When my fine art photographs are open edition photographs and not part of an exhibition or series I add them to this gallery. So, always keep an eye for new open edition art here.
You can see the making of "Dreamin of Gemiler", "Fly Away", "Oludeniz Blues" and "Butterfly Valley" in this video: Fun and Games in Oludeniz
Check out the YouTube video about the making of "Delicate Nature", "Paths" and "Reflections of Dalyan": Southern Trip, Summer 2020, Episode 8 "Flying over Dalyan"
"Panorama Reef" - All tones of blue are present in this photograph that I shot at the Panorama Reef in the Red Sea. Above the water is just as impressive as the underwater. The fisherman on wooden boat complements the horizontal lines and give scale to the image.
"Dreaming of Gemiler" - A dreamy landscape of the Gemiler Island from the air on a hazy autumn sunset.
"Golden Horn" - I don't always fly over the Bosphorus strait with my paramotor since there are practically no emergency landing spots in case of an engine out. In one of the rare occasions that I did, I captured this sunset image of the Golden Horn in all it's glory. Boeing licensed the image for promoting it's latest jetliner.
"Paradise Cove"- Aerial view of a popular boat stop with crystal clear Aegean waters in Bodrum.
"Fly Away" - Many paragliders gliding away from Babadag in Oludeniz towards the reflection of the setting sun on the Mediterranean.
"Pamukkale" - Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle", is a natural site in Denizli in southwestern Turkey. The area is famous for a carbonate mineral left by the flowing water. The ancient Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis (Holy City) was built on top of the white "castle". I wanted to isolate and capture the graphic lines of naturally formed pools and terraces in this historically significant natural wonder from the air.
"Oludeniz Boats" - It was my second year of flying a paramotor. I was still considered a novice. I traveled to Oludeniz, on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, a heaven and one of the most popular spots in the world for paragliding. I found a narrow strip on the sidewalk next to the beach and took off. Being careful not to collide with hundreds of paragliders going for their landing on the beach I flew along the coastline and grabbed this shot.
"Light and Shadow" - Clear summer skies are replaced by cloudy days in autumn. During a November flight with my paramotor over Bodrum I loved the play of light and dark on the Mediterranean, two angular pieces of land sticking in from the left side giving context, and the dark stormy weather in the background.
"Mystic Waters" - One asks how many ships the Princes' Islands have witnessed throughout history, and how many lives that have been lived on those ships with bitter and sweet breezes? One cannot help but wonder.
"Birds of the Bosphorus" - It’s always a pleasure to watch the seagulls on a feeding frenzy while chasing the ferries on the Bosphorus.
"Paths" - Natural water canals in the Dalyan wetland are paths for boaters to navigate between the inland town and the beach.
"Lightning in Serengeti" - This is the photograph that has helped me launch my professional photography career. I had been training and photographing all my life but the aura of the nature and peace that I have experienced in that trip has made me dive head-on to being a full time photographer. I did not have my tripod during that trip. I was alone in my room in the lodge overlooking the plains when I saw the storm forming and the lightning strikes in the distance. I set up my camera on the wooden railing of the balcony pressing down hard on it so that it wouldn't move during the long exposure needed to capture lightnings. I was thrilled to see the lightning perfectly positioned in the frame when the film was developed after returning home. The negative film that I have used helped record more details than the eye could see.
"Reflections of Dalyan" - Sun reflecting off of water as I have seen from the air while flying above Dalyan. The three boats and their wake on the water completed the texture of the image. The greenish color cast gave the photograph a magical quality.
"Ihlara" - A paramotor in the air is dwarfed by the 15 km long Ihlara valley with its 50 rock-hewn churches and numerous rock-cut buildings in Cappadocia. The bottom of the gorge is covered with trees and rocks alongside a river. There is no place to land in case of an engine failure. Sometimes we take risks to grab striking images.
"Cloud Base" - Once in a while I climb in my paramotor really high, to reach the clouds and fly next to or above them. On one occasion, while flying by the Black Sea, I saw a potential image with the clouds and climbed to the cloud base at about 3,300 feet. I shot directly towards the sun to capture the clouds at eye level and the suns's reflection on the very dark Black Sea.
"Lagoon" - Oludeniz Lagoon is a piece of heaven and one of the most popular spots in the world for paragliding. To be honest it looks much nicer from the air. Shades of green, blue and sand colors come together in beautiful natural lines and curves. Two gulets anchored in the foreground are wooden liveaboard sailboats which are on a "Blue Voyage". Luckily not many paragliders could fly to this end of the beach this low, so I could take my time shooting.
"Bhaktapur" - The strong warm colors of yarn hung to be dried and the green color of the water make a nice contrast in this photograph which I took in Bhaktapur, Nepal.
"At the Pergamon" - The placement of the windows, the contrasting colors, the texture and the lines in this photograph which I took near the ancient ruins of Pergamon represent, for me, the importance of photographic composition.
"Lightning Strike over Bosphorus" - I love capturing hard to catch phenomena on camera. On one May evening a storm was producing lightning strikes one after another. I set up my camera overlooking the Bosphorus and waited for the perfect one which came eventually. This type of photography requires all skills including patience.
"North and South Windows" - North and South Windows at the Arches National Park in Utah, USA. Those rocks glow, I mean really glow at sunrise. When one is serious about photography one learns early on the importance of sunrises and sunsets. You get up while it is still dark, find your spot, set up your camera and wait. Breakfast comes later.
"Glide" - The gulls glide effortlessly through the air. For a moment, the whole world feels as weightless as their flight.
"Bald Ibis" - Northern bald ibis (hermit ibis, waldrapp) is an endangered bird. It has a fossil record dating back at least 1.8 million years. This ibis was revered as a holy bird and a symbol of brilliance and splendour in Ancient Egypt and had important cultural significance in many nations. Its numbers were down to only five couples in southeast Turkey in the eighties due to pesticide poisoning. Under a heavily managed reintroduction program their numbers are now in the hundreds. They have yet to start their seasonal migration again. I went to their breeding colony and captured this important bird in flight with my camera.
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