Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Istanbul Photography Festival and My Exhibition

An international photography festival is running on Istanbul and I invited to prepare an exhibition related with darkroom as a part of festival. One of the exhibition place was a ruined orphanage and festival committee offered a room in that building. After I saw the building I offered "My Childhood" project to be exhibit. I selected ten photographs from this project and printed them at darkroom.

Print details of all ten photographs:
Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber 1K Glossy
Paper Size: 30.5x40.6 cm (12x16in)
Image Size: 21.6x32.4 cm (8.5x12.75in)
Developer: Tetenal Eukobrom 1+9
Toner: Kodak Selenium Toner












We talked with Jason Eskenazi curator of the festival and decided to convert the exhibition place a kind of darkroom. So we placed developing trays on the floor of the room. Put the photographs in it and filled them with water. Durability of the darkroom paper in the water is not too long. Emulsion of the paper getting dissolve in the water after a time later. I wrote an e-mail about this topic to Ilford and they replied that the  fiber based paper are more durable than resign coated one but still fiber paper emulsion dissolves in 2-3 days depending on water quality and air condition. As indicated below artist statement we also wondered transformation of the paper as our memories or the condition of the exhibition building.

Here is the exhibition place (Photographed by Kemal Cengizkan):








 Here is the artist statement of the exhibition:
"We are shaped by our childhood. Our current traits are formed during this early period: character, mimics, emotions, reactions, expressions… Well then, how was my childhood? In this series, I searched the streets for the source of my expressions. What kind of child was I? How did I express myself? I went about wandering the streets with these questions in my mind and concentrated on the pure form of my childhood, discounting differences in gender, place or time. These photographs are the outcome of my search for traces of my childhood, which stretches back such a long time.

The exhibition, formed from this series, is a conceptual and collaborative presentation between photographer and curator. With the continued interest in analog photography in the digital age we wondered how a gelatin-silver print would metamorphosize in water during the exhibition period just as our memories change over time, as we become adults, or how this abandoned building has been transformed from an orphanage into a photographic exhibition space."

At fourth day of the exhibition emulsions were started to dissolve and at the fifth day all emulsions were dissolved. Some parts of the photographs floated, so emulsion of these parts didn't effect.

Here is the last situation of the photographs:













Lastly I want to share video record of the exhibition place.





Sunday, May 11, 2014

We Moved

I am starting to write here after a long break. We moved our darkroom and established a new and more comfortable one. We even have a proper ventilation system :).
After darkroom was installed, we had hosts and enjoyed so much. Eric Kim and Charlie Kirk stopped by the darkroom for one day darkroom workshop. They recorded it. Here is that video:

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Are you bored of looking monitor?

I started to give basic darkroom workshop at my atelier in Istanbul for who is bored of looking the monitor and wants to touch photographs. It will be in English or Turkish. You can find the detail from below link:

http://www.galatafotografhanesi.com/atolye.aspx?pid=148


Please contact with me for your questions

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Many Things Have Chanced

Too much time was passed that I haven't post here. I have excuses, lots of things have changed not only in my life but also in my country. I got married and moved a new flat. At the same period an uprising occurred because of a park (Gezi Park, which is so close to our home and darkroom). A generation claimed their environment, their honour and their future. It spread all over the country. Unfortunately five people were death during the clashes. You can reach some information at wikipedia as well a google search.
As a result of these,  I couldn't post anything for a while. I just don't want to write too much and want to share some photos taken in the Gezi Park during protests.

Here is the first one:


During the protest forums were made and people discussed about the situation of the resistance. Park was full with every generation especially young and children.

Print details:
Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber Warmtone 24K Semi-Matt
Paper Size: 17.8x24 cm (7x9.5in)
Developer: Ilford PQ Universal 1+9 (2 min.)
Toner: Untoned




Clashes around the Gezi Park were continued during the nights and people were exhausted after these rigorous  clashes. The man at the poster is Ethem Sarısülük who was death at Ankara during the protests. He was shot in the head by a police officer and he was at his 26.

Print details:
Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber Warmtone 24K Semi-Matt
Paper Size: 17.8x24 cm (7x9.5in)
Developer: Ilford PQ Universal 1+9 (2 min.)
Toner: Untoned






People occupied the park and set up their tents. Lots of people start to live in the park.


Print details:
Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber Warmtone 1K Glossy
Paper Size: 17.8x24 cm (7x9.5in)
Developer: Ilford Harman Warmtone Developer 1+9 (3 min.)
Toner: Untoned


I will try to post more prints about the Gezi Park protests. 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Summary of Life

Another photograph from my book.




Print Details:

Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber 1K Glossy
Paper Size: 17.8x24 cm (7x9.5in)
Image Size: 15.9x22.7 cm (6.2x8.9in)
Developer: Kodak Dektol 1+2 (3 min.)
Toner: Untoned
Film: Kodak T-max 400 rated 250 135 mm

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Mother's Bosom

When I saw the negative of this photo I understood how I am lucky. It was taken in a very crowded corner in Eminönü, Istanbul. I just saw this mother and girl, rise my camera and took this isolated moment. It was luck of me that there wasn't anyone at that moment.


Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber Warmtone 24K Semi-Matt
Paper Size: 17.8x24 cm (7x9.5in)
Image Size: 15.3x22.8 cm (6x9in)
Developer: Ilford Multigrade  Developer 1+9 (2 min.)
Toner: Untoned
Film: Rollei RPX 400 rated 250 135 mm

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Stuffed Mussels

I was so sick and busy. For this reason I had to put a long space again :). Also I couldn't print a new photograph. Therefore I am posting and old one.
It was taken at a beach in Istanbul which name is Menekşe. The English meaning of Menekşe is violet. What a cool name for beach :)
The man in the photograph was collecting mussels for cooking and selling stuffed mussels which is a popular street food in Istanbul. You can buy and eat almost every corner in Istanbul. It was a sunny and very cold winter day and man was inside of the sea. It is definitely a hard job. 




 The most thing I like in this photo is superposition of geometric lines and tone gradation changing. Here are the print details:


Paper: Ilfrord Multigrade IV Fiber 1K Glossy
Paper Size: 24x30.5 cm (9½x12in)
Image Size: 18.9x28.8 cm (7.4x11.3in)
Developer: Kodak Dektol 1+2 (2 min.)
Toner: Untoned
Film Format: 35 mm