Legendary İstanbul photographer Ara Güler dies aged 90
LEGENDARY Turkish photographer Ara Güler, famed for iconic images of İstanbul that captured almost three-quarters of a century of the city’s history, has died at age 90, state media said.
Mr Güler passed away after being rushed to hospital in İstanbul for emergency treatment for heart failure, state-run Anadolu news agency said.
He won fame with extraordinary images of İstanbul in black and white that admirers believe captured the soul of the city more than any other photographer.
His work included images of the city’s best known mosques and landmarks, pictures of workers going about their daily lives and rare pictures of İstanbul covered in a blanket of snow.
In a city that is now changing at a frenetic pace, Mr Güler’s work preserved facets of İstanbul that have now become irrevocably lost.
Celebrated Turkish writer and Nobel Literature Prize winner Orhan Pamuk famously used Mr Güler’s images in his book “İstanbul: Memories and the City” in which the smoky and misty photos provided the perfect accompaniment to the text.
For many, the work of Mr Güler was infused with the spirit of “huzun”, the Turkish word for melancholy, which is seen as a particular İstanbul characteristic.
But in a wide-ranging career, he also photographed famous personalities including Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Alfred Hitchcock and Winston Churchill.
Born to an Armenian family in İstanbul, Mr Güler attended an Armenian school there and began working as a photographer on Turkish newspaper Yeni.
He got his first big international chance as a photographer in 1958 when US magazine TimeLife opened a Turkey office.
He then met the likes of Marc Riboud and Henri Cartier-Bresson who signed him up to join the celebrated photo agency Magnum.
Fans liked to call Mr Güler the “Eye of İstanbul,” but he insisted he was more.
“People call me an İstanbul photographer. But I am a citizen of the world. I am a world photographer,” he said once.
His work took him around the world to Africa and Afghanistan as well as his native Turkey and resulted in numerous books, which remain a favourite of İstanbul souvenir-hunters to this day.
Mr Güler was a wellknown face in İstanbul and even in his last months could regularly be seen at the outside tables of the café he owned, Ara Café, in central İstanbul, which is adorned with his pictures.
In August, a photography museum in İstanbul opened in his name.