Istanbul - final the book edited and sent for production

I have finally concluded my Istanbul series with a book edit. I've added three out of the 40 images used as a sample below. In producing this book my final edit ranged from a series of several edits, that cut the number down considerably from what was taken.

I decided upon the order to reflect the direction that I walked, and passed through the respective neighborhoods. It was important to me to leave this in place, as it helped give coherence to the reader and allow a narrative to form.

However upon reviewing the book I decided it needed to be contextualised. I started to address this by writing an introduction, which would help to anchor the intention of the collection. I would allow the reader to understand my methodologies, experience and ethnicity. I felt this was important as it would perhaps help explain how these images were created.

I made this addition which started to form the book into a more finished product. However taking feedback from my Anthony project, I decided that I would make the addition of text part of the story. It would seem crude to simply anchor the image with obvious captions such as "man on bridge" - So I decided to describe my surroundings and what occurred either before, during or after the images construction. Hopefully this would add yet another depth to the reader, so that the journey would enrich the collection.

It still seemed that it needed another element to it. At present I have been studying the effects of the photographers ethnicity in photographic situations. This was of course part of my methodology - and something that I had embraced from the very beginning of this project. So I wanted to give that more context rather than just an admission. I decided with consultation to include open testimonies from people with experience from the country.

I managed to contact two people for this:

Michael originates from Zimbabwe and now resides in Ankara; he has lived and worked in Istanbul for many years. He is an illustrator and has worked as a semi-professional photographer.

Seckin originally from Turkey and currently resides in Istanbul. He lectures on Photography at Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul.

In my email I asked for either an analysis of the photographs; or a summary given time constraints I decided to formulate a few questions, which would frame their responses.

The book is currently in production from 'Blurb' and a link will soon follow for previewing and ordering.

This photograph is used on the cover

This is from the collection inside

And finally from the back cover