By HALUK COBANOGLU
One of a handful of master photographers in the whole world, Ara
Güler's photographs are like an illustrated encyclopedia of Turkey...
Ara Güler is not a photojournalist who has spent his life chasing after
daily events or following popular currents; instead his work is more
like that of an archaeologist conducting digs to illuminate the future.
Abidin Dino put it best when he said, "Ara wanted to preserve the image
of his country's people from oblivion. He had a surprising sense of
responsibility, as if he would be personally held to account if they
were forgotten. What a tremendous effort, what self-sacrifice!" This
creative man, whose work was once poohpoohed in his own country,
already in those days had put his signature on a number of momentous
shots that have gone down in world history. We can say of Ara Güler
that he not only captured the things he saw in photographs, he actually
created them anew by blending them in an idiom of his own invention. In
his portraits in particular he seems to have recast his subjects in a
new form by turning a wide-angle lens on people in an approach that had
until then been considered taboo.
This approach to portrait photography can be regarded as Ara Güler's
contribution to the world photography tradition.
THE SHADOW WITHIN
Ara Güler's writing is as powerful as his photography. The writer Ara
Güler was always held quietly in reserve, never allowed to upstage the
photographer; and he was reconciled to staying in the wings. But
whenever the writer within emerged from the shadows, the quality of the
writing in his books was always consistent with that of the
photographs. Ara Güler is also a stickler for principles. Always fair
to his contemporaries, he has never misrepresented the period to which
he feels he belongs, the twentieth century. And therefore he feels
strongly that no trace of that period should vanish either by chance or
by default. Yet he doesn't coddle his subjects, and when necessary can
even omit a cinematic genius like Alfred Hitchcock, of whom he shot a
series of outstanding portraits.
Personally he has no doubt that Hitchcock did great things but
nevertheless places him among those who 'have not left a sufficient
imprint on humanity'. Ara Güler is known for having supreme confidence
in his own judgement. And if his pronouncements are occasionally over
the top, you have to remember that great masters are also human. He
takes absolutely no interest in abstract or artsy photography, going so
far as to 'question whether or not such pursuits contribute in any way
to civilization.' In his view, they are all part of a game. And this
game does not suffice to describe the process of human development and
the human adventure.
LIKE AN ARCHAEOLOGIST...
"A photograph should above all else portray something. The game-playing
aspect of photography isn't for me. I'm a photographer of realities.
There's a world revolving around me and when there's something in that
world that gives me great pleasure, that sparks emotion, I click the
shutter.
As a photographer of people I want to record everything pertaining to
them-their joys, their dramas, their way of life, their fears. Because
I regard myself not as a photographic artist but as a photojournalist,
what is more important than aesthetics for me is documentation itself,"
says Ara Güler, whose life achievement as a photojournalist has been
more that of a social geographer or an archaeologist. Through a mere
three photo-features he appears to have taken on the role of honorary
ambassador for promoting Turkey abroad. When his first features on
Aphrodisias, Nemrut and Noah's Ark came out, they aroused great
interest outside the country, appearing in the world's leading
magazines in rapid succession. While photographing the construction of
a dam in the province of Aydin for Hayat magazine in the 1950s, Ara
Güler gets lost on the deserted country roads. When he finally comes
upon the village of Geyre in the present-day township of Karacasu in
the middle of the night, he stops at a roadside coffeehouse to ask
directions. The first thing he encounters in the midnight twilight is
what seems like a sketch of the today's Aphrodisias archaeological site
and museum.
Ara Güler reaches for his camera, and the photos are published outside
Turkey. Later, when the as yet unknown archaeologist Kenan Erim appears
one day at the door of Ara Güler's studio in Istanbul Beyoglu, the
pieces of the puzzle start to come together. Following his report, the
Aphrodisias excavations are resumed, excavations that have changed the
way the classical period, the acknowledged basis for Western
civilization, is viewed today and underscoring once again the
possibility of historical approaches other than the Anglo-Saxon, as if
to vindicate the memory of Ara Güler's friends and cohorts, Cevat
Sakir, the 'Fisherman of Halicarnassus', Azra Erhat, Sabahattin
Eyüboglu and the other originators of the 'Blue Cruise'.
AND NOW A BOOK
Those who would like to see the fruit of so many years’ work will now
get a fresh opportunity. A retrospective entitled ‘Ara’dan Yetmis Yedi
Yil Geçti’ (‘Meanwhile Seventy-seven Years Passed’) in a play on his
name, Ara, which also means ‘an interval of time’, was mounted last
month at the Fotografevi Gallery in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district. And a
book of the same name was published to coincide with the exhibition.
For those who haven’t yet lost their sense of curiosity, this book
brings together a gargantuan output into which a whole life has been
poured—from mementoes of old Istanbul in tones from classic black and
white to the lost colors of melancholy, to portraits in whose faces the
vagaries of the century can be read and brilliant color series shot in
foreign countries. It would be no exaggeration to say that if Turkey
had not had her Ara Güler, much would have been lost forever.
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Please note: None of the material on these pages is hosted by
the Turkish Radio's server. These are simply reference points for your
convenience. To see the material at their original locations, right
click on it and choose "Open Link in New Window".