About a week ago I finally got my very first camera. I hope I get to use it for a long time. As you can see from the title, my pick was Canon. The shop I bought it from was running a promo: even with the camera already discounted they were throwing in a spare battery, an 8 GB SD card and a bag. So I told myself “this is your chance, Burak, go!”. Where did I go, you ask? Straight to the fotografium.com office.
Honestly I never fully trust shipping for things like this, and since I was paying half in cash and half by card I figured I might as well walk it from Sirkeci. Eventually I had it in my hands. Funny thing about me: I used to be the most impatient person whenever I bought something new. But this time I really practiced patience.
It reminded me of something. When my family bought our very first home computer, there was a “brand new computer” ad in the newspaper. My parents said “let’s get this one”, but it had a 1-month wait. As the world’s most impatient kid, I begged for “tomorrow, now, immediately”. So my mom mentioned it to my uncle, and he said “I’ll bring you a second-hand one, cheaper”. I jumped at the offer. The result? My second-hand computer arrived a full month later anyway 😀 But there was an upside — had it been brand new I would have been too scared to open it up. Because it was second-hand I opened it, poked around, and today you can hand me any laptop or desktop and I’ll tear it down and rebuild it. I have a soft spot for hardware.
Anyway, back to the topic — patience. So after 6 months of saving and waiting for the right price, I now own a camera. I shot 30-40 test photos at home on day one, even tried a quick video. The quality really impressed me. Then I went on a mini tour around Sultanahmet, Sirkeci, Eminönü and Karaköy and shot around 600 frames. I posted my favorites on Flickr. There are roughly 20 more waiting for edits, but you can already see what I shared on my Flickr profile. Link below as well.
Link: Burak Bayram on Flickr — “Burak Bayram’s Flickr profile”
Honestly, photography turned out to be a lot of fun, though it would be even better if I had a buddy with a camera tagging along. If anyone’s up for it, let’s do a photo walk together. Going alone gets a bit awkward when you need a subject. People give you weird looks if you try to point a camera at them. I avoided shooting straight-on portraits so nobody would get upset about being photographed. I did sneak in a few kid shots — should be fine. Overall, photography is great fun. Sometimes I crouch down on my knees to get a different angle and the people around me stare like “what is he doing?” — which is when I feel like a pro.
Finally, here are a few of the shots I’ll share here as well. To see the rest, head over to the link above.
The little one at Sultanahmet Mosque · The worker making a living · The tower of Istanbul, Galata Tower · Sultanahmet birds · Cat vs Crow · Eminönü birds · Prayer & Worship
