Making photography a professional pursuit in life

Over the last 20 years, the quality of photographs found in coffee-table books and slick magazines has improved beyond what anyone could have imagined. The work of today’s Turkish photographers compares well with those from any Western nation, and as digital cameras have become readily available and relatively inexpensive, many more people have become captivated by the possibilities of capturing the moment.

Still, making a living at photography is a tough business. No matter how good your equipment, the important part is being able to capture what you’ve seen and make the viewer see the story behind your photos, the individual tale that each image has to tell. And even if you can do that with some ease, there is still the matter of selling people on what you do Ğ building a portfolio of work, advertising your services, entering contests, soliciting assignments from magazines or companies and ensuring that some other photographer doesn’t nab your work to claim as his or her own.

So it is not surprising that a talented photographer like Emre Dörter stayed in Italy to work after graduating from the Accademia Italiana, before heading back to Turkey to complete his military service. It was only then that he began to look around in Istanbul and consider how it would be to work here.

"I got my master’s degree in fashion photography at the Accademia Italiana, however, as a professional, I prefer to shoot still-life. For the last two years, my work has mostly been in this direction," Dörter told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "In Italy, I really had the opportunity to photograph for the fashion giants; I was shooting in one of Europe’s best studios for brands like Gucci, Ferragamo, Brail, Locman and D&G. But still, in between the shoots, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling interested in recording human conditions and memories." Dörter said he loves to be involved in a broad spectrum of photographic projects, shooting everything from architecture to food. "For everything, there has to be a separate preparation, structure, equipment, eye and approach," he said. "To find opportunities to work in different styles is very attractive, in spite of it being stressful for a careful professional. But the field in which I work the most is still life."

Starting in the spring of 2007, Dörter spent five months completing his military service, returning in the winter to Istanbul, where he has a studio, Takilpera, in the Tünel neighborhood. "I did quite a bit of freelance work, including portraits: For example, I took photographs of Gunseli Kato’s objects and miniatures, and of her as a performance artist," he said. "I photographed artist Su Yucel’s paintings and interior architectural designer Sema Topalaoğlu's work as a still-life and her portrait. I’ve taken interior shots at the Black Levendis Rum Meyhane, food photos for Sevil Perfume magazine and architectural photos of the Kale Kilit factory building." Dörter, who has worked for various designers and brands, photographing their jewelry, textiles and other products, has also traveled to India and Nepal, where he said he took pictures of "nature, cities and people."

Although going on a trip and photographing are two different things, Dörter said he misses the kilograms of lenses and other equipment that he used to take with him. However, he said he could enjoy a comfortable journey if he leaves without taking even a small camera. "There’s a very great chance of taking a good photograph when you press the shutter at a time you are thinking ’Fantastic color, fantastic scene,’" he said. "There is a need for much greater programming and preparation to take photographs, so this makes the journey into a business trip."

Dörter recalled a recent meeting with Helene Binet, who he regards as one of the world’s best architectural photographers: "When Helene Binet said, ’I become very tense every time I begin work,’ I relaxed considerably. However, you can obtain a good result with careful work even though your stomach may be hurting as you begin due to fear or perfectionism. This, too, I think is a side of the artistic photographer. Whatever the product, what you saw and how you saw it give it an increased value that you have won for it and sometimes as an artistic product too." Dörter came to many people’s attention in Istanbul through his participation in the "Home-less, Owner-less" exhibition organized for the benefit of street animals. Dörter showed his photographs of cats as part of the exhibit. Asked whether he participated because of an interest in street animals, Dörter replied, "I love animals, those on the streets and especially cats, including the Bengal tiger, but my interest is mostly photographs."

He recalled, however, some prior experiences photographing cats in Florence, where he received his artistic education and later worked as an assistant in the well-known glamour photographer Roberto Quagli’s studio. "I planned a calendar as a gift and selected various photographs that I did on my journeys to different cities for work; the ones I selected from the photographs of Italian cats were for my grandmother, who was a major cat-lover," he said. "In Italy, naturally, there aren’t as many street animals as there are among us [here]. However, in the palace and museum gardens and in the parks, there are cats that lead marvelous lives and some areas are designated as safe areas for them."

The photographer reminisced about the "spoiled cats of the Coliseum" in Rome, the cats of Florence’s Boboli Gardens, which he believes have "the most luxurious standards in the world," and the cats of the island of Elba, where he spent time photographing Locman watches. The Elba cats "posed for me for a whole year," he said.

After Dörter returned to Turkey in the spring of 2007, he dedicated his calendar that year to his grandmother, just as he said he would, and left it as "a beautiful memory to my friends who remained there. In Florence, in quite a few cafes and restaurants, in the home of my friend and in his office, my cat calendar remained hanging for a whole year and I think that he counted time with the cats. Perhaps because there are many here who love cats, here too my calendar passed into the hands of many people." That is how he became acquainted with Laleper Aytek and Selen Çalışkan, who prepared the street-animal benefit exhibition.

As someone who has worked as a professional photographer in both Italy and Turkey, how would Dörter compare the media products of the two countries? "In recent years, throughout the whole world, visual expression has taken the place of written expression," he said. "The photograph in this sense is very effective. In Turkey, there is a preference for using data-bank photos rather than original images. It has not been perceived how important a product the photograph is for promotion."

In terms of printed publications, Dörter said the number of shelves devoted to magazines in large book/stationary/music stores is higher in Turkey than in Italy. "The circulation is undoubtedly much greater [there], but, in my opinion, there aren’t as many different kinds as there are among us; their television stations are the same too. I think we are richer in terms of visual communications," he said. "The increase in quality will happen as those who provide services in this sector produce quality products and those who follow it request them. There are original, high-quality photographs in magazines like ’Trendsetter,’ ’34’ and ’2de1,’ as well as magazines that are directed at design, nature, travel and architecture and other sectors that appear in different languages. Compared to Italy, which is Europe’s leader in many subjects, even if we don’t compete with them in design, in my opinion we are still not in a bad place when it comes to visual media."