to communicate and when they got up to dance they insisted that Sara join them.
Ara Güler
Güler was born in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1928 to Armenian parents.
During his high school years, he jobbed in movie studios and attended drama courses held by Muhsin Ertuğrul, the founder of modern Turkish theater. However, he abandoned cinema in favor of journalism, joining the staff of the newspaper Yeni Istanbul as a photojournalist in 1950 and studying economics at the University of Istanbul at the same time.
In 1958, the American magazine company Time–Life opened a branch in Turkey, and Güler became its first correspondent for the Near East. Soon he received commissions from Paris Match, Stern, and The Sunday Times in London. After completing his military service in 1961, Güler was employed by the Turkish magazine Hayat as head of its photographic department.
Güler traveled on assignment to Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kenya, New Guinea, Borneo, as well as all parts of Turkey. In the 1970s he photographed politicians and artists such as Indira Gandhi, Maria Callas, John Berger, Bertrand Russell, Willy Brandt, Alfred Hitchcock, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso.
Some critics consider his most renowned photographs to be his melancholic black and white pictures taken mostly with a Leica camera in Istanbul, mainly in the 1950s and 1960s.
Credits:
Photos by Alex Webb and Ara Güler downloaded from the web. Dieter Sauter's photos from his book on 'Istanbul'. My photos copyright Lloyd Spencer 2022. All of them used, under fair use stipulations, for educational purposes only, in support of our regular U3A seminar on the history of photography.