Istanbul Through the Lens

May 10 2008

I had a mostly wonderful Saturday in Istanbul today, with highlights and new memories everlasting.  Amongst the bests today included shopping and lunch with some friends from back home who just happened to be in Istanbul this weekend (and not for the Formula 1), visiting the Hagia Sofia, and a three-hour private walking tour called, "Istanbul Through the Lens".  

istanbulturkishdelight

When I booked this tour, I did not know nor expect to be the only one on it.  It was listed on the Formula1 website amongst the things to do in Istanbul while here for the race.  So I was quite surprised when I turned up for the tour to find that my guide, Ali, was waiting just for me.  Even better, he turned out to be a Nikon shooter as well, which meant he was able to teach me a lot about my D50 and even share lenses throughout the day.

istanbulmosquewide

Ali is an incredible photographer, and all the moreso because it turns out it is his hobby rather than profession.  Oh my did I learn a lot as we walked through the streets of Istanbul for three hours, taking hundreds of photos using a variety of techniques, tips, and trying experiments.

fishcookatwork

I'm nowhere near done uploading shots, and I'd sure like to have some time with the Macintosh to do some editing, but today was so cool that I thought I would share some of the work we did.  For example, we spent several minutes talking about portrait or candid people photography.  Some of you are aware that I have had a tendency to shoot photos sans humans, or shy away from taking "in your face" people pictures.  Ali helped with friendly words to potential subjects, along with encouragement to me.  He suggested simple techniques like always offering to show someone the picture you've taken of them.  That all worked well with this prayer bead seller at a mosque...I'm still not sure which shot I like better.

istanbulprayerbeadseller2     istanbulprayerbeadseller1

If you look at Ali's work, you will see that he is a huge fan of patterns in photography, taking the detail out of the larger picture.  This is a technique I have successfully used in the past, and the Hagia Sofia provided several cool opportunities this morning.  

ayasofiapatterns2

The tour was not inexpensive, but it was definitely worth it to learn so much in one afternoon.  Some of the things I learned from Ali -- I need more lenses (we almost never used my 70-300 zoom lens today, and I borrowed his cool wide-angle a few times), a couple more filters, an extra battery, and really, really really need a Nikon D300.

turkishtourme

Ed Brill | İstanbul, Türkiye Category:  Travel  Add/View Comments [12]

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  1. 1  Karen  | 5/10/2008 9:00:00 PM

    What fun that must've been. And great pics!

  1. 2  Kevin http://www.theglobalmind.com | 5/10/2008 10:21:41 PM

    Great stuff Ed.

    Saw your Twitter note on the F1 race...if F1 comes back to the US in 2009, consider visiting Indianapolis for the race where it is much cheaper than other F1 venues.

    Oh and I know a certain distributor and a few partners who might be able to set up a Lotus event that week while you're there. : )

  1. 3  Patrick Darke http://www.ekrad.com | 5/10/2008 10:31:56 PM

    Ed, come to the Singapore F1 race with us! Sept 26-29. You can stay at my place in Bangkok beforehand. ;)

  1. 4  Alan Lepofsky http://www.alanlepofsky.net | 5/11/2008 11:35:59 AM

    Nice stuff Ed, thanks for sharing.

    I'm struggling with not buying a D300! I figure I'll cave when I have a "real good trip" to use it on. Can you explain more about the lenses and filters you want? (and why)

  1. 5  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 5/11/2008 3:51:14 PM

    @4 - I had a "sky" filter on my wide angle lens yesterday, and it would be great to have on the 70-300 as well. My wide angle is only 18-55/3.5-5.6, and I find myself wishing it was -70 or 2.8 or whatever. The guide yesterday let me use this Tamron: { Link } and it produced the Mosque shot that is the second above. I do find myself wanting to be able to do something wide like that more often.

    Of course, the lens envy I really have is Kathleen McGivney's tilt-shift lens, but I'll have to win the lottery to buy one of those :-)

  1. 6  Lars Berntrop-Bos  | 5/11/2008 4:24:24 PM

    Wy do you need the D300?

  1. 7  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 5/11/2008 4:52:55 PM

    Well, I think it was more toy envy than anything else, but that screen on the back is just amazing amazing amazing. Admittedly, a lot of the optics and capabilities are the same as the D50. But hey, we always want the bigger better toy, right?

  1. 8  Howard http://www.tlcc.com | 5/12/2008 9:36:27 AM

    Ed, just got back from a photo workshop in Yosemite. Several participants had the D300 (I use Canon.) I was real impressed with the D300's LCD screen. Big and very viewable in daylight. Go for it, that IBM variable pay is coming!!!

    Howard

  1. 9  John Bigenwald  | 5/12/2008 10:12:07 AM

    nice use of fill flash on the fish cook and bead seller pictures. You kept nice detail through the whole picture.

  1. 10  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 5/12/2008 10:25:11 AM

    @8 Howard, you must have me confused with someone who actually gets variable pay.... :-P

    @9 John, thanks. The bead seller was a posed subject, he was helping Ali and me work with composition, but the fish cook was completely candid. Appreciate the compliment!

  1. 11  Paul Robichaux http://www.robichaux.net/blog | 5/12/2008 12:12:39 PM

    Very impressive-- I'm jealous!

  1. 12  ali kocoglu http://kalemkar.deviantart.com/ | 5/29/2008 6:25:23 AM

    :) and i am appreciated to have a company of yours on the tour... hope to see you again.