He even managed to convince a pleasant hotel in the city center to graciously welcome all of his colleagues, this sort of thing was typical of his willingness to offer help to others.ĭuring one of my visits to Istanbul, we were both walking around town, and found ourselves by chance in front of the doors of the museum of archaeology, which were unfortunately closed. In 1961, he met Henri-Cartier Bresson and then many of us from Magnum. ![]() In 1958, he was the first Near East correspondent for TIME, he also worked for Paris Match and Der Stern. In our small brotherhood, Ara is, with his warmth and generosity, the ambassador of Istanbul. All around him are the most beautiful photographs of Istanbul on the walls and often, at the adjoining tables, many young students from the nearby, prestigious Galatasaray University are on the lookout for the right moment to come and ask him for an autograph. ![]() Sometimes I find him at his very own Ara Kafé. Whenever I go to Istanbul, I have the pleasure of visiting Ara in his Galatasaray neighborhood. Ara likes to emphasize the documentary and journalistic aspects of his work, incredibly vast and rich, rather than the artistic side of what he calls his “archives”. Undoubtedly, Ara is the photographer who captured, from the 1950s to today, a part of the soul of this city.Īs Orhan Pamuk says, it was in Ara’s photographs that Istanbul’s streets, in the 1950s and 1960s, were best captured, documented and preserved. In addition to official awards and decorations, Ara has long been entitled to an unofficial title: The Eye of Istanbul. Working in China, the Middle East, Kazakhstan, Kenya, India, Iran, New Guinea and Borneo. Ara not only photographed Turkey in depth, he also traveled the world. I first met Ara Güler Twenty-five years ago, with his wife Summa, in Indonesia for the production of a collective book project for Éditions du Pacifique. We do not want to capture images for ourselves, but to share with everyone’s eyes, to keep for everyone. But hunters of a delicate kind, using a little sorcery. If we are honest, we are hunters of souls. Between grandeur and poverty, strength and melancholy, these two entities coexist. © Ara Güler | Magnum PhotosĬities are made of men and their monuments. © Ara Güler | Magnum Photos Ara Güler The man painting the anchor of a boat, Karaköy. Here, to mark Güler’s death, we reproduce – in translation – an homage to Güler given by Magnum’s Bruno Barbey at the 2017 Nuremberg Turkish/German Film Festival, followed by the thoughts of Turkish Magnum photographer Emin Özmen. Yet for many, it is his iconic, and at times melancholic black and white photographs of his hometown, it’s inhabitants, streets and it’s docks, which are his greatest work. Over his career Güler photographed a host of famous artists and political figures. On meeting Henri Cartier-Bresson in the early 60s Güler joined Magnum Photos, and remained close to many at the agency until his death, aged 90, on Wednesday 17 October. He went on to work for the Turkish daily, Hürriyet, and from there toward work for international titles and worldwide acclaim. ![]() Reflecting on the life and work of Ara Güler, the most influential Turkish photographer of a generationĪra Güler, a native of Istanbul, began his photographic career at the city’s Yeni Istanbulnewspaper in 1950.
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