Canım Benim : Photography

The best things in life..

... are babies.

One of my Swedish friends invited me over yesterday to take some photographs of her daughter's first birthday.

Something I have been getting myself into over the last few months.. photography and children.

I love taking pictures of babies and children. To catch a moment in their young life that they will hopefully cherish forever. Their first birthday. A day at the park or on the beach. A kiss from Mommy.

It makes me happy to create these special memories for them and their parents.

What a beautiful gift. For the biggest gift of all: baby love.

Happy Birthday sweet Melisa. I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness ♥

Pure Joy

Beach. Boy. Ball

My sweet guests just left. We had some wonderful days together. We had so much play time, fun, breakfasts on the beach and countless sweet hugs and kisses that I already miss so much right now. And as my darlings are on their flight as I write, going back home to snowy wintery Sweden, I am going through all the cute pictures I shot over the last 5 days. I think I'm starting over as a baby-on-the-beach-photographer ♥

Photography crush: Louise Hawson from 52 Suburbs

As we are all busy these days packing gifts and preparing for the Christmas holidays, I want to share with you the greatest gift of all: inspiration.
A beautiful gift that can be found anywhere and everywhere, that doesn't even need to cost a single penny and yet it can enrich your life in so many ways. Inspiration urges you to explore, to create and to share. It sends you on a journey, it makes you travel without fysically traveling. For this particular gift, inspiration is coming from the very, v e r y beautiful travel blog 52 Suburbs around the world that I recently discovered. The blogger behind it is the Australian Louise Hawson, who's traveling the world with her sweet 8 year old daughter to "explore and photograph the ‘unfamous’ side of some of the world’s most famous cities – their suburbs/neighbourhoods". I know, pretty cool mom huh? And if you think that is amazing, have a look at her insane images from people, streets, architecture and details she posts. I fell head over heals for her style of associating colors, shapes, light, patterns and movement. And for her skills to make even the most neglected and fallen apart area looking beautiful! These pictures show me that everything, all the details of daily life seem to be in a constant, yet mysterious dialogue with eachother. Among the cities she has been and portrayed are Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles, Rome, Delhi, New York and of course our beloved Istanbul.

Here are some pictures of Eyup, a very well known suburb of Istanbul and also, as I learned from her website, the fourth holiest Islamic site in the world, after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. Have a look at the photo's below and get inspired. To travel. To photograph. To seek hidden beauty in the most unexpected places. I'm sure you will fall in love too.

All images by 52 Suburbs: http://52suburbs.com/suburb/istanbul/

Spring time fever

Spring has arrived in full colour and scent. New expectations and plans lie ahead.

Our restaurant is open again. The first tourist come and enjoy a meal in the sunlight at our round tables on the balcony, framed by little red and white flowers.

The beach houses are getting ready too.. cleaning the sand of stones and glass washed to the shore by the heavy waves this winter.

I had a friend from Amsterdam visiting me over the last ten days. We went out to take a lot of photographs. We took some nice shots which I can't show you yet because they will be published together with my interview in Hello Alanya Magazine in the April issue.

But I do want to show you these two little fishermen. They proudly posed for this abla, showing me their catch while we passed them on a late afternoon at the pier by the harbor.

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens,
Great Expectations

I will be off to Izmir in a couple of days. I've planned a little road (and shopping) trip with Elif, who's already there, seeing her family. So I will have many new pictures and things to show you again when I get back.

Oh, and I have one more wonderful news to share: I have been asked to write a monthly column for Hello Alanya Magazine! How much fun is that?:) Starting from May, I will be a published columnist, writing about Turkey, my life here in Alanya and.. of course, Canim Benim. You'll be able to follow the columns via their website by then, and I will put a link up for you as well. I'll keep you posted on this one.

You see? That's what spring does.. it makes us want to explore, be outside when days get longer again and engage in a new adventure. What's stopping you? ;-)

Enjoy!

Istanbul through my lens

Here is my selection of pictures from our recent trip to Istanbul. This city is so photogenic and beautiful to capture from every angle, every corner and every hill. No wonder I returned with nearly 1000 pictures after just five days.

It wasn't my first time to Istanbul so we didn't visit the Sultanahmet area this time with it's famous mosques. Also we didn't do The Bazaar this time, Topkapi Palace, Dohlmabahçe Palace and climbing the Galata Tower for a 360 degrees view as we have seen and admired them before. But in case you are planning your first trip to Istanbul this year; do visit those sites. They will take you back into the times of the Ottoman Empire and there's so much you can learn about that era and the city from them.

There is so much to say about Istanbul. So much to show. And to experience. It's impossible to summarize everything in a few lines.
We had such a nice time, exploring different neighbourhoods like Nişantaşı (where our hotel was), Şişli, Beşiktaş, Cihangir, Bebek, Arnavutköy, Etiler, Ortaköy, Kadiköy, Caddebostan and much more. We had lovely breakfasts, mostly by the water, and cozy dinners, drove around in countless taxis and walked a lot. We met up with our dear friend Ahmet, celebrated his birthday together in Beyoğlu and went to see the Fenerbahçe - Kasımpaşa match together on sunday.
One thing that I could never get enough of is taking the ferry to cross the Bosphorus. 15 minutes of wind, water, seagulls, çay, smell of the salty sea and a breathtaking view at the city hills and skyline.

The weather was gray and humid the first three days. Moody skies, romance and nostalgia hanging in the streets of Beyoğlu .. very Sezen Aksu-ish. The last two days of our stay the sun came out.. together with thousands of people on the streets. It was warm and crowded, in fact it was very very crowded. We loved it though.

I just gonna go ahead and let the impressions below speak for itself. Enjoy! xx

I will be adding these and more pictures to CB's Facebook page soon. Stay tuned yani.. ;)

Taksim Square, Beyoğlu