Ara Güler (born 1928) is an Armenian-Turkish photojournalist, nicknamed "the Eye of Istanbul" or "the Photographer of Istanbul". He is considered one of Turkey's few internationally known photographers.
In the early years of the 1950s Turkey underwent profound political and transformation along with much of the Mediterranean. Ara Güler is the leading figure in a generation of Turkish photographers whose pictures raised awareness of their extraordinary country abroad. He bore witness to these changes, photographing Istanbul, Anatolia, the country's villages and magnificent archeological sites, assembling a rich and diverse body of work in which the uniting thread is the "human factor": attention, respect, a certain compassion, accompanying always the wish to bear witness to the conditions of live and work for everyday people.
His images of Istanbul similarly demonstrate his deep love of the city and its inhabitants. They are a portrait of a city in constant movement, day and night, crossed and recrossed by activity on land and water, in the labyrinth of small streets in the older quartiers, as well as on the major arteries of the town centre and Golden Horn.
In the early years of the 1950s Turkey underwent profound political and transformation along with much of the Mediterranean. Ara Güler is the leading figure in a generation of Turkish photographers whose pictures raised awareness of their extraordinary country abroad. He bore witness to these changes, photographing Istanbul, Anatolia, the country's villages and magnificent archeological sites, assembling a rich and diverse body of work in which the uniting thread is the "human factor": attention, respect, a certain compassion, accompanying always the wish to bear witness to the conditions of live and work for everyday people.
His images of Istanbul similarly demonstrate his deep love of the city and its inhabitants. They are a portrait of a city in constant movement, day and night, crossed and recrossed by activity on land and water, in the labyrinth of small streets in the older quartiers, as well as on the major arteries of the town centre and Golden Horn.