Finished With Istanbul

Posted on 07/12/2011 by Reece

Enough is enough. It’s been a month since I left Istanbul, and as a result, a month since I landed in Nairobi. While I did fall in love with Istanbul, I can’t let myself keep writing about it. No more. For now..

So this will be a small sample of the photos I still wanted to share, but hadn’t yet. Primarily, was the highly-anticipated, in my eyes at least, roll of 3200ISO black and white film I shot. Unfortunately for me, the man I left in charge of developing this roll, in Nairobi, must have been sleeping, as I lost the first 10 photos, shot in the underground Basilica Cistern. Devastating. The resulting photos came out also worse for wear, but were at least manageable..

All photos featured here were a product of either the aforementioned 3200 film, or a 3 year expired roll.

Light leaks aren't necessarily bad

Here can be witnessed the perils of risking expired film. Don’t get me wrong, it can work out beautifully, or it can end up cloudy, super grainy, soft, or just with messed up colours (which some would still argue is beautiful).

Blue Mosque, with super expired film.

Expired view over the horn

And now, to finish off Istanbul, are the shisha smoking session photos. It’s much easier to type than say out loud. I had high hopes for these shots, but was unfortunately let down a little. To be fair, I haven’t much experience shooting film at high ISO, and there was a LOT of smoke in the cafe. By the way, as a quick sidenote to anyone with little experience, I recommend apple flavour, with a bit of mint. Personal fave so far, feel free to disagree.

3 of my 4 main Istanbul homies.

Experiencing Istanbul Chp 4: Get Inked

Posted on 04/12/2011 by Reece

During my time in Istanbul, I was lucky enough to join my new mate Vale, as she got inked. Hooked up with a special ‘staff price’ by the tattoo artist next door, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get a tatt for under 15Eur ($20). And I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shoot a tattoo session.

It was about this time that I realised I had no access to money beyond that already in my wallet. My internet banking had been locked out since April (guessed the wrong password 3 times in a row, then guessed the wrong answer to my ‘secret question’ while skype calling to get the password reset), and then my “travel money card” (Preloaded, kinda like electronic travellers checks) also ran out of money. With just enough money for my Kenyan visa, accommodation, transport to Istanbul airport, and food and vodka for the 4 remaining days of my time in Istanbul… I could just scrape through until landing in Nairobi and getting spotted some cash from mum.

Unfortunately, I continued browsing camera shops (see my last post for justification of the following event here). While debating whether to blow my money on a lot of Ilford film, I found a pristine copy of the 28mm f2.8 Minolta lens I had wanted. Knowing it was a foolish idea, and frustrated that I had found the ONE storeowner in Istanbul who refused to haggle, I did what any responsible traveller wouldn’t do, and emptied my wallet to buy this lens.

I justified the decision with three simple points:

1. The lens wasn’t much cheaper on ebay, and it would take time to arrive in Kenya (or be lost in the post).
2. I could go without the bottles of vodka
3. I REALLY wanted it to shoot the tattoo session.

So, with 30 minutes before Vale was meant to meet with the tattooist, I handed over most of the contents of my wallet, and walked on back.

As for the tattoo session itself… The setting was beautiful, on an empty rooftop bar, mid afternoon, sun is out, with a view over the bosphorus river. Unfortunately for Vale, she agreed to let both me, and Paul the German, shoot the afternoon with our analog cameras. I can only imagine that she would have been more relaxed without our cameras in her face, waiting for the moment when she winces. Still, she got some mementos… Aside from the tattoo.

All photos were shot with Ilford PAN400 (b&w), developed and scanned in Nairobi. Quality suffered as a result, it seems.

Pre-tatt destress smoke

Paul getting the shot

Half time break

Oh, as for the money issue, I got spotted some cash from mum before I left Istanbul, enough to hold me over AND buy all that film I wanted. But the shops were all closed for Eid, so I didn’t get the film after all. Devastating news, I know.

Istanbul Aside – Vintage Camera Shopping

Image

Old cameras. Shot with my already owned Minolta SRT101, Ilford PAN400

There are two things I can never help myself with, when it comes to shopping. Normally, I’m somewhat of a rock, uninterested in the task of buying clothes, or shoes, or definitely souvenirs. But there’s still those two weaknesses. Vinyl records, and old cameras. Europe was hell for me to get through, all the markets with the European releases of albums I had never seen on vinyl, and me looking through them with no money, and no space. I finally shook that urge after the disappointment of not acquiring became too much.

Then Eastern Europe came around, and the prevalence of old Zorky’s, Kiev’s, and other Soviet relics rose, while the prices dropped. Finally I caved on the urge and purchased my Minolta SRT101. Then I arrived in Istanbul, and found the camera district. A few days later three girls checked in to my hostel, liked my camera, wanted to get (back) into film, and so off we went, in search of some good old film cameras. Just when we thoguht our options were exhausted, we found this little German speaking man, up some stairs and around a corner, in a shop barely bigger than a kitchen table, but stuffed to the brim with old cameras, lenses, spare parts, and repair tools…

Uninterested by her offer

The girls came out two cameras richer, and, for three girls apparently on a super tight budget, much poorer.. Me, I’m happy with my Minolta. I may have kept a sly eye open for a cheap rangefinder… but didn’t succumb.

Experiencing Istanbul, Chp 3: Something Witty About Mosques

Posted on 23/11/2011 by Reece

Anyone who has entered Istanbul with little to no experience in a Muslim dominated country, such as myself, will notice the abundance of mosques in the city. Seriously, they are EVERYWHERE. And some of them are gorgeous. And the call to prayer is sweet, in my eyes at least… and it adds a certain entertainment factor when you hear the person on the microphone cough, or maybe I’m just childish.. And touching again on my inner stinginess (Seemingly the main theme of my time in Istanbul), almost all the mosques are free to enter! I only paid for one touristy thing in my 2 weeks there, and it wasn’t a mosque…

Anyway, I’m tired, and not feeling overly creative with words, so you will just have to look at the photos and guess what gold I would have written…

On The Outside

Just another spire thingy...

Inside the Blue Mosque

Oh, for anyone interested, I finally found a camera store here in Nairobi I trusted enough to try developing 7 rolls of film. Hopefully, tomorrow, I will have the last of my Istanbul film developed, and the first of my Kenyan film.

Hopefully

Experiencing Istanbul, Chp 2: Explore Tacky Grand Bazaars

Posted on 17/11/2011 by Reece

Rarely one for shopping, and even less when it involves gaudy souvenir crap, I’m not entirely sure how I ended up in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar. Especially when I knew beforehand that it was simply a MASSIVE indoor market, full of overpriced souvenir crap aimed at tourists. Still, I was roped into it by a couple of Georgian girls, who were admittedly good company (..except for the time they ran off in Sofia, Bulgaria, while I had to explain to the cops why we were drinking in the abandoned building…). And I found myself in there again a few days later, for some dumb reason.

Still, despite the prevalence of shiny things, there was just far too many lanterns, far too many jewellery stores, and FAR too many sellers who would hassle me, ME, about buying whatever little thing I glanced at, or that the girls glanced at. Seriously guys, look at me. Sporting an inch thick beard, dirty tattered jeans, long hair, shoes I could poke my toes through, a backpack from the 80’s and a camera from the 70’s, I disn’t exactly look like the souvenir buying type….. or the type to buy expensive jewellery for female company… And that’s something I consider myself relatively proud of, in all honesty.

Still, all that said, I took one or two photos of shiny things. And I must admit, the Grand Bazaar wouldn’t be so bad, sans all the tourists, annoying sellers, and hell, the prices… Maybe I’d splurge on something if splurging wasn’t so expensive.

Shiny things... i.e. Lanterns

Moar shiny

That man is wayyy too keen on that luggage

Don't be fooled, there's more tourist crap and carpets down here

Experiencing Istanbul, Chp 1: Roam the Streets

Posted on 11/11/2011 by Reece

When I first arrived in Turkey, my game plan was to get out of Istanbul, maybe go to Cappadocia, then park myself on a quiet little beach down south, and relax for a week or so.

I arrived in Istanbul on my first night, and ended up staying for the entire two weeks before my flight to Nairobi. Parked on the roof of Mavi Guesthouse (definitely recommended) for a tidy little price as a result of my long stay, I noticed the contents of my backpack spreading across the floor, further each day. Tucked away in the back corner of the 27 bed roof dorm was myself on one bed, and Vale, the fresh receptionist, and also my Istanbul bezzie, as proclaimed drunkenly by her around 11 days into my stay. Coincidentally, that was the day that the clothing mess spilling from my backpack bridged the gap to the growing pile of crap emanating from under her bunk, making the floor around our bunks almost impossible to navigate.

As one of those travellers who never excelled at paying money to see the attractions (definitely not my strong point), my fallback has always been simply wandering, and hoping to find something interesting. In my 2 weeks in Istanbul, I’d like to say that most of my time was spent wandering. In truth, it was probably just number two. I definitely spent more time just bludging around the hostel, talking sh*t with whoever I had befriended, playing backgammon, doing literally nothing, or consoling Vale after encounters with the numerous older, weirder, more frustrating guests. But still, I did spend a while wandering around aimlessly, taking photos of pretty things (remembering my definition of pretty is typically grungy, dirty, or trashy).

I shot off a respectable 5 or 6 rolls of film in my 2 weeks there… And in an attempt to make up for the mess caused by Vale and myself, I’m going to cover my time in Istanbul in photograhp sections. Also, I need to stall y’all until I find somewhere in Nairobi to develop the black and white film I shot… So, for now, here’s my attempt at street photography, shot from the hip, with my Minolta SRT101. Unedited, of course.