Photography and Writing by A. Cemal Ekin
I am probably beating a dead horse by writing about the very strange change in Istanbul’s architectural character. I wrote before about the discomfort of Istanbul and I experienced the same when we visited there in October 2019. In my previous visits and related posts, I called Istanbul with a nickname I coined for it: …
Continued from part 1, the is the end of our second week in Istanbul. Elif and Mina arrived on October 14 and we all went to Ayvalik on October 15 to return to Istanbul on the 19th. October 11, 2019 As planned, I dropped Jan off at Mehmet and Isin’s house where the girls would …
The main reason that brought us to Turkey this year was to see our family and friends. As we get older, our shrinking circle becomes more important, and that brought us there. Travel, especially air travel is getting harder, at least for me, but people we wanted to see made it somewhat bearable. As we …
The Last Byzantine Palace Many years ago, probably around 1980, we visited the remains of the last Byzantine palace. The Palace of Porphyrogenitus, called Tekfur Sarayi in Turkish has a history of over a thousand years. When we visited in the early 1980s it had one facade wall flanked by two side walls creating a …
After a busy and somewhat eventful summer, Jan and I arrived in Istanbul on October 1 for a three-week stay. The flight from Boston to Istanbul was about 9 hours and we arrived at the brand new Istanbul Airport on time around 4 PM local time. The airport indeed appeared very large and for some …
As much as I wrote about the discomfort and stress I get in Istanbul, I should also mention the comfort zones, the pleasures even if they may be in the midst of the dreaded construction everywhere. There are still pleasant sides of Istanbul and you can find them. Around the house, we always had a …
This photograph has been in the making for about 20 years, maybe even more. When I first thought of taking a photograph from this point, on the exit connector from the freeway, the trees were not nearly as tall nor have the looming towers were built. The apartment buildings are situated on the slopes of …
Our friends invited us to Fenerbahce Dalyan Club last week. As we arrived we saw an old stone building which I later learned was an old seminary attached to a church. During the dinner, I excused myself and started searching for the church which led me to a couple of strangers who directed me to an …
After a wonderfully comfortable flight, we arrived in Istanbul about 75 minutes earlier than expected, always a pleasant surprise! Mustafa met us at the airport, and we left the parking lot to a surprise! The ever crowded and jammed traffic was surprisingly flowing, and the lanes were empty, I saw one or two cars ahead …
This is the last installment of nostalgic photographs, you can see the previous three posts for more. These photographs are a mixed bag of places, things, a few flowers from the days I used to photograph on film. The group starts with several photographs from Ayvalik, a sunset, and what follows present typical Ayvalik colors. …
I strongly favor keeping the old architecture alive, restoration, repurposing and keeping the texture of cities and towns to the extent possible. This, I see in Rhode Island where I live, and nearby states. In fact, I saw 100-year-old photographs of New York compared to photographs taken from the same locations, and the texture and …
Mina is now 1o years old, time flew, and she has become a graceful girl. This year, many things came together and we were able to celebrate first Ergun’s, then Jan’s, and finally Mina’s birthdays in Turkey with family and friends. A couple of days after Elif and Mina arrived in Istanbul, we were on …
This post is for my lovely wife, love of my life! Happy belated birthday love. On October 13, we were ready to celebrate Jan’s birthday. We spent the day in the house, around the garden taking photographs, and just being together. In our garden, we have been waging a war against the invasive bamboo creeping …
We all went to Kantin for Ergun’s birthday on October 12, Oya and Bevan joined us. Semsa Denizsel owns and operates Kantin. She has been featured in several local and international cooking magazines and Web sites. Binnaz and Ergun have known Semsa since birth and have seen her development as a child, young woman, then as …
On Monday, we all went shopping. The first stop was Marks & Spencer. Binnaz and Ergun wanted to get gifts for girls of all ages, from Nana to Mina. Department stores are mostly similar all over the world for layout and display. Marks & Spencer differed mainly on the brand, style, and of course, the …
The next couple of days in Istanbul after we arrived on October 6, the delightful weather gave us a chance to enjoy the garden, relax, and then visit our friends Aytac and Cem for a great dinner. The real treat there was meeting Haluk and Turkan in person for the first time. On the way …
Jan and I are in Istanbul, visiting family and friends. In less than a week, Elif and Mina will arrive to spend the rest of our time together. I felt the same way as I did last year. The city I used to know and enjoyed very much was gone. In its place was a …
Every time I visit Istanbul, I find many things that have changed. Since my last visit in 2012, it is hard not to notice the obsession with “towers” in all corners of the city. The soaring minarets have been replaced with taller, much taller, but not as graceful towers. There is even one that carries …
On June 25 Elif, Mina, and I went to the American Consulate to deliver a couple of missing papers. That did not take much time at all. We took a taxi to Yenikoy and got on the motorboat to Beykoz. It was a nice ride and in about 15 minutes we went from Europe to …
I have been busy taking photographs and not writing lately. So, let me take a few steps back and visit Karakoy Restaurant. On April 24 (this should make Cem happy!) we went to Karakoy Restaurant with a few friends. Since it is quite near the Karakoy ferry landing, we took the ferry to Karakoy and …
I have created a folio containing 12 photographs taken from the unique (and generally off-limits) vantage point of the dome of Hagia Sophia. They are printed photographically on metallic paper which brings out the reflective qualities of gold extremely well. The folio opens with a title page, includes a certificate of authenticity, and continues with …
On one of our outings, when we visited Narmanli Han, I heard an enchanting music coming from behind a line of people watching something. I could see the head of a very tall man with his face painted white but could not make anything of it until I got reasonably close to peek through the …
Two views of the 3D mapping of the mosaic As I mentioned in the previous post, the newly unveiled Seraphim mosaic in Hagia Sophia reminded me of a head mapped to a flat surface. I am not an expert in 3D mapping, but I created the following composite showing how the face could have looked …
I read in a Turkish newspaper, Aksam, that one of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia was cleaned to reveal the face of the angel Seraphim. According to the news article, the mosaic has been covered for about 160 years. Possibly because of this, the pieces of the mosaic are preserved exceptionally well. This is exciting …
