Gary Visits from Saratoga Camera Club

While I waited to meet the group, I noticed the people setting up their 

booths to sell seed, to feed the pigeons outside the Yeni Camii

Our photography club was pleased to welcome Gary, who was visiting Istanbul with his wife, Ann. Gary belongs to Los Gatos - Saratoga Camera Club, and had contacted Jennifer, our leader, to see if he could join us on a trek. This was a great idea, as we were able to show Gary parts of Istanbul that most tourists never get to see.

We set off across the Galata Bridge to shoot the fishermen there

We came across this man selling live worms and shrimp for bait

This woman was selling buns, called poaça, to the hungry fishermen

Once on the other side of the bridge in Karaköy, I took a photo of

Farzana taking a photo of this simit seller

We visited a baklava bakery, and this waiter was eager to show us a 

tray of baklava, decorated to show Barak Obama.

Here is a close-up, so you can see the work 

that went into the decoration

We visited a Russian Othodox Church on the 5th floor of a building.

From the window, we could see other churches on the tops of buildings

We were surprised to see a Turkish Orthodox church. 

I hadn't realised they existed until now.

In one narrow street, we came across this street dog that had 

made itself comfortable on an armchair in the street

Ieva was good enough to model for us, so we could practise portrait shots...

...and jumping shots

We ended by walking along Istiklal, and back down to Karaköy

This musician was very accommodating, 

and didn't mind us taking photgraphs of him

I certainly enjoyed my day, and I hope Gary did too. I think he had an excellent idea in contacting our group. It's something to consider when I am in foreign parts myself!

"Van Gogh Live", and Old Istanbul

This has been a cultural week for us. We first went to the "Van Gogh Alive" exhibition in the Antrepo 3 exhibition space in Karaköy, next to Istanbul Modern. This was an extraordinary experience. The paintings are displayed digitally on huge screens in a totally dark space. There are over three thousand images in all, shown in chronological order, accompanied by classical music.

There are also some wonderful effects. For example, in the painting of Van Gogh's room (above), the bare room appears first, followed by the placing of individual peices of furniture until the painting is complete. We also saw wheat ears blowing in the wind, and then the crows, in his famous painting of Wheatfield with Crows, suddenly flying away out of the painting.

The exhibition was really difficult to photograph, as the room was so dark, but there are some good photos on this site where the photographer was able to introduce light into the area.

Another exhibition we went to was the "Historic Photographs of the Anatolian Shore" at the Pera Museum. This gave a fascinating glimpse into old Istanbul, and how the city looked before the advent of the ugly concrete residential blocks that disfigure much of the city today. There were also descriptions of the original villages dotted along the shores of the Bosphorus, that were ultimately swallowed up into the great metropolis that is modern Istanbul.

We also had time to look at two other art exhibitions in the Pera Museum, "Sultans, Merchants, Painters: The Early Years of Turkish-Dutch Relations", and "Intersecting Worlds: Ambassadors and Painters", both these exhibited fine paintings, engravings and books from past eras. Fascinating!