David Hagerman: The Ferry Boats of Istanbul

Photo  David Hagerman-All Rights Reserved David Hagerman attended The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul and produced an evocative audio slideshow titled The Ferry Boats of Istanbul, which he just published on his blog. Yes, Istanbul is the city of Sultanahmet Camii, the Aya Sofya, the Kapali arsi, but it's also the Bosphorus ferries that characterize it. These ferries provide vital links between different areas of that magnificent city, connecting the European and the Asian coastline. The first steam ferries appeared on the Bosphorus in 1837, were operated by private sector companies and currently carry approximately 61...

Read more »

Global Post: Turkish Brothels

Photo  Nicholas Dynan-All Rights Reserved One of my favorite online news provider is Global Post, not only for its cutting edge news reporting and analysis, but also for its frequent "off-the-beaten-path" features such as the one of Turkish transsexual brothels by Nicholas Dynan. It also periodically publishes Full Frame which features photo essays and conversations with photographers in the field (including myself). The Turkish transsexual brothels which, we are told, can be located in the busiest streets of Istanbul, and are the work place of some of Istanbul's transgender and transsexual sex workers. To the best of my recollection,...

Read more »

Mervyn Leong: Hammams, Spreader of Warmth

Here's a lovely audio-slideshow by the gifted Mervyn Leong W.Y. which you can either view on Vimeo (click above) or via his website here. The quality of the latter is better.Mervyn attended the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul (he also attended last year's in Manali), and participated in Rena Effendi's Telling A Human Story Through A Compelling Portrait class. I spent time with Mervyn as he prepared to photograph inside the less-than-hospitable-for-photography interiors of the hammams, and can vouch for his meticulous planning, and how he took pains to wrap his camera, lenses and audio gear in saran-wrap (to protect them against moisture and steam).An engineer by profession, Mervyn took photography and photojournalism more seriously a couple of years ago, and has made impressive...

Read more »

Ramin Rahimian: Istanbul

Image Copyright © Ramin Rahimian-All Rights ReservedRamin Rahimian's slideshow on Istanbul starts with a quote from Alphonse de Lamartine: "If one has but one glance to give the world, one should gaze at Istanbul". How true.However if you expect to see skyline of Istanbul, its beautiful mosques and other architectural wonders, you'll be disappointed. Ramin's work is of the documentary style, and it's beautifully edgy.Ramin was born in Iran and grew up in northern California. He started taking photojournalism seriously at UC Berkeley and currently freelances out of Salt Lake City in Utah. He worked for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and freelances...

Read more »