GEP Photography Workshop, Istanbul: Day 3

 

 

The Grand Bazaar. A shopper's delight!

This was the day that many people were waiting for. We were going to Istanbul's ultimate Shopping Mecca, the Grand Bazaar. The main problem would be remembering to take photographs, while drooling over the treasure trove of products on sale.

I can never resist photographing the beautiful lamps!

We arrived early, while the stall-holders were still setting up. They are more relaxed at the start of the day, and more accommodating. It is also possible to take time over shots with fewer people around.

...and the Scarves! One can never have too many scarves.

We arranged to meet at Mahmutpasa gate after our photo shoot, and then headed down through the narrow streets filled with shops of all kinds, until we came to the harbour. There, we lunched on fish sandwiches, served from the colourful boats to the left of the Galata bridge.

One of the richly decorated, colourful boats selling fish sandwiches.

The fresh filleted fish are cooked on the boats

The fish sandwich boats, lined up in the harbour, 

with the Suleymaniye Mosque in the background

Lunch break over, it was time to get shooting again. This time from the Galata bridge itself, with its rows of fishermen either side. Time was of the essence, as we had to return to the hotel for Efrain to look over our chosen shots for the small, medium and large versions of the same subject.

Fishermen on the Galata Bridge

One fisherman on the bridge

The caught fish

The day was still not over, however, as we were off to Sirkeci Station to watch and photograph the Whirling Dervishes that were performing their ceremony there. This was a difficult task, as the lights were low, and the spinning Dervishes were difficult to capture. But we experimented with our settings, and we all learned a tremendous amount with this exercise.

The Dervish's orchestra played traditional music before the ceremony

The Dervish whirls with his right hand towards heaven to receive God's blessings,

and his left towards the earth to convey God's spiritual gifts to the people

Thus ended another wonderful day of our photography workshop.