PHOTOJOURNALIST: The Life Story of Ara Guler -- 4

MUST-HAVE BOOK CHRONICLING COLORFUL LIFE OF THE

WORLD’S GREATEST LIVING STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

Photojournalist is about heart...the heart of one of the greatest street photographers to every walk the backstreets of Istanbul and far beyond. It is about the heart of Nezih Tavlas, who painstakingly coaxed and cajoled amazing stories that would otherwise likely go to the grave with Guler, because no one else had the passion and determination to unearth these layered, colorful gems from the humble master.

For anyone who has picked up a camera to document more than family birthdays. For anyone who has traveled to Istanbul. For anyone who has sought to reconcile Turkey's odd 20th century of being torn between east and west -- this book is a must-have.

It's not so much as it is an in print distillation of the better part of a century of a passionate, keen-eyed photojournalists heart, soul, drive, determination, sense of humor, sense of empathy and strong bond with humanity.

And that is very high praise coming from this journalist and author who is himself hard to please when it comes to biographies that are up to the challenge of capturing the essence of their subject.

http://photojournalistaraguler.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Photojournalist-Life-Story-Ara-Guler/dp/1543129447/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1502048568&sr=8-3

PHOTOJOURNALIST: The Life Story of Ara Guler -- 3

MUST-HAVE BOOK CHRONICLING COLORFUL LIFE OF THE
WORLD’S GREATEST LIVING STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

In a sense, Photojournalist: The Life Story of Ara Guler, is two books in one. About 80% of it is well-told (with mom and pop, uncomplicated language) stories of Guler's life, times and tens of thousands of documented bits of life in Turkey and far beyond. 

The other 20% is basically a long Q&A between author and master Guler on everything for his favorite cameras, his life, his eventual switch to digital photography and any number of tidbits.

The Q&A 20 percent is for the die-hard Guler fan. A casual reader may lose interest in the question-response format. Because I had the rare privilege of meeting Guler, talking to him, going through a long out of print book of his photos and bravely seeking his signature on said book -- I read every page in Photojournalist.

Again, the book is not fancy. The English translation even has several instances of odd punctuation and more than a few spots where words run together or multi-syllable words are oddly broken up in type. I could easily look past this. Just as the book is not a technical manual about photography, the typesetting is not a piece of publishing house technical perfection.

http://photojournalistaraguler.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Photojournalist-Life-Story-Ara-Guler/dp/1543129447/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1502048568&sr=8-3

PHOTOJOURNALIST: The Life Story of Ara Guler -- 2

MUST-HAVE BOOK CHRONICLING COLORFUL LIFE OF THE

WORLD’S GREATEST LIVING STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

The book is like the transcribed notes of an entire winter's worth of fireside chats with a compelling, humble and driven master photographer. It's not about technique and kind of camera/lens/lighting. Just like it drives the beauty in his captured images, it is Guler's personality that drives the narrative.

It appears he was not all that keen about spilling his guts, so high praise is owed to Tavlas for coaxing and endless amount of anecdotes about Guler's exploits...through the back streets of Istanbul, through the small towns of Turkey, through national photo assignments and even through celebrity interviews that at first seem out of place for the down to earth intrepid Guler -- whose best work is always in black and white and done with film.

Who would have guessed that man best-loved for pictures of dockworkers, everyday Turks, blue collar tradesman and even peasants -- would have fun hobnobbing and interviewing A-list celebs and Cannes and other festivals. Guler's sharing of tales of what oddballs he had to suffer through to get portraits of Salvador Dali are worth the price of the book alone.

http://photojournalistaraguler.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Photojournalist-Life-Story-Ara-Guler/dp/1543129447/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1502048568&sr=8-3

PHOTOJOURNALIST: The Life Story of Ara Guler -- 1

MUST-HAVE BOOK CHRONICLING COLORFUL LIFE OF THE

WORLD’S GREATEST LIVING STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

Nezih Tavlas' book on legendary Turkish photographer is not fancy at all. It's a very straightforward biography of the world's least-heralded (at least in the US and most of the western world) master photographers. A true living legend.

The best thing about the book is its unassuming nature. It is not fawning, but clearly the author thinks the world of Ara Guler. It does not shy away from the whole truth -- a divorce, a few setbacks, a sometimes curmedgeonly personality of a man who has focused 8 decades of his life as a photojournalist.

It is very easy to think of Guler as an artist. Hundreds of his most famous shots and many more others would look at home as fine art on the wall of any museum. But the Armenian Turk bristles at being called anything but a photojournalist -- an historian with a camera.

For those of us who discovered Guler and cannot have enough, this book includes every vital aspect. From an upper middle class upbringing in the home of a successful Beyoglu pharmacist/businessman father, to a man -- Guler -- who very easily could have lost his life at any number of harrowing scenes, from bombings to fires and battlefields.

http://photojournalistaraguler.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Photojournalist-Life-Story-Ara-Guler/dp/1543129447/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1502048568&sr=8-3

ARA GÜLER - 2

I DON'T HAVE HEROES, BUT I MET AN IDOL

Yesterday's post introduced the reader to Ara Guler, the 88-year-old Turkish Armenian photographer belovedly known as the Eye of Istanbul.

His understanding of humanity, captured in black and white film -- as well so some color and moving images -- is unmatched.

He is, without question, the greatest living photographer on earth.

Burdened with a heavy, but well worth it hardback edition of his photos of trams, I was heading down Istlikal Caddesi for another night of roaming the backstreets of Beyoğlu.

I do my own photography -- digital, color, never improved with PhotoShop -- of Istanbul's constantly changing streets.

I was near Galatasaray, when I decided to stop into a cafe to get some tea, or perhaps limonata, for the privilege of using a nice clean restroom before heading out for that golden light.

I sat down, ordered and next to me, was an octogenarian, bald, bearded man who looked a lot like an older version of the legendary historian with a camera who I idolize.

Knowing Guler had opened Time-Life's branch in Turkey in the late 50s, I figured he must know some English.

My phrasebook Turkish is just not adequate.

So I took a sip of Çay, took out the fine bound book I'd purchased hours earlier, and told Guler that I thought he was an artist.

A bit hearing impaired, he leaned forward to ask me to speak up.

Thankfully, he (1) was actually Guler and not a look alike, (2) does speak English and (3) didn't run me off for imposing on him.

I scooted over to the table -- clearly, he was having a bottled water and unwinding from a day in his nearby studio before meeting friends -- and chatted a bit.

He asked me what I thought of Istanbul.

I said it is one of my favorite cities on earth, but I feel it is getting too modern too rapidly.

He observed that it has to find room for 20 million people.

I agreed, but I said not at the expense of an old neighborhood getting sacked in return for high rise tomb stones.

He nodded.

I told him no artist in any medium captures and understands humanity better than him.

He appreciated it.

I handed over my book.

He studied each image.

Many looked to be about a half century old.

He told the story of some of them.

His aged hands glided over the pages, as if he was still looking for some imperfection, some magical angle of light, some way of doing even more brilliant story telling with his still images.

Two men arrived. Much younger than him, but not college age.  Contemporaries? Protegees?, or simply neighbors or friends?

I didn't want to over impose. We'd chatted quite a bit about light -- how a photographer's eye for it is 100 times more important than any fancy camera body, zoom lens, filter, etc.

We also talked about humanity. How humanely portraying people in pictures is important on dozens of levels.

From a pure artistic standpoint, introducing humanity into pictures is one thousand times more useful than the most advanced photo editing software -- we agreed.

Getting ready to pay for me tea and limonata -- I ordered both -- and let the great photojournalist get on with his life, I bashfully asked him if he would sign the book that I had purchased at a book fair part of a Ramazan carnival earlier.

His told me he know I wasn't some Ebay profiteer, pretending to befriend him so I could up the value of a book with the autograph of a famous person.

He lovingly inscribed the book.

Till the end of the trip, on the flight and on the taxi ride home, I clutched the signed Guler book like it was more important than my passport.

Classic Ara Guler photo of trams in Beyoğlu, 1960 -- four years before I was born.

http://photojournalistaraguler.com/

ARA GÜLER

THE EYE OF ISTANBUL

As a photographer, I don't know when I first discovered the black and white images of Turkish photographer Ara Guler.

His mastery of light haunted me, in a good way, from the first time I looked at his images of Old Istanbul, often in the old Armenian neighborhoods now long lost to development.

My first time in Istanbul, I sought out galleries with his images and came how with a few modern books of his work.

On my very recent trip, I bought so much of his work that I knew it wouldn't fit in the suitcase.

So I went to a shipping agent and spent about 300 Turkish Lira to ship his stuff home.

After that, I vowed to put the buying on hold for my last few days in the city.

Then I went to explore a hotel's wheelchair access, near Taksim Square.

As headed toward Taksim Gezi Park, beyond the square, I noticed a carnival of sorts set up.

As is common for Ramazan in Turkey, most public squares set up large areas for dinners, shows and activities for the sundown breaking of the long day's fast.

A paved area next to Gezi had a carnival of crafts, food and antiques set up.

Try as I might, I was drawn to a row of book sellers.

One had tons of photography books.

Were I a wealthy man, I would have bought out the whole tent and sent it home in trunks.

As I am not, I looked for a special Guler book.

One of trams caught my attention.

It was especially poignant, as the nostalgic tram that goes from Taksim to Tunel along Istiklal Caddesi had been ripped out and taken away since my last visit.

Orhan Pamuk often writes of the Tramway through old Pera.

I settled on the book, haggled...paid way less than the opening price but probably more than I should have.

Worse yet, it is a hard back. Meaning my book bag, already stuffed with a sweater and thousands of dollars worth of high end Nikon lenses, would feel like an army back pack.

But hours later, near sundown, my purchase would pay off.

Istanbul Trams, trough Ara Güler's Eyes, is the translated title of the book of photography

link to great documentary about Guler