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Robert Kalman
20-Apr-2013, 13:46
Preparing a trip to Istanbul in July. Will mainly be shooting LF street portraits. (You can see the kind of work we do here: www.robertkalmanweb.com)

> Any recommendations for the best areas/neighborhoods (such as Bohemian sections of town) for finding great faces?

> Any recommendations on finding a decent guide/fixer to assist on the first few days?

Thanks!

mathieu Bauwens
21-Apr-2013, 06:43
Well,

You can go for a walk on the seaside on the afternoon, there are a lot of people swimming and fishing at the end of the day. Also a lot fisherman on the main bridges.

To see "real" Istanbul inhabitant, I can strongly recommend you to walk and lost yourself in the Gold Horn. All houses are in wood, small pathways. Really a nice place of the city.

Mathieu

timing
21-Apr-2013, 10:08
Robert,

in my experience you will find all manner of interesting faces in Istanbul.

Depending on what you want you could look at the following areas: Tarlabasi, Balat, Fener, Eyup, The Bazaar Area from the Spice Bazaar up to the Grand Bazaar, around Kariye Camii behind the old walls, From Tophane up to Istiklal / Taksim Square, Around Fatih, Suleymaniye, Sultan Selim. At the other end of the Bosphorous is Anadolu Kavagi which is an old fishing village - might also be worth going there.

You could also try Uskudar on the Asian Side of the Bosphorous and also the Princes Islands (these are much quieter so maybe more rewarding).

Many of the above areas should be safe to wander around but some will be busy and so setting out a tripod might could be tricky. The big popular (Suleymaniye / Fatih) mosques don't like to have tripods set up in within the complex - you are meant to have a permit but often a friendly chat with the security guards will suffice - I've not have any problems in the area of the Blue Mosque but don't try it inside.

As for a local guide, try contacting this guy http://www.jonathanlewisphoto.com. He is a Welshman living in Istanbul - I met him once briefly and he gave me the contact details of a great fixer down in Turkey's South East area - he may not guide you but will almost certainly have the details of somebody that will. He specialises in the area of Tarlabasi and the social problems there.

Hope that helps.

Tim

mathieu Bauwens
27-Apr-2013, 02:28
Robert,

I think you can also do some nice portrait on the car ferry that cross the Bosphorus. Not a lot of tourist but not a lot of place for the tripod. You can find one near the train station that cross the Bosphorus to the asian side, You can find another one that go to the island.

Sean Chilibeck
29-Apr-2013, 06:36
I was just Backpacking around Turkey with my 4x5. To be honest I took maybe 3 pictures while I was in Istanbul over 3-4 days, mainly because I had just spent 3 weeks busing/hitchhiking around the country and needed some rest. If you’re going for portraits of the locals I was steer clear of the European side (full of tourists and ex-pats), the Asian side is a little quieter and you should be able to get into some interesting neighbourhoods. There are 16 million official residents so I don’t think you should have trouble finding a couple that spark your interest.

I never got to anywhere that made me feel uncomfortable and I did a bunch of directionless wandering. The people (as always) are interested in the LF gear, and I had no problems setting it up even in some of the very busy squares. I like the vehicle ferry suggestion though. Also there are a lot of locals that fish on the bridges, and off the piers which might be good.

Have fun, Turkey is a wonderful place. I’m not jealous of the heat you’re going to be facing though. I hope this helps, not 100% sure about what you’re looking for. Also IanG on the forum spends some of his time in Turkey and you might just be in the same place at the same time so you might want to PM him.

mathieu Bauwens
1-May-2013, 02:29
Hello Sean,

where can we see some of your pictures ?

Sean Chilibeck
2-May-2013, 09:44
Hi Mathieu,

I'm waiting for the negatives back so I don't have anything from that trip yet (just got back a week and a half ago). I'll post a link once I get them all scanned. It was my first time taking the LF gear out for anything more than a couple test shots so hopefully they turn out.