I'm on my way now...

Going back from the biggest of Prince's Islands, Büyükada.

Photographer's tips to Istanbul

Going on on the series about Istanbul, I simply have to tell you about the places photographers should absolutely go. Ι don't mean places to photograph, everybody has it's own tastes on the subject (although mine is probably Fener). I mean places to find equipment.
The first place I discovered in Istanbul is Hayan Pasaji (I might be spelling it wrong, but I don't think you'd have a problem finding it) near the tram station Sirkeci, in the old town, Sultanahmet. It's a six floor building with shops c0ntaining photography equipment. The film camera shops were a minority amongst them. There was a really expensive leica shop on the second floor, another one with reasonably priced cameras but nothing that interested me and one on the third floor that was the best for me. It had Nikonos, TLR's and any kind of old camera you can imagine. I got a jupiter 8 50mm f.2 and a lomo smena for a friend. The owner was very kind, spoke some English (most of the people there don't speak a word) and offered me tea. I'd recommend him strongly.
The second place is a second hand shop I discovered on Galip Dede street (Dede means grandpa and galip is a name, according to our receptionist). It's on your left hand, when you're descending the road, a passage which has some old books and cameras on the frond. I found an old lady beside them, who conducted me to the shop inside. It had mostly Russian cameras from the 70's in very reasonable prices. I didn't get a thing but I would if I had more money and was in need of a good camera.

I saw cameras on the grand bazaar too and Cihangir but they were massively overpriced, so if you're not a bargain expert, don't even ask for the price.

I'll be back with more.

Decisive moment

Ah, Istanbul!

The next series of posts will be related to the city I've been to in the last 8 days, Istanbul. My first visit to Turkey, my first visit to the borders and outside Europe(don't count Greece). An amazing experience I'd like to share with you.
So for starters, I'd recommend you looking at the work of Ara Güler.
He's a photographer that caught the spirit of Istanbul in a very attractive way. He says photography isn't an art, but he does it in a very artistic way, don't you think?
And this just isn't the end...

I'm so tired, of playing

playing with this bow and arrow...Nonsense post. I like the picture though. It's from the family archives, but I don't know who the boy is. My Granpa had a Kodak Brownie and my mom swears it took the best photos. I guess it's about the photographer's gaze, after all

Thinking about Luxembourg

Accessories

I meant to make this post for some time now (and this started as a fashion blog, remember?) but now's the ideal time. My hometown is the kingdom of boredom in the afternoon. Plus, I've had some photography accidents (my 50mm 1.8 canon ef lens is twisted and I don't understand how, and I broke a piece of the cover of new Polaroid 195. Beauutiful.) Now I play around with a zoom on my digital camera.
(my room's wall)

Anyway, after getting sidetracked, here's the thing. I haven't bought a single piece of clothing since Christmas. Unbelievable? I don't think so. For me it's unbelievable seeing women with plenty of shopping bags on their hands. I think that being able to get well dressed wearing a finite amount of clothes is a sign of intelligence. And here is where the real subject goes in.

Accessories. The way to update every look. I feel guilty for the amount of earrings I have, but I don't play favorites with them, I wear all of them, almost every day.
But to be honest, I kinda have a favorite.
The lego earring. I don't remember the name of the person who makes them right now (he's a nice chap with an unbelievable lego bow tie)but I love them. You might have seen them on the blog before. I could wear those anytime, anywhere, with anything.

Now I have another favorite amongst favorites. I usually don't wear anything on my hands but THIS made me change my mind.

It's a ring made by Olga Mergou with plasticided paper. It's quite big and everybody asks me if I made it myself. It's truly beautiful and one of a kind. I've bought more jewellery by Olga Mergou like the zipper earrings and I don't think I'll stop there.

Anyway that was a small post about my favorite jewel. If I had an advice to give you, it would be, buy less. Edit your choices. Love what you get.

Tempted...

by the world of street photography. It seems more honest to me.




Today I learned about the death of one of the country's dearest singers, Nikos Papazoglou. I can't say I knew his songs all that well, but he sung one that I have been yearning to sing many, many times

Architects smoke

Athens Fashion Week was a week ago

...and I'm not sure I wanna talk so much about it. I went to one show, DELIGHT, that was quite nice (although I'm not that much of a velvet fan and ultra- wearable things). This was my favorite look, because of the different textures.

But otherwise, fashion week wasn't that much of an excitement. Frankly, I've been following AFW for the last 5-6 years and I can say that the best week ever was in november 2008. After this, it's slowly going down...
Which ain't strange, considering the economical and social situation of the country but the kid in me just wanted more...