Hey Wicked Hunters, I'm excited to have multi-international award-winning photographer F. Dilek Uyar. Dilek was born in Çanakkale. After completing her primary and secondary education in this city, she entered Gazi University, Faculty of Law in Ankara Turkey. When she graduated, she started her master's degree in Labor and Social Security Law at the same university. She is still a lawyer in a company in Ankara. She also teaches photography classes at a university in Ankara.
For 5 years, she has spent most of her time on photography. She likes taking travel, street, and documentary photos. She likes telling stories of people she meets during her travels and cities with her photos. For 4 years, she has been working on social responsibility projects and trying to photograph socially important issues.
As a woman photographer, lawyer, and mother from Turkey, she made many speeches in Universities, Photograph Associations and as a TEDx Speaker, she touched on the significance of being a woman and saying yes to change. She also takes part in social awareness projects.
Her biggest aim is to increase social awareness and recognition of her stories and continue inspiring young women in her country.
She joined many international and national exhibitions and won over 200 awards. She is still a contributor photographer for National Geographic YS and National Geographic Turkey.
You can learn more about Dilek's work on:
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- Spotify - http://bit.ly/twhspotify
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- Website: podcast.thewickedhunt.com
- Tune In (Alexa) - https://bit.ly/TuneInTheArtOfPhotographyPodcastWithStanleyAr
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For those of you who want to see connect with Stanley Aryanto, you can go to the following:
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- https://www.TheWickedHunt.com/
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Don't forget to let us know your favourite part of the Podcast in the comment below and subscribe
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0:00 I risked my life I risked my children's life I go to the hospital and take photos, or one month after 100 year, when we all died, people will remember these times from our photos. This is the power of photography, which photography your writing history, can you imagine you will be the part of history with your photos. This is something being immortal in my opinion.
0:36 Hey, weekend is Welcome back to The Art of Photography podcast, where we share photographers journey and show how photography has given us hope, purpose and happiness. And today we have someone who's very special. I've come across her work, a documentary artist who is passionate about sharing the world story and going to her photos, it's taken my breath away. I have heard a few times, you know of her sharing some of her story, as well as speaking some of the issue in this
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I risked my life Irisked my children's
(00:03):
life I go to thehospital and take
photos, or one monthafter 100 year, when
we all died, peoplewill remember these
times from ourphotos. This is the
power ofphotography, which
photography yourwriting history, can
you imagine you willbe the part of
(00:23):
history with yourphotos. This is
something beingimmortal in my
opinion.
Hey, weekend isWelcome back to The
Art of Photographypodcast, where we
share photographersjourney and show how
(00:43):
photography hasgiven us hope,
purpose andhappiness. And today
we have someonewho's very special.
I've come across herwork, a documentary
artist who ispassionate about
sharing the worldstory and going to
her photos, it'staken my breath
(01:04):
away. I have heard afew times, you know
of her sharing someof her story, as
well as speakingsome of the issue in
this world. And Ijust want to be able
to share her voiceto more of you out
there. So today,let's welcome Dilek
Hey, Dilek how areyou? I believe you
are from Turkey atthe moment, right?
(01:25):
Yes. Thank you somuch. I'm from
Turkey, and livingin Ankara, the
capital city ofTurkey. And thank
you for your kind inlike,
oh, yeah, 100% Youknow, I really enjoy
listening to yourstory, I really
enjoy the photosthat you have taken,
right, they are sofull of emotion. And
(01:47):
I believe you havesome approach
project as well,which you know,
we're going to talkabout a little bit
later to, to evokeemotion and to share
and help share amessage to your
photography. And Ithink that is
fantastic. Now,before we go through
all of that, couldyou just share with
us who is Dilek? Andhow did you start
(02:10):
photography in thefirst place?
I'm Dilek, mother oftwo. And actually,
my profession islaw. I'm a lawyer in
Turkey. And I alwaysbelieve that people
should have somehobbies in their
daily life to take abreath during the
hectic routine ofdaily life. And I
(02:31):
was a skydiverbefore starting to
take photos. And Iwas always saying
that Skydiving is mypassion. And it's my
love. I can't forgetit, I can live it
and I can findanother love. But
with some healthissues, I should
(02:52):
have the site give adecision and stop
making skydiving andI try to find
something to focusand to make me feel
good. And just takea camera at that
time because it wasso popular in Turkey
12 years ago, peoplewere getting cameras
(03:13):
and starting to takephotos up to that
time I never intophotography,
actually. Even whenwe go to somewhere I
don't like I neverlike taking selfies
or taking photos ofthe places I visit.
But I decided to geta camera and when
(03:36):
you let me knowunless you thought
that you knoweverything. And in
the beginning of myphotographic
journey, it wassame. I was thinking
that just taking abuying a brand new
camera is enough totake some good
photos. But I get agood camera at that
(03:59):
time. Then Irealised that it's
not enough. But Istill don't realise
at that times theimportance of the
people behind thecamera. I was just
thinking the camerais okay. I just
don't know how touse it. So I went to
a course to learnhow to use the
(04:22):
camera. And then Istarted to
understand that thepeople behind the
camera is one of themost important
thing, not thecamera. And
photography is notjust clicking
something whenyou're just walking
or travellingaround, it's
(04:43):
something special.It has some power.
And I've fallen inlove photography and
I started to forcemyself to learn it
in the best Today,and my journey
starts in like thatto add few years
(05:05):
ago, Oh, it wasn'teasy as a woman
photographer fromTurkey as a mother
from Turkey, becauseour priorities are
determined beforeyou should be a
wife, you should beyour mother. And
then you should workin your daily
professional work,the hobbies and that
(05:27):
the kinds of thingsare not important.
And you don't needto make something
like that. Actually,so many people think
we're saying, Whyare you making
something like thatis nonsense, and
something, etc. ButI try, I also tried
to change something.And try to show that
(05:53):
if a woman wants tosexist, she can,
instead of all thedifficulties that
she faced, and I'veworked at, I've
worked a lot, I falldown, but that I get
up again, and I'veworked more I work
(06:14):
more and, yes, rightnow, I'm happy where
I am actually.
Wow, that's such aninspiring story. You
know, I can relateto you because I use
Well, I was born inIndonesia, you know,
where the culture isvery similar. I feel
like the mainpurpose for us to
(06:35):
live is to go toschool, get a good
grade, so we can geta good job, get
married, get a houseand die, right.
Exactly. So youknow, when when you
share that I reallycan relate to them.
Because I knowexactly how the
pressure from notonly the people
(06:57):
around you, but theculture right. So
that is incredible.And you know, I feel
like for you, it'smuch more, a lot
more challenging,right? Because like
you say, You're amother of two,
you're a woman. Andyou know that that
makes things a lotmore challenging.
Now, when when youfirst pick up a
(07:17):
camera, so I lovethis, I love how you
share that, youknow, a good camera
is not the thingthat take good
photo, and hopefullythe people who are
kind of in thebeginning of their
journey starting tounderstand this,
right? Because Ireally wish I know
this a lot earlier.Now. What? What
(07:38):
makes you lovephotography. So you
say that, you know,you're looking for a
new hobby afteryou're skydiving,
which is fantastic.I always wanted to
be a skydiver, bythe way, you know,
so you picked upyour camera, you
started to learnphotography. But
what makes you fallin love with it,
(08:00):
what makes you stayand keep taking
photos and goingthrough telling, you
know some of themost powerful
stories that youhave told to your
photography.
I was living in abig city, in good
conditions in in agood social status.
(08:22):
And my holidays wasin five star hotels
at that time. As alawyer I was earning
good and my husbandalso earning good.
And the peoplearound me was just
focused on gettingsome new clothes,
(08:43):
new houses, newcars, and something
like that. I wasliving in a society
like that. Andearning money means
at that times, isjust getting in
buying a new housenew clothes, new and
brand, bags, shoes,etc. But when I
(09:07):
started to takephotos, I was
visited the ruralparts of Anatolia
that I never beenbefore. And I see
how kind people arethere. How they open
all the life and alltheir houses to you
(09:29):
how they make gueststo their dinners to
their breakfasts.And that's really
make me surprise.Everything was
different from thelife I was living in
(09:51):
the big city andeverything started
to change in mymind. A good
photographer oncesaid that you can
even say that youare seeing and
understanding theworld. Before taking
(10:12):
photos, this is soright I understand
it after I startedto take photography.
And I see that thethings that we want
to improve that wewant more, make us
less actually.Because I saw this
in Anatolia, peoplewere so polite
(10:33):
people were so kindpeople were so
humbled. But we allforget bad things in
big cities, in mycountry, and
touching thepeople's story,
touching their life,listening their
stories made me sohappy. I was also
(10:55):
interested inliterature, and I
was writing somestories, and writing
some papers on someimportant names, web
pages in Turkeybefore and I
realised thatphotography is
writing a story,actually, you're
(11:17):
writing their storywith your one frame,
one single frame.And then we read the
stories or novelswritten in past
times, we canunderstand that, oh,
they are reusingthese things, they
were living in thatway. So they are
(11:40):
also a part ofhistory. But if it
is a novel or astory, you can think
that that writer isimagining that
things. But if thetopic is
photography, peoplebelieve that people
show the reality.And I decided to
(12:01):
tell their storieswith my photos,
because with thetechnology with the
time, so manycultures, so many
traditions aredisappearing. We
need to document allthat things and tell
them stories. Mytravel photography
(12:24):
journey started likethis, because I love
this, I feel myselfthat I'm finding new
treasures. When Ivisited that parts
of Turkey, I neverhad a chance in a
five star hotelbefore that makes me
fall in love inphotography. Wow,
(12:45):
that is such a coolstory. And I
definitely canrelate, you know, I
was someone whoreally care about
the materialisticthings and I would
earn fine money tobe to be able to buy
more stuff. Andyou're you're
absolutely right,you know, the less
we have, the more weappreciate things
(13:07):
and make it's funnybecause the less
people have that, itseems like the
Kinder they are andthe less selfish
they are, whichexactly what you
say, now. I reallyenjoy the way you
tell a story to yourphotography, right?
They are sopowerful, they speak
to you. Now, whenyou go out there and
(13:29):
you start travellingand you look at this
different culture,this different point
of view, and youcapture them and
tell that storythrough your
photography. Whatare some of the
things that you lookthrough? What are
some of the thingthat goes to your
mind, so that youcould tell you know
(13:50):
this story in such aprofound way?
I would totally inAntalya, our culture
is so rich, socolourful, so
contrast and you canimagine the
philosophy betweenso many things. For
example, when I wentto moolah Promacta
(14:10):
first, I see thatpeople woman are
building some sixcars on their heads.
Not just becausethey're, they
believe Islam, thatscarfs was so
different and theywere putting fresh
flowers on thisscarves. And I asked
(14:35):
them what all of youputting that fresh
flower because inother parts of
Anatolia, I neversaw something like
that. And then theyanswer me and they
said that becausethey want to smell
like fresh flowersto their husbands.
And that makes me Ican explain the I
(15:00):
have feelings that Ifeel when I first
hear that this wasso unique, this was
so special. Socayenne. And this is
how Anatolian peoplelook to the world
actually, they don'thave money to get
perfumes orsomething like that.
(15:20):
But they findsomething special
like this. Peopleshould hear that
story. That's why Istarted to take
their photos, forexample, and tell
their story.Wherever you go,
somewhere, when youtry to communicate
(15:43):
them, you canunderstand their
story. If you can'tbecome one with
them, if they can'tshare their story
with you, you canunderstand them. And
if you don'tunderstand them, you
can't tell theirstory in a proper
way. When I gosomewhere to take
(16:06):
photos, I never getmy camera in the
beginning and takephotos, I started to
talk with them. Istarted to
understand withthem, they I share
my story, they sharetheir story and
after understandwhat they are
leaving what theyfeel how to be a
(16:29):
person in thatplace, then I'm
taking photos andmaybe that's why my
photos are a littlebit different from
the other photosbecause I can
understand theirstory. And if he
can't understandsomeone's story can
tilt.
(16:50):
Yeah, that'sincredible. I really
love that I reallylove that approach.
And you're right,most of us kind of
go out there andbring our camera and
take a photo.Because it looks
appealing. It looksgood not to tell the
story. Right? Well,you know it, the
story might comeafterward. But I
(17:10):
love your approach.I love your approach
on understanding thestory and
understanding whatis the best way to
share that throughyour photography.
And I think that'sjust so powerful.
Because, like yousay, you know, if
you don't understandthis story, then how
can you capture itin a way that tell
(17:31):
their story? Wow,that is just
incredible. That'sincredible, I'm
sorry, that it justreally take, you
know, my breathaway. And I really
enjoy that. And, youknow, that's I mean,
I really can seethat, you know, I
really can see thatthrough your
photography. Theyreally speak they
really have anemotion and I could
(17:51):
just imagine that,you know, you
understanding whatthey're thinking
through what whatthe emotion that
they have beforethey that you
capture thesephotos, right? I
mean, coming from alandscape
photographer, or youknow, Astro
photographer, andnature photographer,
I don't get that asmuch right. But that
is such a greatlesson to learn.
Thank you forsharing that.
(18:13):
Thank you for givingthis opportunity to
me actually. I lovelandscape photos, I
still photo graphyalso macro and wide
love, but they arenot my cup of tea
actually. Because Ilove listening to
people's story Ilove touching their
(18:34):
life, and the way oftouching their life
is taking photo.Because I'm not just
touching the buttonof my camera, I'm
talking with them,I'm sharing time to
them and they aresharing their times.
(18:55):
With me. That's whyI love photography.
Wow. It's you know,it's I really enjoy
listening to youtalking because you
have I can hear thepassion, the love
for the people andthe love for
photography fromyour from your
story. So that isjust incredible.
Now, one thing thatI'm wondering right
(19:18):
when you when youcome across this. So
for example, youknow, coming from a
nature photographer,or an astro
photographer, Iwould think about,
you know, what arethe different places
and think about, youknow, how it could
have looked like,where the landscape
is where the lightis. Now, one thing
(19:39):
that I'm interestedin, right is how do
you pick yourdestination? Do you
have a certaincriteria, a certain
thing that interestsyou, or do you just
kind of travel andsee what what story
you can tell fromthere.
It's changing timeto time actually
(20:00):
because, forexample, I was know,
that woman wearingsome interesting
scarves on mulatto,Magda, and I go
there. There aresome photography
places in all aroundthe world, you know,
also in Turkey, andwe know that places,
but the challengingthing is going that
(20:24):
places and takingsome different
photos from thephotos that taken
before, that is themost challenging
one, because it'snot easy if people
go there and takesome good photos
before. But I lovechallenges during
all my life. Andalso sometimes I'm
(20:46):
trying to find someplaces, which will
sweet my topic. Forexample, I decided
to go a city inTurkey, for to take
photos. Before goingthere, I'm making
some readings, I'mtrying to understand
(21:09):
what is popular inthat city or in that
town? What are theirtraditions, and then
when I go, that'sthe I'm trying to
find that things,every part of
Anatolia, I have somany different
things tophotograph. So
probably I willcontinue taking
(21:30):
photos in mycountry. And it's
easy to understandtheir story to be
one with them. Andthat makes me more
comfortable whiletaking photos.
Because if you wantto have tourists in
a country, it's noteasy to understand
(21:52):
the whole story,you're just taking
photos, just like atourist and you can
jump into the deepof distorted debuff
to cities deep ofthe people. Some I
love taking thatkinds of photos. And
usually I'm tryingto find the local
people who will helpme in that areas to
(22:14):
show and to alsoexplain their
culture deeply. I'mchoosing the
destinations or theplace like that.
That is incredible.Yeah, I love that.
So when you youknow, go to this
places like and youknow, to your
photography, youhave taken a lot of
photos that have aprofound meaning to
(22:36):
it right? There issuch, there is a lot
of message behindyour photography, at
least from what Ihave seen. Now, do
you have any somesort of mission or
any purpose thatyou're trying to
achieve from thismessages? Or is it
more about just thestorytelling and
(22:57):
just so happen this,you know, the impact
that you give fromthe photo, you know,
kind of just turnedout that way.
Actually, beforewinning natural
thermal photography,photography contest,
I was just takingsingle photos and
(23:18):
trying to tell thestories of the
cities or the peopleI visited during my
travels. But after2017 I decided to
also make photoprojects, make
documentary photoproject because
(23:40):
sometimes just asingle photo is not
enough to tell a bigproblem to take
attention to aimportant social
issue. So I startedthinking, What can I
do? Because Ibelieve the power of
(24:01):
photography, Ibelieve that I
believe howphotography can
reach the millionsif the photographer
use it in a properway. We see we saw
these examples inart history. So my
first long termproject was with
(24:23):
cancer patientsbecause I want to
take attention tothe importance of
early diagnosis. I Ibelieve that if
you're if someone isafraid of something,
they can be careful.But if you make
advertisements andsaying that
(24:46):
everything will begreat, you will be
healed. Everythingwill be great.
People stop afraidof that illnesses
like cancer. So Iwant So, tell the
story of Zeynep. Shewas one of my main
(25:08):
model in my project.She was healing too.
And her story was soheartbreaking and so
emotional. But thenunfortunately and
unexpected, Lee, welost her. Cancer
(25:31):
made a metastasis,and we lost her. And
I understand howthings can change
quickly. And fromher story, I wanted
to broke people'shurt, I want to make
them sad, because Ibelieve that if they
(25:51):
become sad, they canget Doctor controls.
Early diagnosis, ifthey have some
problems, thedoctors can get that
in early stages.I've worked with
cancer patients. Andthen COVID comes our
(26:13):
lives two years ago,you know, and
everything was likea science we film.
We were watchingfrom our computers,
from ourtelevisions, what's
happening in Chinawhile everything was
so far, and it waslike, We will not
(26:35):
affect with thesethings. And then it
becomes the wholeworld's reality. And
after World War Two,nothing affected
whole world likethat. And I can stop
myself to take thephotos of that
(26:58):
times, because as aphotographer, I
can't change thehistory, but I can
show it. That was mymotto. So I tried to
get permission to goto the intensive
care unit to go tothe hospitals to go
to the streets totake the photos. But
especially in thebeginning of the
(27:20):
pandemic, there wereno vaccine, even
they were nottrained once. Proper
treatments for COVIDNo one let me
permission. But thenI use the power of
social media I made.I wrote some tweets.
(27:41):
And first of allAnkara municipal to
hear my voice. Wewere all in lockdown
in Ankara, but theyget permission for
me. And I photographthe disinfection
periods of allpublic
transformation areasor the other places.
And then I getpermission from Gaza
(28:03):
University,hospital, I risked
my life, I risked mychildren's life. But
I go to the hospitaland take photos for
one month, not justone day, just for
today, I went thathospital every
(28:23):
single day formonths, just to make
something differentand stroke because
after 100 year, whenwe all died, people
will remember thesetimes from our
photos. This is thepower of
photography, withphotography, your
(28:44):
writing history, andcan you imagine you
will be the part ofhistory with your
photos. This issomething being
immortal in myopinion, I may be
die, but people willremember my name
with that photos.And this is so
important for me. Iget all that risks,
(29:07):
and I photograph allthe parents all
parts of I choosephotos in all parts
of the hospital. Andthat project Mr.
That's in almost allphoto contests. So
I'm so happy withthat project and
(29:28):
after NatGeo mypoint of view to
photography ischanged also and I
also tried to takeattention to these
social importanceissues and take
photos of them. I'veworked with seasonal
workers childrenbecause you know
(29:50):
with COVID Ourchildren started
education from faraway from laptops
from computer butthe The economical
situation is notsame in every part
of Turkey and somany children don't
have internetconnection, don't
have laptops, andthey couldn't get
(30:12):
the education theyshould get from the
government fromtheir country. So I
made a photo projectto take attention to
that. unequalityactually, something
like that.
Wow, that isincredible. What a
story. So I'm justtrying to, you know,
(30:36):
put my thoughtstogether here. You
know, that's just soincredible what you
did, you know, I sawyour, your project,
your photo seriesaround COVID. And
it's absolutelyincredible right?
Now, what, whatgoing through your
head, what makes youwant to risk your
life, I know that,you know, you, you,
(30:57):
you you want, youkind of mentioned
about leaving alegacy, being able
to be part of thehistory. But in
order to do that,you're not only
risking yours,yourself, but also,
you know, like yousay, risking your
daughter. So
how, actually, bothof them.
And you're doing itfor a month, right?
(31:17):
So what was thatmonth look like?
Like, just take usthrough, you know,
the day in the lifeof Dilek. During
that one month, whenyou were going back
and forth to thehospital to document
this incrediblepandemic?
Actually, it wasn'teasy, but I couldn't
(31:38):
stop myself. And youcan't imagine how
many? No, I heardduring the wall
permission process.Everyone's saying,
No, you should stayat your home, you're
a woman, you shouldtake care of your
children and stay athome. And normally,
it's hard for me towant some thing from
(32:01):
someone and to asksome help from the
others. But Icouldn't stop myself
because I was seeingthat how COVID
affecting the wholeworld. And I
couldn't stopmyself, I couldn't
think anything. AndI was good. I was
willing to close onme going to the
(32:24):
hospital, takingphotos during the
whole time. Andduring at 5pm. For
Turkish time, I wasleaving the hospital
coming home, takingthe cloths on me in
front of my house,putting them in a
(32:45):
bag. And then withthe clean cloths in
me, I was going homebut also I was
putting some scarfon my hairs because
I don't want toaffected my children
if my hair gets somewires or not. I was
(33:07):
washing my clotheswith hot water in
ocean machine. Alsomaking a shower with
hot water. And Iwasn't coming
together with mychildren, not just
one month, after onemonth. The doctor
(33:28):
suggested me to liveseparately with my
children for onemonth too. And you
can't imagine howhard it is how hard
it is. I love beingclose to the people.
I love being closeto my children. I
(33:49):
love hugging them. Ilove touching them.
But I couldn't makethis and I was just
sitting in front ofmy computer making
some Instagram talksor something like
that. And I was socurious. I realised
that I'm checking myfavour almost all
the time. And I wasthinking that I get
(34:11):
infected and I willgonna die. And I was
just praying for notinfecting my
children. It waseasy while I was in
hospital, but itwasn't easy while I
was waiting at homeand thinking if I
infected or not. AndI get 20 kilos
(34:34):
during that period.I was just eating I
was just eating. Andduring my
pregnancies. Ididn't get that
weight actually. Butthe full periods
really affected meso much. Oh, also
emotionally, too.But thanks God. I
(34:58):
didn't affect it.I'm not in that
period during the WuCOVID times I never
effected. It'ssurprising. I'm
lucky, I guess.Maybe that's why I
go that gut, maybeGod chose me to make
that project becausebeing one month in
hospital and beingso close to the
(35:19):
patients was noteasy, actually.
Yeah, wow. That's,that's incredible.
You know, I saw thedocumentary on I
can't remember whatwhat TV station it
was. But I saw adocumentary on how
hotel what are thedifferent routine
(35:40):
that the hotel haveto go through when
they accept peoplefor quarantine, and
it was in it wascrazy. So that's why
I was veryinterested to hear
what was that, youknow, journey like
for you. And, youknow, doing that for
a month and a littlebit more. That's,
that's just crazy,you know, the amount
(36:00):
of dedication thatyou put in there.
It's, it'sunprecedented. And I
admire that verymuch. Now. I'm still
curious, right. Soyou document all
this incrediblephotos, and events
that had happenedduring probably
(36:21):
going to be one ofthe global event one
of the, you know, anevent that affected
globally, like yousay, you know, ever
since the World WarTwo. Now, when you
when you kind of,you know, put all
the when you kind ofput all the
(36:42):
intention togetherand you tell
yourself, I want todocument this thing,
I want to be able togo into these places
where the people areinfected, where the
people are gettingaffected in the
most, how do you goabout getting that
permit? Because likeyou say, you have
(37:02):
come across a lot ofnose. And I could
imagine, right, whatpeople thinking when
they hear this waslike, Are you crazy?
Like no, is theyhome? So what? How
did you end upgetting that permit
and being able toactually document
this event?
(37:22):
First of all, I wasjust sitting at home
in the beginning offirst COVID. Case
detected in 11,march in Turkey. And
I was in hospital inMay. During that two
months, I was tryingto get permission.
But first of all, Ididn't think going
(37:43):
on the hospitals andtaking some photos,
I was thinking thatthis period will end
in a few weeks atleast. But I was
just sitting at myhome trying to see
something different.What can I show that
home? I madesomething I made
(38:05):
something different,actually. But it
wasn't enough forme. There was a war
outside. And I canbe part of that
historic historicaltimes. So I get
calls with so manypeople. But the only
(38:28):
thing I heard wasNo. First of all,
they were sayingthat you are not a
journalist. And eventhe journalists are
coming here andtaking one or two
days, but you wantto stay and take
photos so many timesso it's impossible.
And it and when Italked with someone
(38:52):
they were saying,yes, taking that
photos can be a goodidea. But our
hospital has somepublic relation.
Ship departments.And there's a guy he
is taking somephotos he can take
to Yes, anyone cantake photos but
taking some goodphotos is something
(39:12):
different. So itwasn't easy. It
wasn't easy. Butfinally, while I was
making an Instagramtalk at that times
at Doctor heard myvoice and he said
(39:32):
that Mr. Like youcan come and take
photos if you wantin my hospital. I'm
taking photo I'mtrying to take some
photos, but I'm inthe beginning of my
photography journey.And I can I open the
doors to you and youcan teach me how to
take photos. I saidokay, but it was
(39:57):
incredible.Everything was done.
becoming so easy. Iwasn't used to that
everyone should sendme no. And I want
the hospital. Wetalked with the
director of thehospital, he was so
kind to, and he saidthat you can start
(40:18):
now. And I said, No,I didn't come with
proper clothes totake some photos.
I'm viewing sweetsright now. So, okay,
I will come togetherand start everything
started in that way.I, after all that
periods I find a wayto take photos. And
(40:39):
also I wrote a paperto governments.
Because I want totake some photos in
government hospitaland Institute
hospitals to andpeople liked me.
They said that theywill never answer
you. system because,you know, so many
(40:59):
people writingpapers to them, but
they never answered.After one month,
they answered me. Inthat paper, I
explained, who am Iwhat is my aim, what
I want to do withthat photos. And
they led me to takesome photos still in
city hospital. Andafter working in
(41:22):
Gaza University,hospital, I went to
city hospital totake some photos,
but it was just fortwo days. And it
wasn't enough totake some really
strong photos.Because when you're
a foreigner in aplace, they all get
nervous, and youcan't catch the
(41:43):
natural bodylanguage. At the
time, being in onemonth in Ghazi
University Hospitalwas so important
because they use tome, they get used to
me, they stop seeingme, I become one
with them. And theyjust forget me, they
were just thinkingthere's a crazy
(42:04):
woman taking all thetime. So they stop
thinking at me. Theystop worrying about
me also, because inthe beginning, when
I first go tohospital, they were
a little bit furiousand worrying about
me because I couldinfected myself too.
(42:25):
And I can go intohospital as a
patient. But theyunderstand and they
see how I'm obeyingthe rules and don't
making somethingstupid at the
hospital. So yeah, Ibecome invisible.
Oh, and get all thatphotos.
(42:47):
That is such anincredible story.
And you know, what Ilove about it is
that you youpersist, right? You
don't give up, youkeep going, you keep
knocking on the doorand eventually door
open. But once thedoor open, you know
you you do it theright way you follow
the rules and makingsure that you're not
adding the problem,you know, adding to
(43:10):
the problem. And Iadmire that very
much. Because, youknow, it's hard to
be out there anddocumenting these
things, you know,all these incredible
events, right? Butdoing it in a way
that doesn't createmore harm to the
rest of the people.I think that is just
incredible. Somassive
(43:31):
congratulations foryou, you know, you
highly deserve toget the award for
that. I mean, it'sjust such an
incredible story. Sowe you know, moving
on from that wetalked about earlier
before the podcastand us, you
mentioned ityourself that that
(43:51):
basically, you know,once you won that
award with the NatGeo, you started to
look thingsdifferently starting
to work more on alonger term project
and looking throughthe different ways
that you can getthat you can share
the voice of issuesthat is important.
(44:13):
Now, share with us,you know, with the
audience, what aresome of the project
that you are workingon right now? And
what is your missionbehind that?
Right now I'mworking on a project
to take attention toclimate change
(44:36):
because climatechange is one of the
biggest problemsthat the humanity
and the world facedright now. And there
are some harmfuleffects of coal
mines to theenvironment and it's
(44:56):
affected the Climatechange also And we
should find somealternative energy
sources. This can bechanged from the
geographical stationof your country or
your location. Butthere are so many
alternative stationbut especially after
(45:18):
the war betweenUkraine and Russia,
the cool monthsbecome more
important, aka,some, I want to take
attention to thatpoint, and make a
long term project toshow all that things
(45:39):
deeply. And I'mworking with them
right now. Oh, Iwent to some coal
mines for fivetimes. And I will
continue going thereand taking photos.
It's not an easyproject for me.
Also, it wasn't easyto get permissions
(46:00):
again. Probably Ialways love
somethingchallenging. Because
when you makesomething like that,
you also inspire theyoung ladies in your
country. This isimportant. For me,
being an artist isnot just taking some
(46:21):
good photos in myopinion, being an
artist is alsoinspiring the young
generations withyour stand with your
thoughts with yourspeaks with your
stand with your alsobehaviours. So I'm
trying to do my bestas an artist. I'm
trying to be a rolemodel to them. So
(46:44):
yes, it's not easy.It's not easy for me
to do take photos incool minds, because
I don't like I havesome claustrophobic
problems. And I canstand in close areas
in dark, but I'mgoing in crude
(47:04):
minds. Can youimagine how it was
challenging for mealso. But yes, some
good photos arecoming. I was so
excited, especiallyafter some shoots
and I sent them tosome photo contest
and seeing that theyare choosing as
editor pique andshortlisted in some
(47:26):
context is alsomaking me happy.
Because I didn'tfinish the project.
Right now. I justsend some of them as
single photos. Butwhat I get was so
helpful. So I'm sohopeful with my new
(47:48):
long term projecttoo.
Wow, that isincredible. Yeah,
look, I used to bean engineer and I
used to work inaluminium refinery.
So I know howdifficult it must
have been for you toget, you know,
permission to get inthere. Especially to
take photos. I know,mining companies
doesn't like peopledoing that, right.
(48:11):
There are threekinds of mining
companies. One isunder the control of
government, one'sprivate. And also
there are illegalcoal mines, they
don't have anypermission. If
someone see and findthat cool ones, they
destroyed them. Ifind some two
(48:35):
illegal coal mines.And I will go there
and take some photossoon. It will also
be so dangerous forme because being in
an illegal coal minemeans also risking
my life again. Andjust one month ago,
an explosion happensin one of the
(48:56):
biggest coal minesthat I was, I was
planning to shootto. So it's not
easy. Yes, I'mrisking my life
again. But somethinggood cannot happen.
If you don't takerisks. In my
opinion, comfortzones are our most
(49:20):
barrier, in myopinion, when you
take out of yourcomfort zone.
Something good hashappened. In my
opinion.
That is so great. Itotally agree with
that. And yeah, likejust you know, rules
and regulation tokeep the mind safe.
The is probablywhat's making them
(49:42):
illegal. So going toa coal mine that's
illegal, going to bea lot more
dangerous. So pleasedo take care of
yourself when you goout there. I know
how dangerous itcould be, you know,
being an engineerworking on there.
And yeah, it's justso many hazards and
so many things.would go wrong in no
time. So make surethat you take care
(50:03):
of yourself. Butclimate change is
something that Ifeel, you know, I
feel powerful. Ifeel Yeah,
powerfully aboutbecause I feel like
there's there is notenough urgency
around that. Andit's, you know, I
used to live inCanada, I see how
(50:24):
quickly ice cavesand glaciers
disappearing withinthe short two years,
two and a half yearsthat I was there. So
just imagine what'sgoing to happen in
1015 20 years,right? We're not
even talking aboutdecades here, we're
talking about years.So I'm so happy that
you're doing this,you know, in, in a
(50:45):
sense that to bringmore voice out there
to bring moreawareness out there,
but make sure thatyou are safe,
because we love you.And we want you. We
want you to bearound. So yeah,
thank you. I'mtrying my best. But,
yes. Let's thinkpositive things and
(51:09):
fingers crossed.
Yeah, fantastic. Allright. Well, you
know, it's been apleasure, we're
coming to the onehour mark is such a
pleasure to hear alot of story from
you. And, you know,when you finish the
project, perhaps youcould come back to
the podcast andshare a little bit
about that projectabout, you know, the
impact that it hasbeen give it has
given? I think thatwould be amazing to
(51:31):
hear. But onequestion that I
always ask myguests, you know,
and you say toyourself, I, as a as
an artist, we havethe responsibility
to share our visionto share our voice
with the youngergeneration or with
the rest of theworld. So if there
is one advice thatyou could give,
(51:54):
either to young,younger yourself or
maybe to yourdaughter, or maybe
to anyone in theworld, right, just
the one advice, whatwould that one
advice be,
um, that choosingone advice is not
easy, actually. Butif I should choose
just one, I canadvise them to work
(52:16):
so much, and notrace with the
others, but racewith yourself. You
should be a betterperson. Before the
person yesterday,just raise with
yourself, not theothers. And don't
keep, don't leaveworking work so
(52:41):
much. Because Ibelieve that if
someone works somuch, he can
succeed, she cansucceed. Just
wow, that is such agreat advice,
especially, youknow, in photography
area, or in theartists area, you
know, the artists,community, you know,
(53:01):
there is a lot ofcompetition, there
is a lot of people alot of impostor
syndrome, you know,people are feeling
that their heart isnot good enough
compared to otherpeople. So, I
believe that this issuch a great advice.
And it's such animportant one too.
So thank you verymuch for sharing
your wisdom, yourstory, as well as
(53:23):
your insights right?To all of this
unique experiences.Now, if this, if the
audience want tofind more about your
photography aboutthe project that
you're working on,or simply just want
to get to know youbetter, what is the
best way to findyou?
(53:46):
My web page is oneof the best way to
find me. Also, Ihave an Instagram
page and twitteraccount. They can
find everything inthat three platform
error informationabout me.
Fantastic. Allright, well, you
know, we'll put thatunder description.
(54:07):
So if you want tofind out and get in
touch with Dilek,then feel free to do
so. But thank youvery much for being
here. Dilek it'sbeen such a
pleasure. It's beena great
conversation. I lovehearing your story.
I love hearing yourwisdom and I am sure
that the audienceout there will get
(54:27):
so much value fromthis. So thank you
very much for yourtime and I very much
appreciate havingyou here.
Thank you so much,Stanley for inviting
me to this podcastand giving this
opportunity to methank you so much.
No, no worries atall. And you know,
(54:48):
like I love having afemale in my podcast
because there are alot of male
photographers outthere and it's
proven to be moredifficult finding
female coming to thepodcast and like you
say, right. Youknow, so I believe
that's important toyou know, to, to
(55:10):
speak their, theirvoice as as a female
or a male, right,whichever you are,
but we know that themale are a lot more
dominant in this inthis in this niche.
So thank you verymuch for being here
and for having thatcourage not only to
voice your messages,but also to actually
(55:33):
go out there andknocking on doors
and doing the thingsthat most people
don't want to do toshare the social
issue. I find a lotof inspiration for
that and I admireyou for that. So
yeah, fantastic.
Thank you. Thank youso much.
All right, well, wecan't do this thank
you very much forLucy listening in
(55:54):
and man, that was agreat podcast it's
just so much wisdomso much great
stories behind that.So make sure you
check Deluxe photothere is so many
great gems and whenyou go to her photo,
you can feel theemotion that she
(56:15):
tries to tell tothose photographs.
So let us know inthe comment or in
the in the reviewhow you feel about
this podcast. If youenjoy this
particular episodeor any other
episode, don'tforget to subscribe.
And let me know ifthere is other
(56:37):
photographer otherartists that you'd
like me to have aninterview in this
podcast. Well, withthat being said, we
can hunters. Thankyou very much for
listening,listening. today.
I'll see you guysnext week. Keep
creating and keepshooting. Until next
time
I risked my life Irisked my children's
(00:03):
life I go to thehospital and take
photos, or one monthafter 100 year, when
we all died, peoplewill remember these
times from ourphotos. This is the
power ofphotography, which
photography yourwriting history, can
you imagine you willbe the part of
(00:23):
history with yourphotos. This is
something beingimmortal in my
opinion.
Hey, weekend isWelcome back to The
Art of Photographypodcast, where we
share photographersjourney and show how
(00:43):
photography hasgiven us hope,
purpose andhappiness. And today
we have someonewho's very special.
I've come across herwork, a documentary
artist who ispassionate about
sharing the worldstory and going to
her photos, it'staken my breath
(01:04):
away. I have heard afew times, you know
of her sharing someof her story, as
well as speakingsome of the issue in
this world. And Ijust want to be able
to share her voiceto more of you out
there. So today,let's welcome Dilek
Hey, Dilek how areyou? I believe you
are from Turkey atthe moment, right?
(01:25):
Yes. Thank you somuch. I'm from
Turkey, and livingin Ankara, the
capital city ofTurkey. And thank
you for your kind inlike,
oh, yeah, 100% Youknow, I really enjoy
listening to yourstory, I really
enjoy the photosthat you have taken,
right, they are sofull of emotion. And
(01:47):
I believe you havesome approach
project as well,which you know,
we're going to talkabout a little bit
later to, to evokeemotion and to share
and help share amessage to your
photography. And Ithink that is
fantastic. Now,before we go through
all of that, couldyou just share with
us who is Dilek? Andhow did you start
(02:10):
photography in thefirst place?
I'm Dilek, mother oftwo. And actually,
my profession islaw. I'm a lawyer in
Turkey. And I alwaysbelieve that people
should have somehobbies in their
daily life to take abreath during the
hectic routine ofdaily life. And I
(02:31):
was a skydiverbefore starting to
take photos. And Iwas always saying
that Skydiving is mypassion. And it's my
love. I can't forgetit, I can live it
and I can findanother love. But
with some healthissues, I should
(02:52):
have the site give adecision and stop
making skydiving andI try to find
something to focusand to make me feel
good. And just takea camera at that
time because it wasso popular in Turkey
12 years ago, peoplewere getting cameras
(03:13):
and starting to takephotos up to that
time I never intophotography,
actually. Even whenwe go to somewhere I
don't like I neverlike taking selfies
or taking photos ofthe places I visit.
But I decided to geta camera and when
(03:36):
you let me knowunless you thought
that you knoweverything. And in
the beginning of myphotographic
journey, it wassame. I was thinking
that just taking abuying a brand new
camera is enough totake some good
photos. But I get agood camera at that
(03:59):
time. Then Irealised that it's
not enough. But Istill don't realise
at that times theimportance of the
people behind thecamera. I was just
thinking the camerais okay. I just
don't know how touse it. So I went to
a course to learnhow to use the
(04:22):
camera. And then Istarted to
understand that thepeople behind the
camera is one of themost important
thing, not thecamera. And
photography is notjust clicking
something whenyou're just walking
or travellingaround, it's
(04:43):
something special.It has some power.
And I've fallen inlove photography and
I started to forcemyself to learn it
in the best Today,and my journey
starts in like thatto add few years
(05:05):
ago, Oh, it wasn'teasy as a woman
photographer fromTurkey as a mother
from Turkey, becauseour priorities are
determined beforeyou should be a
wife, you should beyour mother. And
then you should workin your daily
professional work,the hobbies and that
(05:27):
the kinds of thingsare not important.
And you don't needto make something
like that. Actually,so many people think
we're saying, Whyare you making
something like thatis nonsense, and
something, etc. ButI try, I also tried
to change something.And try to show that
(05:53):
if a woman wants tosexist, she can,
instead of all thedifficulties that
she faced, and I'veworked at, I've
worked a lot, I falldown, but that I get
up again, and I'veworked more I work
(06:14):
more and, yes, rightnow, I'm happy where
I am actually.
Wow, that's such aninspiring story. You
know, I can relateto you because I use
Well, I was born inIndonesia, you know,
where the culture isvery similar. I feel
like the mainpurpose for us to
(06:35):
live is to go toschool, get a good
grade, so we can geta good job, get
married, get a houseand die, right.
Exactly. So youknow, when when you
share that I reallycan relate to them.
Because I knowexactly how the
pressure from notonly the people
(06:57):
around you, but theculture right. So
that is incredible.And you know, I feel
like for you, it'smuch more, a lot
more challenging,right? Because like
you say, You're amother of two,
you're a woman. Andyou know that that
makes things a lotmore challenging.
Now, when when youfirst pick up a
(07:17):
camera, so I lovethis, I love how you
share that, youknow, a good camera
is not the thingthat take good
photo, and hopefullythe people who are
kind of in thebeginning of their
journey starting tounderstand this,
right? Because Ireally wish I know
this a lot earlier.Now. What? What
(07:38):
makes you lovephotography. So you
say that, you know,you're looking for a
new hobby afteryou're skydiving,
which is fantastic.I always wanted to
be a skydiver, bythe way, you know,
so you picked upyour camera, you
started to learnphotography. But
what makes you fallin love with it,
(08:00):
what makes you stayand keep taking
photos and goingthrough telling, you
know some of themost powerful
stories that youhave told to your
photography.
I was living in abig city, in good
conditions in in agood social status.
(08:22):
And my holidays wasin five star hotels
at that time. As alawyer I was earning
good and my husbandalso earning good.
And the peoplearound me was just
focused on gettingsome new clothes,
(08:43):
new houses, newcars, and something
like that. I wasliving in a society
like that. Andearning money means
at that times, isjust getting in
buying a new housenew clothes, new and
brand, bags, shoes,etc. But when I
(09:07):
started to takephotos, I was
visited the ruralparts of Anatolia
that I never beenbefore. And I see
how kind people arethere. How they open
all the life and alltheir houses to you
(09:29):
how they make gueststo their dinners to
their breakfasts.And that's really
make me surprise.Everything was
different from thelife I was living in
(09:51):
the big city andeverything started
to change in mymind. A good
photographer oncesaid that you can
even say that youare seeing and
understanding theworld. Before taking
(10:12):
photos, this is soright I understand
it after I startedto take photography.
And I see that thethings that we want
to improve that wewant more, make us
less actually.Because I saw this
in Anatolia, peoplewere so polite
(10:33):
people were so kindpeople were so
humbled. But we allforget bad things in
big cities, in mycountry, and
touching thepeople's story,
touching their life,listening their
stories made me sohappy. I was also
(10:55):
interested inliterature, and I
was writing somestories, and writing
some papers on someimportant names, web
pages in Turkeybefore and I
realised thatphotography is
writing a story,actually, you're
(11:17):
writing their storywith your one frame,
one single frame.And then we read the
stories or novelswritten in past
times, we canunderstand that, oh,
they are reusingthese things, they
were living in thatway. So they are
(11:40):
also a part ofhistory. But if it
is a novel or astory, you can think
that that writer isimagining that
things. But if thetopic is
photography, peoplebelieve that people
show the reality.And I decided to
(12:01):
tell their storieswith my photos,
because with thetechnology with the
time, so manycultures, so many
traditions aredisappearing. We
need to document allthat things and tell
them stories. Mytravel photography
(12:24):
journey started likethis, because I love
this, I feel myselfthat I'm finding new
treasures. When Ivisited that parts
of Turkey, I neverhad a chance in a
five star hotelbefore that makes me
fall in love inphotography. Wow,
(12:45):
that is such a coolstory. And I
definitely canrelate, you know, I
was someone whoreally care about
the materialisticthings and I would
earn fine money tobe to be able to buy
more stuff. Andyou're you're
absolutely right,you know, the less
we have, the more weappreciate things
(13:07):
and make it's funnybecause the less
people have that, itseems like the
Kinder they are andthe less selfish
they are, whichexactly what you
say, now. I reallyenjoy the way you
tell a story to yourphotography, right?
They are sopowerful, they speak
to you. Now, whenyou go out there and
(13:29):
you start travellingand you look at this
different culture,this different point
of view, and youcapture them and
tell that storythrough your
photography. Whatare some of the
things that you lookthrough? What are
some of the thingthat goes to your
mind, so that youcould tell you know
(13:50):
this story in such aprofound way?
I would totally inAntalya, our culture
is so rich, socolourful, so
contrast and you canimagine the
philosophy betweenso many things. For
example, when I wentto moolah Promacta
(14:10):
first, I see thatpeople woman are
building some sixcars on their heads.
Not just becausethey're, they
believe Islam, thatscarfs was so
different and theywere putting fresh
flowers on thisscarves. And I asked
(14:35):
them what all of youputting that fresh
flower because inother parts of
Anatolia, I neversaw something like
that. And then theyanswer me and they
said that becausethey want to smell
like fresh flowersto their husbands.
And that makes me Ican explain the I
(15:00):
have feelings that Ifeel when I first
hear that this wasso unique, this was
so special. Socayenne. And this is
how Anatolian peoplelook to the world
actually, they don'thave money to get
perfumes orsomething like that.
(15:20):
But they findsomething special
like this. Peopleshould hear that
story. That's why Istarted to take
their photos, forexample, and tell
their story.Wherever you go,
somewhere, when youtry to communicate
(15:43):
them, you canunderstand their
story. If you can'tbecome one with
them, if they can'tshare their story
with you, you canunderstand them. And
if you don'tunderstand them, you
can't tell theirstory in a proper
way. When I gosomewhere to take
(16:06):
photos, I never getmy camera in the
beginning and takephotos, I started to
talk with them. Istarted to
understand withthem, they I share
my story, they sharetheir story and
after understandwhat they are
leaving what theyfeel how to be a
(16:29):
person in thatplace, then I'm
taking photos andmaybe that's why my
photos are a littlebit different from
the other photosbecause I can
understand theirstory. And if he
can't understandsomeone's story can
tilt.
(16:50):
Yeah, that'sincredible. I really
love that I reallylove that approach.
And you're right,most of us kind of
go out there andbring our camera and
take a photo.Because it looks
appealing. It looksgood not to tell the
story. Right? Well,you know it, the
story might comeafterward. But I
(17:10):
love your approach.I love your approach
on understanding thestory and
understanding whatis the best way to
share that throughyour photography.
And I think that'sjust so powerful.
Because, like yousay, you know, if
you don't understandthis story, then how
can you capture itin a way that tell
(17:31):
their story? Wow,that is just
incredible. That'sincredible, I'm
sorry, that it justreally take, you
know, my breathaway. And I really
enjoy that. And, youknow, that's I mean,
I really can seethat, you know, I
really can see thatthrough your
photography. Theyreally speak they
really have anemotion and I could
(17:51):
just imagine that,you know, you
understanding whatthey're thinking
through what whatthe emotion that
they have beforethey that you
capture thesephotos, right? I
mean, coming from alandscape
photographer, or youknow, Astro
photographer, andnature photographer,
I don't get that asmuch right. But that
is such a greatlesson to learn.
Thank you forsharing that.
(18:13):
Thank you for givingthis opportunity to
me actually. I lovelandscape photos, I
still photo graphyalso macro and wide
love, but they arenot my cup of tea
actually. Because Ilove listening to
people's story Ilove touching their
(18:34):
life, and the way oftouching their life
is taking photo.Because I'm not just
touching the buttonof my camera, I'm
talking with them,I'm sharing time to
them and they aresharing their times.
(18:55):
With me. That's whyI love photography.
Wow. It's you know,it's I really enjoy
listening to youtalking because you
have I can hear thepassion, the love
for the people andthe love for
photography fromyour from your
story. So that isjust incredible.
Now, one thing thatI'm wondering right
(19:18):
when you when youcome across this. So
for example, youknow, coming from a
nature photographer,or an astro
photographer, Iwould think about,
you know, what arethe different places
and think about, youknow, how it could
have looked like,where the landscape
is where the lightis. Now, one thing
(19:39):
that I'm interestedin, right is how do
you pick yourdestination? Do you
have a certaincriteria, a certain
thing that interestsyou, or do you just
kind of travel andsee what what story
you can tell fromthere.
It's changing timeto time actually
(20:00):
because, forexample, I was know,
that woman wearingsome interesting
scarves on mulatto,Magda, and I go
there. There aresome photography
places in all aroundthe world, you know,
also in Turkey, andwe know that places,
but the challengingthing is going that
(20:24):
places and takingsome different
photos from thephotos that taken
before, that is themost challenging
one, because it'snot easy if people
go there and takesome good photos
before. But I lovechallenges during
all my life. Andalso sometimes I'm
(20:46):
trying to find someplaces, which will
sweet my topic. Forexample, I decided
to go a city inTurkey, for to take
photos. Before goingthere, I'm making
some readings, I'mtrying to understand
(21:09):
what is popular inthat city or in that
town? What are theirtraditions, and then
when I go, that'sthe I'm trying to
find that things,every part of
Anatolia, I have somany different
things tophotograph. So
probably I willcontinue taking
(21:30):
photos in mycountry. And it's
easy to understandtheir story to be
one with them. Andthat makes me more
comfortable whiletaking photos.
Because if you wantto have tourists in
a country, it's noteasy to understand
(21:52):
the whole story,you're just taking
photos, just like atourist and you can
jump into the deepof distorted debuff
to cities deep ofthe people. Some I
love taking thatkinds of photos. And
usually I'm tryingto find the local
people who will helpme in that areas to
(22:14):
show and to alsoexplain their
culture deeply. I'mchoosing the
destinations or theplace like that.
That is incredible.Yeah, I love that.
So when you youknow, go to this
places like and youknow, to your
photography, youhave taken a lot of
photos that have aprofound meaning to
(22:36):
it right? There issuch, there is a lot
of message behindyour photography, at
least from what Ihave seen. Now, do
you have any somesort of mission or
any purpose thatyou're trying to
achieve from thismessages? Or is it
more about just thestorytelling and
(22:57):
just so happen this,you know, the impact
that you give fromthe photo, you know,
kind of just turnedout that way.
Actually, beforewinning natural
thermal photography,photography contest,
I was just takingsingle photos and
(23:18):
trying to tell thestories of the
cities or the peopleI visited during my
travels. But after2017 I decided to
also make photoprojects, make
documentary photoproject because
(23:40):
sometimes just asingle photo is not
enough to tell a bigproblem to take
attention to aimportant social
issue. So I startedthinking, What can I
do? Because Ibelieve the power of
(24:01):
photography, Ibelieve that I
believe howphotography can
reach the millionsif the photographer
use it in a properway. We see we saw
these examples inart history. So my
first long termproject was with
(24:23):
cancer patientsbecause I want to
take attention tothe importance of
early diagnosis. I Ibelieve that if
you're if someone isafraid of something,
they can be careful.But if you make
advertisements andsaying that
(24:46):
everything will begreat, you will be
healed. Everythingwill be great.
People stop afraidof that illnesses
like cancer. So Iwant So, tell the
story of Zeynep. Shewas one of my main
(25:08):
model in my project.She was healing too.
And her story was soheartbreaking and so
emotional. But thenunfortunately and
unexpected, Lee, welost her. Cancer
(25:31):
made a metastasis,and we lost her. And
I understand howthings can change
quickly. And fromher story, I wanted
to broke people'shurt, I want to make
them sad, because Ibelieve that if they
(25:51):
become sad, they canget Doctor controls.
Early diagnosis, ifthey have some
problems, thedoctors can get that
in early stages.I've worked with
cancer patients. Andthen COVID comes our
(26:13):
lives two years ago,you know, and
everything was likea science we film.
We were watchingfrom our computers,
from ourtelevisions, what's
happening in Chinawhile everything was
so far, and it waslike, We will not
(26:35):
affect with thesethings. And then it
becomes the wholeworld's reality. And
after World War Two,nothing affected
whole world likethat. And I can stop
myself to take thephotos of that
(26:58):
times, because as aphotographer, I
can't change thehistory, but I can
show it. That was mymotto. So I tried to
get permission to goto the intensive
care unit to go tothe hospitals to go
to the streets totake the photos. But
especially in thebeginning of the
(27:20):
pandemic, there wereno vaccine, even
they were nottrained once. Proper
treatments for COVIDNo one let me
permission. But thenI use the power of
social media I made.I wrote some tweets.
(27:41):
And first of allAnkara municipal to
hear my voice. Wewere all in lockdown
in Ankara, but theyget permission for
me. And I photographthe disinfection
periods of allpublic
transformation areasor the other places.
And then I getpermission from Gaza
(28:03):
University,hospital, I risked
my life, I risked mychildren's life. But
I go to the hospitaland take photos for
one month, not justone day, just for
today, I went thathospital every
(28:23):
single day formonths, just to make
something differentand stroke because
after 100 year, whenwe all died, people
will remember thesetimes from our
photos. This is thepower of
photography, withphotography, your
(28:44):
writing history, andcan you imagine you
will be the part ofhistory with your
photos. This issomething being
immortal in myopinion, I may be
die, but people willremember my name
with that photos.And this is so
important for me. Iget all that risks,
(29:07):
and I photograph allthe parents all
parts of I choosephotos in all parts
of the hospital. Andthat project Mr.
That's in almost allphoto contests. So
I'm so happy withthat project and
(29:28):
after NatGeo mypoint of view to
photography ischanged also and I
also tried to takeattention to these
social importanceissues and take
photos of them. I'veworked with seasonal
workers childrenbecause you know
(29:50):
with COVID Ourchildren started
education from faraway from laptops
from computer butthe The economical
situation is notsame in every part
of Turkey and somany children don't
have internetconnection, don't
have laptops, andthey couldn't get
(30:12):
the education theyshould get from the
government fromtheir country. So I
made a photo projectto take attention to
that. unequalityactually, something
like that.
Wow, that isincredible. What a
story. So I'm justtrying to, you know,
(30:36):
put my thoughtstogether here. You
know, that's just soincredible what you
did, you know, I sawyour, your project,
your photo seriesaround COVID. And
it's absolutelyincredible right?
Now, what, whatgoing through your
head, what makes youwant to risk your
life, I know that,you know, you, you,
(30:57):
you you want, youkind of mentioned
about leaving alegacy, being able
to be part of thehistory. But in
order to do that,you're not only
risking yours,yourself, but also,
you know, like yousay, risking your
daughter. So
how, actually, bothof them.
And you're doing itfor a month, right?
(31:17):
So what was thatmonth look like?
Like, just take usthrough, you know,
the day in the lifeof Dilek. During
that one month, whenyou were going back
and forth to thehospital to document
this incrediblepandemic?
Actually, it wasn'teasy, but I couldn't
(31:38):
stop myself. And youcan't imagine how
many? No, I heardduring the wall
permission process.Everyone's saying,
No, you should stayat your home, you're
a woman, you shouldtake care of your
children and stay athome. And normally,
it's hard for me towant some thing from
(32:01):
someone and to asksome help from the
others. But Icouldn't stop myself
because I was seeingthat how COVID
affecting the wholeworld. And I
couldn't stopmyself, I couldn't
think anything. AndI was good. I was
willing to close onme going to the
(32:24):
hospital, takingphotos during the
whole time. Andduring at 5pm. For
Turkish time, I wasleaving the hospital
coming home, takingthe cloths on me in
front of my house,putting them in a
(32:45):
bag. And then withthe clean cloths in
me, I was going homebut also I was
putting some scarfon my hairs because
I don't want toaffected my children
if my hair gets somewires or not. I was
(33:07):
washing my clotheswith hot water in
ocean machine. Alsomaking a shower with
hot water. And Iwasn't coming
together with mychildren, not just
one month, after onemonth. The doctor
(33:28):
suggested me to liveseparately with my
children for onemonth too. And you
can't imagine howhard it is how hard
it is. I love beingclose to the people.
I love being closeto my children. I
(33:49):
love hugging them. Ilove touching them.
But I couldn't makethis and I was just
sitting in front ofmy computer making
some Instagram talksor something like
that. And I was socurious. I realised
that I'm checking myfavour almost all
the time. And I wasthinking that I get
(34:11):
infected and I willgonna die. And I was
just praying for notinfecting my
children. It waseasy while I was in
hospital, but itwasn't easy while I
was waiting at homeand thinking if I
infected or not. AndI get 20 kilos
(34:34):
during that period.I was just eating I
was just eating. Andduring my
pregnancies. Ididn't get that
weight actually. Butthe full periods
really affected meso much. Oh, also
emotionally, too.But thanks God. I
(34:58):
didn't affect it.I'm not in that
period during the WuCOVID times I never
effected. It'ssurprising. I'm
lucky, I guess.Maybe that's why I
go that gut, maybeGod chose me to make
that project becausebeing one month in
hospital and beingso close to the
(35:19):
patients was noteasy, actually.
Yeah, wow. That's,that's incredible.
You know, I saw thedocumentary on I
can't remember whatwhat TV station it
was. But I saw adocumentary on how
hotel what are thedifferent routine
(35:40):
that the hotel haveto go through when
they accept peoplefor quarantine, and
it was in it wascrazy. So that's why
I was veryinterested to hear
what was that, youknow, journey like
for you. And, youknow, doing that for
a month and a littlebit more. That's,
that's just crazy,you know, the amount
(36:00):
of dedication thatyou put in there.
It's, it'sunprecedented. And I
admire that verymuch. Now. I'm still
curious, right. Soyou document all
this incrediblephotos, and events
that had happenedduring probably
(36:21):
going to be one ofthe global event one
of the, you know, anevent that affected
globally, like yousay, you know, ever
since the World WarTwo. Now, when you
when you kind of,you know, put all
the when you kind ofput all the
(36:42):
intention togetherand you tell
yourself, I want todocument this thing,
I want to be able togo into these places
where the people areinfected, where the
people are gettingaffected in the
most, how do you goabout getting that
permit? Because likeyou say, you have
(37:02):
come across a lot ofnose. And I could
imagine, right, whatpeople thinking when
they hear this waslike, Are you crazy?
Like no, is theyhome? So what? How
did you end upgetting that permit
and being able toactually document
this event?
(37:22):
First of all, I wasjust sitting at home
in the beginning offirst COVID. Case
detected in 11,march in Turkey. And
I was in hospital inMay. During that two
months, I was tryingto get permission.
But first of all, Ididn't think going
(37:43):
on the hospitals andtaking some photos,
I was thinking thatthis period will end
in a few weeks atleast. But I was
just sitting at myhome trying to see
something different.What can I show that
home? I madesomething I made
(38:05):
something different,actually. But it
wasn't enough forme. There was a war
outside. And I canbe part of that
historic historicaltimes. So I get
calls with so manypeople. But the only
(38:28):
thing I heard wasNo. First of all,
they were sayingthat you are not a
journalist. And eventhe journalists are
coming here andtaking one or two
days, but you wantto stay and take
photos so many timesso it's impossible.
And it and when Italked with someone
(38:52):
they were saying,yes, taking that
photos can be a goodidea. But our
hospital has somepublic relation.
Ship departments.And there's a guy he
is taking somephotos he can take
to Yes, anyone cantake photos but
taking some goodphotos is something
(39:12):
different. So itwasn't easy. It
wasn't easy. Butfinally, while I was
making an Instagramtalk at that times
at Doctor heard myvoice and he said
(39:32):
that Mr. Like youcan come and take
photos if you wantin my hospital. I'm
taking photo I'mtrying to take some
photos, but I'm inthe beginning of my
photography journey.And I can I open the
doors to you and youcan teach me how to
take photos. I saidokay, but it was
(39:57):
incredible.Everything was done.
becoming so easy. Iwasn't used to that
everyone should sendme no. And I want
the hospital. Wetalked with the
director of thehospital, he was so
kind to, and he saidthat you can start
(40:18):
now. And I said, No,I didn't come with
proper clothes totake some photos.
I'm viewing sweetsright now. So, okay,
I will come togetherand start everything
started in that way.I, after all that
periods I find a wayto take photos. And
(40:39):
also I wrote a paperto governments.
Because I want totake some photos in
government hospitaland Institute
hospitals to andpeople liked me.
They said that theywill never answer
you. system because,you know, so many
(40:59):
people writingpapers to them, but
they never answered.After one month,
they answered me. Inthat paper, I
explained, who am Iwhat is my aim, what
I want to do withthat photos. And
they led me to takesome photos still in
city hospital. Andafter working in
(41:22):
Gaza University,hospital, I went to
city hospital totake some photos,
but it was just fortwo days. And it
wasn't enough totake some really
strong photos.Because when you're
a foreigner in aplace, they all get
nervous, and youcan't catch the
(41:43):
natural bodylanguage. At the
time, being in onemonth in Ghazi
University Hospitalwas so important
because they use tome, they get used to
me, they stop seeingme, I become one
with them. And theyjust forget me, they
were just thinkingthere's a crazy
(42:04):
woman taking all thetime. So they stop
thinking at me. Theystop worrying about
me also, because inthe beginning, when
I first go tohospital, they were
a little bit furiousand worrying about
me because I couldinfected myself too.
(42:25):
And I can go intohospital as a
patient. But theyunderstand and they
see how I'm obeyingthe rules and don't
making somethingstupid at the
hospital. So yeah, Ibecome invisible.
Oh, and get all thatphotos.
(42:47):
That is such anincredible story.
And you know, what Ilove about it is
that you youpersist, right? You
don't give up, youkeep going, you keep
knocking on the doorand eventually door
open. But once thedoor open, you know
you you do it theright way you follow
the rules and makingsure that you're not
adding the problem,you know, adding to
(43:10):
the problem. And Iadmire that very
much. Because, youknow, it's hard to
be out there anddocumenting these
things, you know,all these incredible
events, right? Butdoing it in a way
that doesn't createmore harm to the
rest of the people.I think that is just
incredible. Somassive
(43:31):
congratulations foryou, you know, you
highly deserve toget the award for
that. I mean, it'sjust such an
incredible story. Sowe you know, moving
on from that wetalked about earlier
before the podcastand us, you
mentioned ityourself that that
(43:51):
basically, you know,once you won that
award with the NatGeo, you started to
look thingsdifferently starting
to work more on alonger term project
and looking throughthe different ways
that you can getthat you can share
the voice of issuesthat is important.
(44:13):
Now, share with us,you know, with the
audience, what aresome of the project
that you are workingon right now? And
what is your missionbehind that?
Right now I'mworking on a project
to take attention toclimate change
(44:36):
because climatechange is one of the
biggest problemsthat the humanity
and the world facedright now. And there
are some harmfuleffects of coal
mines to theenvironment and it's
(44:56):
affected the Climatechange also And we
should find somealternative energy
sources. This can bechanged from the
geographical stationof your country or
your location. Butthere are so many
alternative stationbut especially after
(45:18):
the war betweenUkraine and Russia,
the cool monthsbecome more
important, aka,some, I want to take
attention to thatpoint, and make a
long term project toshow all that things
(45:39):
deeply. And I'mworking with them
right now. Oh, Iwent to some coal
mines for fivetimes. And I will
continue going thereand taking photos.
It's not an easyproject for me.
Also, it wasn't easyto get permissions
(46:00):
again. Probably Ialways love
somethingchallenging. Because
when you makesomething like that,
you also inspire theyoung ladies in your
country. This isimportant. For me,
being an artist isnot just taking some
(46:21):
good photos in myopinion, being an
artist is alsoinspiring the young
generations withyour stand with your
thoughts with yourspeaks with your
stand with your alsobehaviours. So I'm
trying to do my bestas an artist. I'm
trying to be a rolemodel to them. So
(46:44):
yes, it's not easy.It's not easy for me
to do take photos incool minds, because
I don't like I havesome claustrophobic
problems. And I canstand in close areas
in dark, but I'mgoing in crude
(47:04):
minds. Can youimagine how it was
challenging for mealso. But yes, some
good photos arecoming. I was so
excited, especiallyafter some shoots
and I sent them tosome photo contest
and seeing that theyare choosing as
editor pique andshortlisted in some
(47:26):
context is alsomaking me happy.
Because I didn'tfinish the project.
Right now. I justsend some of them as
single photos. Butwhat I get was so
helpful. So I'm sohopeful with my new
(47:48):
long term projecttoo.
Wow, that isincredible. Yeah,
look, I used to bean engineer and I
used to work inaluminium refinery.
So I know howdifficult it must
have been for you toget, you know,
permission to get inthere. Especially to
take photos. I know,mining companies
doesn't like peopledoing that, right.
(48:11):
There are threekinds of mining
companies. One isunder the control of
government, one'sprivate. And also
there are illegalcoal mines, they
don't have anypermission. If
someone see and findthat cool ones, they
destroyed them. Ifind some two
(48:35):
illegal coal mines.And I will go there
and take some photossoon. It will also
be so dangerous forme because being in
an illegal coal minemeans also risking
my life again. Andjust one month ago,
an explosion happensin one of the
(48:56):
biggest coal minesthat I was, I was
planning to shootto. So it's not
easy. Yes, I'mrisking my life
again. But somethinggood cannot happen.
If you don't takerisks. In my
opinion, comfortzones are our most
(49:20):
barrier, in myopinion, when you
take out of yourcomfort zone.
Something good hashappened. In my
opinion.
That is so great. Itotally agree with
that. And yeah, likejust you know, rules
and regulation tokeep the mind safe.
The is probablywhat's making them
(49:42):
illegal. So going toa coal mine that's
illegal, going to bea lot more
dangerous. So pleasedo take care of
yourself when you goout there. I know
how dangerous itcould be, you know,
being an engineerworking on there.
And yeah, it's justso many hazards and
so many things.would go wrong in no
time. So make surethat you take care
(50:03):
of yourself. Butclimate change is
something that Ifeel, you know, I
feel powerful. Ifeel Yeah,
powerfully aboutbecause I feel like
there's there is notenough urgency
around that. Andit's, you know, I
used to live inCanada, I see how
(50:24):
quickly ice cavesand glaciers
disappearing withinthe short two years,
two and a half yearsthat I was there. So
just imagine what'sgoing to happen in
1015 20 years,right? We're not
even talking aboutdecades here, we're
talking about years.So I'm so happy that
you're doing this,you know, in, in a
(50:45):
sense that to bringmore voice out there
to bring moreawareness out there,
but make sure thatyou are safe,
because we love you.And we want you. We
want you to bearound. So yeah,
thank you. I'mtrying my best. But,
yes. Let's thinkpositive things and
(51:09):
fingers crossed.
Yeah, fantastic. Allright. Well, you
know, it's been apleasure, we're
coming to the onehour mark is such a
pleasure to hear alot of story from
you. And, you know,when you finish the
project, perhaps youcould come back to
the podcast andshare a little bit
about that projectabout, you know, the
impact that it hasbeen give it has
given? I think thatwould be amazing to
(51:31):
hear. But onequestion that I
always ask myguests, you know,
and you say toyourself, I, as a as
an artist, we havethe responsibility
to share our visionto share our voice
with the youngergeneration or with
the rest of theworld. So if there
is one advice thatyou could give,
(51:54):
either to young,younger yourself or
maybe to yourdaughter, or maybe
to anyone in theworld, right, just
the one advice, whatwould that one
advice be,
um, that choosingone advice is not
easy, actually. Butif I should choose
just one, I canadvise them to work
(52:16):
so much, and notrace with the
others, but racewith yourself. You
should be a betterperson. Before the
person yesterday,just raise with
yourself, not theothers. And don't
keep, don't leaveworking work so
(52:41):
much. Because Ibelieve that if
someone works somuch, he can
succeed, she cansucceed. Just
wow, that is such agreat advice,
especially, youknow, in photography
area, or in theartists area, you
know, the artists,community, you know,
(53:01):
there is a lot ofcompetition, there
is a lot of people alot of impostor
syndrome, you know,people are feeling
that their heart isnot good enough
compared to otherpeople. So, I
believe that this issuch a great advice.
And it's such animportant one too.
So thank you verymuch for sharing
your wisdom, yourstory, as well as
(53:23):
your insights right?To all of this
unique experiences.Now, if this, if the
audience want tofind more about your
photography aboutthe project that
you're working on,or simply just want
to get to know youbetter, what is the
best way to findyou?
(53:46):
My web page is oneof the best way to
find me. Also, Ihave an Instagram
page and twitteraccount. They can
find everything inthat three platform
error informationabout me.
Fantastic. Allright, well, you
know, we'll put thatunder description.
(54:07):
So if you want tofind out and get in
touch with Dilek,then feel free to do
so. But thank youvery much for being
here. Dilek it'sbeen such a
pleasure. It's beena great
conversation. I lovehearing your story.
I love hearing yourwisdom and I am sure
that the audienceout there will get
(54:27):
so much value fromthis. So thank you
very much for yourtime and I very much
appreciate havingyou here.
Thank you so much,Stanley for inviting
me to this podcastand giving this
opportunity to methank you so much.
No, no worries atall. And you know,
(54:48):
like I love having afemale in my podcast
because there are alot of male
photographers outthere and it's
proven to be moredifficult finding
female coming to thepodcast and like you
say, right. Youknow, so I believe
that's important toyou know, to, to
(55:10):
speak their, theirvoice as as a female
or a male, right,whichever you are,
but we know that themale are a lot more
dominant in this inthis in this niche.
So thank you verymuch for being here
and for having thatcourage not only to
voice your messages,but also to actually
(55:33):
go out there andknocking on doors
and doing the thingsthat most people
don't want to do toshare the social
issue. I find a lotof inspiration for
that and I admireyou for that. So
yeah, fantastic.
Thank you. Thank youso much.
All right, well, wecan't do this thank
you very much forLucy listening in
(55:54):
and man, that was agreat podcast it's
just so much wisdomso much great
stories behind that.So make sure you
check Deluxe photothere is so many
great gems and whenyou go to her photo,
you can feel theemotion that she
(56:15):
tries to tell tothose photographs.
So let us know inthe comment or in
the in the reviewhow you feel about
this podcast. If youenjoy this
particular episodeor any other
episode, don'tforget to subscribe.
And let me know ifthere is other
(56:37):
photographer otherartists that you'd
like me to have aninterview in this
podcast. Well, withthat being said, we
can hunters. Thankyou very much for
listening,listening. today.
I'll see you guysnext week. Keep
creating and keepshooting. Until next
time
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