ART, DESIGN, AND FINALLY “PHOTOGRAPHY”
Sappho bust charcoal drawing, self-portrait taken in high school, 2012, Istanbul
Dear artist, designer and photographer, are you at the beginning of your journey? Have you lost your way? Are you panicked? You are in the right place. This blog was written by someone who is in the same boat as you.
I’m an Istanbul and Toronto-based product and portrait photographer, and my story started with a visual arts program at the Fine Arts High School. The detailed and traditional art education here has greatly improved my visual abilities. This is the most important skill a photographer has. As Bert Kages states in his book Photography: The Arts of Composition, "It's the most fundamental skill because it not only determines which visual elements will appear in an image but also influences the decision to make the image."
During this period I made two-dimensional artistic productions and painted and drew; my perception of composition improved vastly. The most important reason for this was my constant observation of master painters, their compositional criticisms and my attempts to reproduce their work. This made an incredible contribution to my composition and light perception.
After my art education in high school, I studied Graphic Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts. This was a bit of a challenge. While depicting objects realistically in visual arts, I also needed to express concepts with shapes in graphic design. By balancing the two arts, I on the other hand gained the ability to solve problems. Every form of design is about problem-solving. Art is a field where we can use more subjective and emotional approaches. This is the most important feature that separates the two disciplines.
““Design is not art, design has to function””
The next step after art and design was photography. Photography had intrigued me for as long as I could remember. I grew up with the story of the Zenit camera that my father bought under rough conditions and was stolen a short time later. Actually, it's all because of the parents, isn't it?
I got my first camera when I was in university, a Samsung NX3000 which is no longer available. While studying graphic design, I had photography classes. I received a very basic technical education. I started taking photos for my assignments, and everything seemed easier due to my knowledge of composition and light. It was easier for me to adapt to photography than to graphic design.
The most important thing I realized in this process was that I was also taking pictures while painting. The only difference was that it took me days to paint.
While taking photography education, I became aware of the experiences and knowledge I gained in the past. In fact, I realized how harmonious these three disciplines are with each other. They are very valuable disciplines separately, but when they come together, they can create a big bang effect.
