Everyday Life in the Shadow of History

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 5 photos

Growing up in the ethnic melting pot of Vancouver, Canada, I have always been fascinated by other nations and cultures, and I've also done a lot of traveling. I've had some schooling in photography and really enjoy writing, and I would love to get involved in travel writing/photography on a professional level. I see photos as not simply moments to be captured, but as an opening to new relationships with both people and places. I feel like my strengths are connecting with subjects and spotting oft overlooked details, but I really need to grow in technical skill. I'd love the chance to dive into Bhutan and to be further discipled as a travel photographer.

I've been living in Turkey for the past four years and my camera and I just can't get enough of this place! My favourite area for "photo-roaming" is Fatih - a district within the old city walls of Istanbul. These walls were built and rebuilt by the Romans and Byzantines, stormed and penetrated by the Ottomans, and have long since been outgrown by the largest city of the Turkish Republic. The neighbourhoods within the walls were inhabited earlier last century by mostly Greeks and Jews, but the population exchange with Greece, persecution, and other factors left most of the churches and synagogues empty. These twisting streets and crumbling houses are now home to a mixture of poor Turks and Kurdish immigrants from the east. While Istanbul is a city of grand proportions and glorious sights, I am more drawn to the everyday lives of the people who drink their tea, hang their laundry, raise their children and hawk their wares "in the shadow of history." These photos depict a smattering of the people and details I've come across in my wanderings through the neighbourhoods that lie inside the walls.