Elderly Man, Village near Gaziantep, Turkey, May 27, 2013

After the morning in the studio, transportation was provided to take a few of us to a nearby village for an afternoon of photography. On our way we meet a man standing on the side of the road and ask for directions. He happened to be from an adjacent village and offered to show us the way in exchange for a ride to his home.

As we drove he asked a few questions regarding the work and then advised that his village had plenty of wonderful people to photograph. We decided to take him up on his offer and arrived at his home. He was nice enough to walk around with us and in the beginning few people were to be seen. It was after all quite early in the afternoon.

Little by little we ran across the villagers, and made their portraits as we walked through the calm streets. As our time in the village came to an end, a young man guided us to his home and then went inside to call his grandfather. All of us were astonished when this man walked out of the dark corridor. He was elegantly dressed and had an unmistakable power to him. He sat down in the shade of his home and granted us permission to photograph him.

We used natural light to make his portraits, as with all during our time in Turkey. He sat without movement while at least three of us photographed him from various angles. First his face, then his hands were documented. After we were finished we shared our gratitude and walked back to our transportation in order to head back to the city.

Later we would have a wonderful meal in an exquisite spot at the outskirts of the city, and shared the remnants of our meal with a kitten huddled at the corner of a street while searching for a taxi.

I knew at the moment above that his portrait would touch me so later upon viewing, and this has proven to be quite true.

halim.ina@gmail.com
Halim Ina Photography

Snapshot, Man, Gaziantep, Turkey, May 29, 2013

He walks towards our car from sitting with his friends after he had agreed to be photographed, quite curious as to the gear we were pulling out of the trunk. He might have thought of a small camera and a quick snapshot, but was more than gracious in allowing us to document him with the medium format camera mounted on a considerable tripod.

We were driving on the road perpendicular to this small path when we noticed his features from the car. We slowed down a bit and my dear friend Ali agreed to step out and have a short conversation with the three men. To our delight this older man agreed to our presence and even allowed us to photograph the others from his family.

With his permission we moved his chair into the sunlight and began with a formal portrait of his face, then moved onto making images of his incredibly beautiful hands. He was surprised at my attraction to his hands, but allowed it nonetheless after seeing a few examples of such in my photographic album.

After seeing our work a few of the boys wanted their portraits made and we did so in a candid manner with the handheld camera. A roll or so were also exposed on film of this man's son when my eyes noticed the women sitting in the distance watching. With a whisper I communicated to Ali my desire to include the women and in the same whisper he advised me that this would be near to impossible.

I respected Ali's advice of course, wanting to do anything but to get him into trouble. However the urge to do so overtook me and without the use of a common language my thoughts were communicated to the men in charge with gestures, and honest pleas with a smile.

To my pleasant surprise they agreed kindly and allowed me to make portraits of two of the young women. To my greater surprise the two young women walked over in front of so many men to have their portraits made without a single sign of hesitation. They were strong and confident, albeit quite reserved with their words. They stood for their portraits as strong as any of the women in my portfolio and, considering the circumstances around them, without equal.

I look forward to this man's portrait, to the images of his hands and to the results of the young women's portraits in the coming days as the negatives are reviewed.

halim.ina@gmail.com
Halim Ina Photography