Istanbul: (De)Constructing an image
I’m going to try something new with this blog. Having just gotten back from Turkey, rather than doing my normal show-and-tell, I thought it would be interesting to dissect one of the images from my trip, and to the process of getting to the final image. As I was going through my photos, I realised one could see there was quite a clear visual evolution of my ideas across the day, culminating in an image that I am pretty fond of.
Let me set the scene. I was Istanbul for the second leg of a photography trip to Turkey. The first part of my trip was in Cappadocia, where the peace and quiet of being out nature was in sharp contrast to the hustle and bustle of one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world (a separate post is coming soon). I didn’t know anyone in Istanbul, nor did I have a particularly clear plan of what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. Instead, I found myself meandering from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, looking for potential photography opportunities.
In many ways, this resembles the final shot - it has nearly all of the same elements (the man fishing, the cigarette in his mouth, the ferry behind, etc). It is definitely a simpler image, and while that is not a bad thing (often less is more), I think that there is more complexity depth to the final image which makes it that much more compelling.
As I was walking along the waterfront in the Eminönü area, I noticed a row of men fishing. They were all facing out towards the water, and with the Galata Tower in the background, I took a quick snapshot. Boom, done. Moving on. Further along the promenade, I noticed a family with a young baby moving towards one of the men fishing, with the baby interested in whatever the man was holding. Sensing a possible interesting interaction, I got myself into position as the man fumbled and tried to remove the bait from his line. Unfortunately, by the time he had done so, the baby had started crying, and the moment was lost. Still, I thought that with the cigarette in his mouth (seemingly everyone in Turkey smokes) and the Galata Tower in the background, it made a decent candid portrait. I honestly didn’t think much more of it though, and so I carried on exploring the city.
During my time in Istanbul, I must have walked across the Galata Bridge at least half a dozen times. Regardless of time of day, there was always an endless row of people fishing.
As evening came, I found myself on the Galata Bridge. Photographically, I'Il admit that I was feeling a little bit uninspired after a long day of walking around, and so I was feeling ready to slowly make my way back to my hotel. Having rained in the afternoon, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of light - My mistake. As I was crossing the bridge back, the clouds suddenly burst on fire. I had seen a few telephoto cityscapes of the waterfront and Suleymaniye Mosque behind, and so I gave it an attempt, but the mosque refused to light up, which frustrated me endlessly. By the time the mosque lights came on, the best of the sunset colours had faded. In hindsight, I think I was a bit too hyper-fixated on the mosque lighting up (which I thought would make it the focal point of the image), and I could definitely have done more.
This was really just a quick snap to try and document the incredible sunset sky that I had. It is a shame that I was fixated on getting the shot with the telephoto mosque shot, rather than working a few other compositions with the people fishing.
If this shot was taken maybe 10 minutes earlier, I would have been really happy. I think we had lost just a bit too much light and it had gotten a bit too blue for the shot that I wanted. I liked the inclusion of the ferry - it is a key visual symbol of Istanbul, and it reminds me a lot of the Star Ferry in Hong Kong.
As the best of the sunset light disappeared, I tried to find a gap in the crowd to isolate a solo person fishing. I found a gap next to this older gentleman with a cigarette in his hand, and knew that I had found my next subject. I was waiting for him to smoke his cigarette, and once he picked up his cigarette I knew that I had my shot. I found that people in Istanbul really didn’t mind being photographed (or at least they were used to it), so the man was fine with me taking his photo. I stayed around for a few minutes before deciding that I had bothered the man enough, so I carried on across the bridge.
This was the very first shot in the whole series.
Going through the images after, I found two shots which I liked. In truth, they are not so different, and share a lot of positive similarities, such as the strong diagonal line from the corner of the frame to the man, the cigarette in the mouth which creates visual interest, the mosque in the background as a visual cue, and they both do a good job of showing life on the Galata Bridge with a clear subject. After bouncing between the two images for a while, I identified five factors why I prefer the final image.
The shooting perspective - in the “nearly” shot, I was shooting from behind, while in the final image, I was shooting from the side.
[Green] The positioning of the man’s head within the frame - in the final shot, I liked that his head breaks the horizon, while also avoiding a fishing pole going straight through the middle of his face. Furthermore, there is a little bit of space between his gaze and Suleymaniye Mosque. Conversely, in the “nearly shot”, the man’s head gets more lost in the background, there is a fishing rod coming straight out of his eyeline, and it looks like the mosque is sitting on his head.
[Red] The size of ferry in the frame - As a powerful visual symbol of Istanbul, I like the weight it has on the right side of the frame in the final image.
[Yellow] There is a little bit more breathing room between the edge of the frame and the structure in the final image.
[Blue] I prefer the right angle created by his right arm compared to the straight line in the “nearly” shot.
I accept that this is all incredibly subject, and would be unsurprised if someone else thought the other shot was stronger, or if they thought I was making up reasons to justify one photo over another. Still, I think that this provides some insight into what goes into a photographer’s mind, and into the small and minute things that I consider when deciding which image is a portfolio image, versus which is just a solid photo.
The “nearly” shot.
The final shot.
I’d love to say that the whole series of photos was part of some well thought-out plan, but it really wasn’t. I think a lot of the time, the best thing to do is to just shoot, and try and make sense of things later. Looking back though, I do like that I had managed to incorporate so many different visual cues from throughout the day into my final image. Do I think this was my GREATEST IMAGE EVER? Probably not. But I am happy with what I think is a solid image, and one which documents a daily part of Istanbul life well. Moreover, I’m glad that I had a chance to share a little bit more about what goes through my head regarding my photography, both while shooting and while going through the photos after.
