Mardin Bazaar, Eastern Turkey

When I started work on my website, the whole project had one goal, and that was to try to find my best images to show.  The whole process was a challenge as I have a large body of work, and of course being emotionally attached to those images, there were so many that I liked and therefore found it difficult to choose.  I would load up a bunch of images, and then have to be tough and eliminate at least half, as I knew my audience wouldn’t want to wade through so many images.  A bit like having the family over to show your holiday snaps – yawn.

So in hindsight, my website will be a work in progress and I will load and eliminate images over time.  However, my goal over the next twelve months is to find 40-50 keepers, images that I can publish as my best work, whether they be existing images or new ones.   To help me through the process I’ve decided to start this blog and post one image every week with the outcome being my best or favourite work.

I may write a story behind the image or I may only post the technical data, it will really depend on the image and the reasons why I think it is a keeper.  I’d appreciate your feedback as this will also help me not only to decide whether to tag the images I post as keepers, or at the very least, help me to improve my photography.

The image above is my first.

This is the image that started my journey into street photography. Taken in the winding street of the Bazaar at the lower end of town, the villagers invite you to take tea and chat (even though they can’t speak a word of English).  They were particularly smitten with the ladies, and most of them liked to tease.  I think one of them was trying to encourage me to be his next wife!  Why let the truth get in the way of good story I say.

On this journey throughout Eastern Turkey, I travelled with Peter Eastway and bunch of mad keen photographers.  Which, if you enjoy travel and photography, I can highly recommend a travelling troupe of this kind.  You get to talk photography most of the time, and when you’re done, well you talk photography!  It’s a lot of fun chasing that perfect image, and having the knowledge and expertise of a professional like Peter gives your skill level a very big boost.

But I digress, back to the image.  I was not comfortable shooting wide, nor getting in close.  On this day I set myself a goal to shoot at 24mm and it paid off.  The scene set before me happened in a split second, the old gentlemen on the left was bemused by the foreigners with big cameras passing by, and immediately stood into his pose as an indication to take a photograph.  I, of course, obliged.

Eastern Turkey is not a difficult part of the world to photograph, particularly if you’re interested in people photography.  If anything, I was constantly approached to take a photograph, it was very rare for me to ask permission. It’s just not the easiest place to get around, it takes a day to get from town to town.  But I’m used to that living in Western Australia – we Sandgropers always carry a cut lunch and a water bag.

The highlight for me, was when this image was published in Better Photography magazine as a ‘keeper’, a two page spread in issue No. 63.   In that case I think this one is definitely a keeper and one to set the benchmark.

Thanks for reading my blog and please, feel free to leave a comment or feedback either here or on my Facebook timeline.

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Lidia D’Opera