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It’s in the grip of North American winter that I often dream of escape to warmer climates. Thanks to the WordPress.com Reader and the street photography tag, I can satisfy my travel yen whenever it strikes. Here are just some of the amazing photos and photographers I stumbled upon during a recent armchair trip.
My first stop was Alexis Pazoumian’s fantastic SERIES: India at The Sundial Review. I loved the bold colors in this portrait and the man’s thoughtful expression.
In a slightly different form of care-free, we have the muddy hands of Elina Eriksson‘s son in Zambia. I love how his small hands frame his face. The gentle focus on his face and the light in the background evoke warm summer afternoons at play.
Photo by Elina Eriksson
Heading to Istanbul, check out Jeremy Witteveen‘s fun shot of this clarinetist. Whenever I see musicians, I can’t help but wonder about the song they’re playing.
Arresting in a slightly different fashion is Rob Moses‘ Ski Hill Selfie, taken in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The juxtaposition of the bold colors and patterns in the foreground against the white snow in the background caught my eye.
Photo by Rob Moses
Further under the category of fun juxtaposition, is Liu Tao’s photo of the elderly man in Hafei, China, whose fan reminds me of a punk rock mohawk.
Photo by Liu Tao
From Hafei, we go to Havana, Cuba, and Edith Levy‘s beautifully ethereal Edificio Elena. I found the soft pastels and gentle shadows particularly pleasing. They lend a distinctly feminine quality to the building.
Photo by Edith Levy
And finally, under the category of beautiful, is Aneek Mustafa Anwar‘s portrait, taken in Shakhari Bazar, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. The boy’s shy smile is a wonderful representation of the word on his shirt.
Photo by Aneek Mustafa Anwar
Where do you find photographic inspiration? Take a moment to share your favorite photography blogs in the comments.
I'm on a special holiday in Turkey, celebrating my father's 80th birthday, in the beautiful city of Istanbul. Walking down the wide avenues and into history, one of the first things I noticed of course (once I'd recovered from the overwhelming gloriousness of it all) was the ornamentation - patterns galore everywhere I looked; and colour, decorative ornamentation, flowers ... patterns patterns patterns.
I've only managed to post a few of my photographic captures here, hoping that they'll inspire you as well ... my creative soul is dancing with delight in this country. I shall have to visit again one day, for longer than one too-short week.
I've barely had time to breathe never mind draw anything, but have tons of ideas to work on once when I get back on Monday. I'll be posting pics of the city itself as well soon, and more ... meanwhile, you'll have to forgive me if things are a bit erratic in here for ... well, for a while yet.
Wishing you a glorious week. Cheers from Istanbul.
Heart-breaking tale about nine-year-old Liesel who lives with a foster family in Nazi Germany after her parents have been taken to a concentration camp. Not just another dramatic World War II novel, but a brilliant book about family relationships, fear, and human strength.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, translated by Rod Bradbury
It’s Allan Karlsson’s 100th birthday when he decides to leave the old people’s home and goes on an eventful journey, involving a suitcase full of cash, accidental murder, and a pet elephant. The characters are lovable and the tone light and entertaining. My feel-good book of the year!
The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair
A young American woman of Indian ancestry revisits the events of a summer she spent in India as a child — a summer in which she uncovered her family’s biggest secret. Nair manages to keep up the suspense right until the end… a real page-turner!
White as Milk, Red as Blood by Alessandro D’Avenia
A typical teenager, 16-year-old Leo’s life changes completely when he finds out that his love interest Beatrice suffers from leukaemia. The characters are authentic and the story beautifully told. Unfortunately it hasn’t been translated into English (yet?).
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
Set in Istanbul, this book tells the story of the Kazanci family, where a mysterious family curse causes the men in the family to die in their early forties. As the story unfolds, old family secrets come to light. A great and compelling story!
Cornelia Haase is an Assistant Commissioning Editor in Reference at Oxford University Press.
Some memoirs wind you back through the crowded streets of the hero’s childhood.
Some wend you through the neural pathways of the author’s craving, omnivorous mind.
Istanbul,by the Nobel Prize winning Orhan Pamuk, does both.Sebaldian in scope, suffused with gorgeous black-and-white photographs of historic Istanbul, this is an exploration of a city, a man, and a particularly rich, involving melancholic state known as hüzün.“The hüzün of Istanbul is not just the mood evoked by its music and its poetry," writes Pamuk, "it is a way of looking at life that implicates us all, not only a spiritual state but a state of mind that is ultimately as life-affirming as it is negating.”
Istanbulsprawls like the city sprawls.Its sentences can sometimes consume entire pages as they evoke landscapes and childhood rooms, gossip and history, painters and writers.Pamuk takes readers on a journey—his journey—as a boy in love with his mother, as a teen in love with his city, and as a young man who ultimately chooses writing over painting.Pamuk is tenderly and brilliantly tortured.He is obsessed with ruins and all the loss, and beauty, that ruins imply:
But what I am trying to describe now is not the melancholy of Istanbul but the hüzün in which we see ourselves reflected, thehüzün we absorb with pride and share as a community. To feel thishüzün is to see the scenes, evoke the memories, in which the city itself becomes the very illustration, the very essence, ofhüzün. I am speaking of the evenings when the sun sets early, of the fathers under the streetlamps in the back streets returning home carrying plastic bags. Of the old Bosphorous ferries moored to deserted stations in the middle of winter, where sleepy sailors scrub the decks, pail in hand and one eye on the black-and-white television in the distance....
0 Comments on ISTANBUL/Orhan Pamuk: Reflections as of 1/1/1900
Canlandiranlar is a new animation society in Turkey, which organizes free educational courses, holds panels and supports independent animation in Istanbul. They held a project called “Animation Talent Camp” last year and produced several short films themed around “Istanbul” supported by professionals from the industry. Idil Ar’s film is a beautiful example of bold animation design in service of telling a story, setting a mood and capturing a moment:
Credits:
Direction: Idil Ar
Animation: Idil Ar, Emre Ergenç
Art Direction: Idil Ar
Music and Sound: Can Ünal
Voice: Osman Poroy, Idil Ar
Producer: Berat İlk, 2010 Avrupa Kültür Başkenti
Best Animation Award ‘22.Ankara International Film Festival’
Best Script ‘Canlandiranlar Talent Camp 2011′
Elaine Fowler Palencia explores "The Dirty Underbelly of one of the World's Great Cities" in this review of Maureen Freely's brilliant novel Enlightenment, now in paperback: "Like a radioactive matryoshka doll, Maureen Freely’s latest novel rises out of the Cold War history of Turkey, glowing with lethal secrets nested one inside another. To read it is to open the largest doll, then the smaller doll hidden inside it, and so on, in a search for the shape of truth.
The combination of narrative voices manifests this layered quality. A professor at the University of Warwick, Freely has published articles on Turkish politics and is the English translator of Pahmuk, who was indicted for the crime of “insulting Turkishness;” i.e., daring to mention to a reporter the “secret” of the Armenian genocide. Like M, Freely grew up in Istanbul and attended Robert College (as did Pahmuk), where her father taught. The author of several novels and nonfiction books, she writes clear, visual prose that bathes the reader in the sights and feel of Istanbul. Her well-known wit flashes amid the dark mysteries of international politics-as-usual as, with a pen dipped in irony and long-simmering indignation, she probes the dirty underbelly of one of the world’s great cities, suspended as it is between east and west, like the “Pasha’s library,” William Wakefield’s CIA lookout post above the Bosphorus. This novel will appeal to fans of thrillers and mysteries, the general literary reader, and those particularly interested in Turkish politics. A surprise but satisfying ending awaits you."
0 Comments on Maureen Freely's ENLIGHTENMENT Featured in Gently Read Literature Blog as of 10/5/2009 11:29:00 AM
So, I haven't blogged in a while. I've read a ton, but there are several major projects in life, work, and school right now, so... ergh. BUT! I bring you a special report. We will soon return to our regularly scheduled blathering.
So, before I go home and watch to see how the rest of my state voted (dude, it took me nearly 45 minutes this morning!) I'm off to Politics & Prose in DC to see Elif Shafak. I'm really super excited.
Family secrets, denied history and national identity all come to play as two families, as well as the past and present collide.
It's hard to explain the plot without just going on and on and on and on and on.
You have one girl, Asya, who lives with her mother, three aunts, her grandmother, and great-grandmother in Istanbul. She's an angry woman, I think she symbolizes Istanbul well-- modern and thinking she's Western, but pulled to the East and the past by tradition. (One that Asya at least tries to deny. It's easier to deny your past when you don't know who your father is.) All the men in her family die early. She has an uncle that was sent to America to try and break the curse.
You have another, Armanoush, who is Armenian-American, but with a Turkish step-father. In an attempt to understand her Armenian-ness, as well as the genocide and deportation that colors her Armenian family's view of everything, Armanoush runs off to Istanbul, where she stays with her step-father's family.
There's a lot more to it than that, trust me. The two family histories are complicatedly entwined, with the narrative jumping place and time on a regular basis.
More than anything, Shafak has wonderful characters, a love for Istanbul while still admitting her faults, a light touch with magical realism, and a good sense of finding the humor in the absurdities of everyday life.
Shafak was charged with insulting Turkish identity because of her discussion of the Armenian genocide. Luckily, the charges were dropped.
I really liked it and can't wait to read her other stuff.
Hopefully, if you're in the DC area, you can get to P&P in time to catch this event!
Wonderful post.
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Absolutely stunning!
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Great pics! They’re stunning photos!
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The last photo is my favorite! :)
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Thanks! That was a nice armchair-trip!
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Krista, The words used to describe each photo made them even more sensitive and communicative. Thanks.
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Your kind words have made my day. I’m humbled. Thank you!
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I’m fond of that photo too. I can’t help but wonder why he’s smiling. Such a lovely portrait.
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Thanks for sharing my picture :)
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You’re welcome Rob — I really enjoyed visiting your site.
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