Ara GÜLER
Ara Güler was born in 1928 in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, the son of an Armenian family under the name Mıgırdiç Ara Derderyan. He was named after Ara Geghetsik, King of Ararat, known as ‘Handsome Ara’, and his middle name was his grandfather Mıgırdiç. After the surname law of 1935, his father Dacat Bey took the surname Güler. and Mıgırdıç Ara Derderyan became Mıgırdıç Ara Güler. Güler's mother's name was Verjin, and his father, Dacat Güler, a pharmacist, was born in Yaycı village in Şebinkarahisar district of Giresun when he was six years old. He was sent to Istanbul to study. Ara Güler was fascinated by cinema as a child, and his father bought a 35 mm film camera and a camera during his high school years and started working for Yeni Istanbul newspaper. encouraged him to become a photojournalist. In 1951, he graduated from Getronagan Armenian High School.
While in high school, he worked in different branches of filmmaking in film studios. He started to study theatre and acting under Muhsin Ertuğrul, and his aim was to become a director or playwright. In 1950, he started working as a journalist at Yeni İstanbul newspaper. During these years, his stories were published in Armenian newspapers and literary magazines. At the same time, he was attending Istanbul University Faculty of Economics. However, he decided to become a journalist.
Until 1962, he worked as the chief of the photography department at Hayat magazine. In 1961, Photography Annual, published in the United Kingdom, described him as one of the seven best photographers in the world. In the same year, he was accepted to the American Magazine Photographers Association and became the only member of this organisation from Turkey. He opened various exhibitions in the USA, Germany and Paris. In the meantime, he photographed and interviewed many celebrities such as Bertrand Russell, Winston Churchill, Arnold Toynbee, Picasso and Salvador Dali.
In 1979, he received the first prize in the photojournalism category of the Turkish Journalists Association. In 1980, some of his photographs were published as a book by Karacan Publishing. In 1986, he photographed the book Mimar Sinan, written by Prof. Abdullah Kuran and published by the Hürriyet Foundation. This book was published in English by the Institute of Turkish Studies in 1987.
In 1989, Hil Publications published the book Ara Güler'in Sinemacıları. In 1992, Edition Arthaud in France, Thomas and Hudson in the USA and the United Kingdom, Archipelago Press in Singapore under the title Turkish Style, and Albin Michel in France under the title Demeures Ottomanes de Turquie. Dünya Şirketler Grubu published Eski İstanbul Anıları in 1994 and Yitirilmiş Renkler in 1995. Ana Publishing, on the other hand, published Bir Devir Böyle Geçti Bir Devir Böyle Geçti, Selam Olsun to the Remnants in 1994 and Yüzlerinde Yeryüzü in 1995.
Most of Ara Güler's photographs are exhibited in various museums in France, the USA and Germany. He used Leica camera in his photographs. Ara Güler believes that photography is not a branch of art: ‘I am a journalist. I am not a photographer. This is the difference between a photographer and a journalist. A photographer runs away when a bomb explodes. But the journalist goes after it and tries to capture the event. I have worked accordingly until this age’.
In the 343-page book titled Foto Muhababiri, in which journalist Nezih Tavlaş tells the life of Ara Güler, the legendary name of photography, the events that Ara Güler witnessed from the day he was born until today are described in chronological order, while the 80-year history of Turkey is also included.
Ara Güler, who was being treated at a private hospital in Şişli district of Istanbul for congestive heart failure, chronic renal failure and peripheral arterial disease, had his heart stopped twice on 17 October 2018 and was restarted after doctors' intervention. Güler, whose heartbeat and breathing stopped again at 23.05 while he was being treated in the intensive care unit, died at 23.20 despite all interventions.Upon Güler's death, many politicians, academics, journalists and business people, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Armenian President Armen Sargsyan, issued messages of condolence.A memorial service was held for Ara Güler on 20 October 2018 at Galatasaray Square. Afterwards, his body was brought to Beyoğlu Üç Horan Armenian Church, where a religious ceremony was held under the direction of Aram Ateşyan, Deputy Patriarch of the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey. After the ceremony, he was buried in Şişli Armenian Cemetery.
Ara Güler had two marriages during his lifetime. His first marriage was to Perihan Sarıöz in 1975 and they were married for four years. Ara Güler married Suna Taşkıran, whom he met in 1980, in 1984. The happiness of the couple, who travelled the world, ended with the death of Suna Taşkıran in 2010.
Coşkun ARAL
Coşkun Aral was born in Siirt on 1 May 1956. His father's side is Kurdish and his mother's side is of Arab origin. He started his school life at 14 September Primary School in Istanbul and completed his education at Oruç Gazi Secondary School and Mecidiyeköy High School. He grew up reading Doğan Kardeş and Hayat magazines during his childhood. He started his photojournalism career in 1974 at Günaydın and Gün newspapers. From 1976 onwards, he continued his career at the newspaper Ekonomi ve Politika.
In 1977, during the 1 May Events, the photographs he took together with Savaş Ay were distributed to the world press by the Sipa Press photo agency. His photographs of this event first appeared in the American Time and Newsweek magazines. In the following years, he worked as the Turkey correspondent of Sipa Press. In the same period, he worked as a freelance reporter for the Turkish News Agency, Milliyet and Hürriyet newspapers. He worked with Hikmet Feridun Es, Ara Güler, Ergin Konuksever, Atılay Kayaoğlu and Gökşin Sipahioğlu.
In 1980, he worked outside Turkey for the first time for the Sipa Press photo agency. He made a name for himself in the international market with his work on the famous Gdańsk Strike in Poland and the Iran-Iraq War. His photographs of the 12 September coup d'état were published as cover photographs in Newsweek and Time, as well as in the French news magazine L'Express.
On 14 October 1980, he managed to interview the hijackers of a Turkish Airlines flight that was hijacked during the Munich-Istanbul-Ankara flight, and won national and international awards for this interview. Since 1980 he has worked regularly as a war correspondent, photographing wars in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Chad and the Far East. He travelled to Stone Town in Zanzibar, the birthplace of Freddie Mercury, and interviewed people who knew him. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, he interviewed Ahmed Shah Massoud, and together with Nevin Sungur, he interviewed Bob Marley's brother. He worked as a photojournalist for magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Paris Match, Stern and Epoca.
In 1985, he joined the team of Mehmet Ali Birand's 32. The programme Haberci, which he produced and directed, assisted by Meltem İnan, was broadcast on international television channels as well as in Turkey.
Aral is one of the founders of Turkey's first thematic television channel İz Tv and has been the broadcasting director of the channel for many years. Iz Tv received an honourable mention at the Hot Bird Television Awards in Europe in 2006 and was awarded in the documentary category in 2007 and 2009.
Since 2018, he has been sharing his memories, journalistic adventures and his work on current issues on his YouTube channel Coşkun Aral Anlatıyor. After the transfer of İz TV to TMSF, he left the channel and founded a new channel, Habitat TV. Habitat TV started broadcasting on internet platforms and satellite on 11 January 2021.
Today, Coşkun Aral continues to make independent documentaries in various parts of the world.
İzzet KERİBAR
He was born in 1936 in Istanbul.
Keribar's interest in photography started in 1952 with his older brother Leon's interest in photography, and at the age of 17, he bought his first camera with the money he saved from his weekends: A German-made Regula, and a year later he owned a Leica IIIf.
İzzet Keribar graduated from Saint Michel French High School in 1953. In 1957 he went to South Korea for military service. He developed his personal technical style in Korea, taking many photographs in the Turkish Brigade.
However, he was not interested in photography for a long time after his return to Turkey. In those years, collecting old Swiss stamps, antique Meissen and Viennese porcelains, classical western music, and interior decoration were his favourite subjects. It was only in 1980 that he became seriously interested in photography again. And also as a business person, she ran a textile business for a period until 1997. He was a very successful businessman around Sirkeci. However, in the economic crisis, he thought that textile would no longer work as before and devoted himself completely to professional photography.
1952 yılında fotoğrafçılığa başlamış olan Keribar, 1980 yılını fotoğrafçılığı ikinci doğuşu olarak belirtiyor. 1982 yılından beri yurt içinde ve yurt dışında çok sayıda fotoğraf sergisi ve dia gösterisi gerçekleştirdi. Ulusal ve Uluslararası fotoğraf yarışmalarının jürilerine sık sık katılır.
Sanatçının pek çok prestijli ödülü bulunmaktadır. Uluslararası Fotoğraf Federasyonu tarafından 1985 yılında A.Fiap (Sanatçı), 1988 yılında da E.Fiap (Ekselans) unvanları ile yılında almıştır. Aynı zamanda Fransız Kültür Bakanlığı'nca Legion d'Honneur nişanı (Akademik Başarılar Şövalyelik unvanı)nı kazanmıştır.Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Büyük Sanat ödülü sahibidir.
Sanatçı, İstanbul Fotoğraf ve Sinema Amatörleri Derneği (İFSAK) onur üyesidir. Birçok kuruluşta hâlen fotoğraf dersleri vermektedir.
İzzet Keribar Türkçe, İngilizce, Fransızca, Almanca, İtalyanca, İspanyolca ve Yunanca biliyor.
Sabit KALFAGİL
Sabit Kalfagil (1934, Elazığ - 5 May 2017), photographer. He graduated from Konya High School, but he had no plans about photography at that time. Then he graduated from ITU Faculty of Architecture. He worked in Istanbul Municipality for a while. He worked as a consultant to the mayor, deputy mayor and zoning directorate.
He started taking photographs as a hobby at the age of 26. During his work in Anatolia, he got to know Anatolian people, Anatolian culture and travelled to many places in Anatolia. He took photographs in the places he travelled and these photographs were published and awarded in many national, group and personal exhibitions.
Sabit Kalfagil held his first solo exhibitions in 1972 and 1988. He served as a jury member in many conferences, competitions and symposiums. His first book is Composition in the Art of Photography published in 1981. He published his first album as Fatih Anıtları in 1988. Starting at the age of 26, photography has been a secondary profession for him and he continues this talent in the field of education. Firstly, in 1978, he was among the founders of the Photograph Institute of the Academy of Fine Arts. He worked as a part-time lecturer until 1989. In 1989, he became an associate professor and head of the Documentary Photography Department at Mimar Sinan University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Photography.
In 1993, he prepared a 9-part documentary titled ‘Anatolia in pursuit of light’ with Kamil Fırat. In 1998, he was appointed as a professor at Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Photography. He is currently the Head of the Department of Photography in this department. He is an honourary member of P.T.F.D (Professional Promotional Photographers Association) and IFSAK.
He died on 5 May 2017 at noon at Haydarpaşa Sultan Abdülhamid Training and Research Hospital where he was being treated.
Sami GÜNER
Sami Güner 1915’de Priştine’de doğdu. İstanbul Lisesi’nden mezun olduktan sonra okuduğu Hukuk Fakültesi’ni bırakarak 25 yıl Merkez Bankası’nda çalıştı ve 1961’de kendi isteği ile emekliye ayrıldı. Çok genç yaşlarda başladığı fotoğraf çalışmalarını tüm yaşamı boyunca sürdürdü. Fotoğrafın her dalıyla ilgilenmiş olup, aynı zamanda stüdyo ışıklandırması, film yıkama ve baskı işlerinde de ustalaşarak Türkiye’de ilk renkli fotoğraf çekimini gerçekleştirenler arasında da yer almıştır.
Romantizmini ve duygusallığını katarak güzele erişmek, esrarlı güzellikleri yakalamak için 40 yılını Anadolu topraklarında harcayan sanatçı, fotoğrafçılığın ülke düzeyinde yayılması, sevilmesi ve gelişmesine çok büyük bir katkı sağlamıştır.
Fotoğrafları ve fotoğraflarından yararlanılarak yapılan afişler yurt içi ve yurt dışında birçok kez ödül aldı. Güner, Türk turizmine katkıları nedeniyle 1981’de 100. Yıl Armağanı, 1983’te Cumhurbaşkanlığı Takdirnamesiyle ödüllendirildi.
Fotoğraflarından oluşan afişleri, yurt içinde ve uluslararası müsabakalarda altın ve gümüş ödüller kazanarak, çeşitli başarılara da imza atmıştır.
1982’de Devlet Güzel Sanatlar Akademisi (bugünkü Mimar Sinan Üniversitesi) Fotoğraf Enstitüsü ile İstanbul Fotoğraf ve Sinema Amatörleri Derneği’nin (İFSAK) onur üyeliğine seçilen Sami Güner, aynı zamanda Japon Fotoğraf Derneği’nin de üyesidir ve Fotoğraf Sanatı Derneği’nin (FOTOGEN) ilk başkanıdır. 1986’da Uluslararası Fotoğraf Sanatı Federasyonu’nun (FIAP) ES FIAP (Üstün Katkıda Bulunmuş Sanatçı) ünvanına layık görülmüştür.
Güner, who has taken photographs for about fifty books on Turkey's natural beauties, art and history, has also exhibited his photographs from his travels abroad in Turkey. In 1987, he was honoured with the Turkish Promotion Foundation's (TÜTAV) ‘Those Who Introduce Turkey to the World’ award, and in 1989 with the Ministry of Culture's Grand Prize. In 1991, he won the first prize with his photograph ‘Life on Mount Ararat’ in the International Photography Competition organised by the Chinese Photographers' Association in Shanghai and attended by 2500 photographers from 43 countries with 12,500 works.
On 20 February 1991, he died in a traffic accident on his way to Bolu for the opening of his exhibition. ‘Sami Güner Cup Photography Show Competition’ is organised by FOTOGEN in order to keep the memory of the famous photographer alive, to encourage project-based photography production in our country, to develop the art of photography and to bring a new excitement to our photography world.
