{"id":35900,"date":"2025-09-01T05:29:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T05:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/35900\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T05:29:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T05:29:12","slug":"before-flashes-faded-istanbuls-life-through-studio-lenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/35900\/","title":{"rendered":"Before flashes faded: Istanbul\u2019s life through studio lenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

In every great city, there are places that quietly preserve memory. In Istanbul, one such place is the humble neighborhood photo studio. Long before smartphones and instant snapshots, these studios were small temples of ritual: the place where a child\u2019s first school portrait was taken, where newlyweds posed before marriage, where families marked milestones and where an entire community assembled \u2013 one frame at a time \u2013 into history.<\/p>\n

As urban life accelerated, this ritual faded. Photo studios turned into functional spaces for quick ID or visa photos. Yet some still endure as living archives of the city\u2019s past. One of the most remarkable is FotoAS, in the Ba\u011flarba\u015f\u0131 neighborhood of \u00dcsk\u00fcdar.<\/p>\n

From the street, its storefront commands attention: rows of portraits, black and white, and early color alike, gaze back at passersby like actors in a play about Istanbul itself. When I photographed the display and shared it on social media, the response was extraordinary \u2013 more than a million views, shares and comments. It revealed a simple truth: beneath the city\u2019s restless modernity lies a deep, almost aching nostalgia for neighborhood life.<\/p>\n

The studio\u2019s gallery tells an alternative history of T\u00fcrkiye, one face at a time. Among them is Hulusi Kentmen, the fatherly figure of Turkish cinema; Bar\u0131\u015f Man\u00e7o, rock musician and cultural icon and Y\u0131lmaz K\u00f6ksal, remembered not only for his film roles but also as a Ba\u011flarba\u015f\u0131 shopkeeper known for his warmth. The black-and-white years of the 1960s and \u201970s feature theater giant Ferhan \u015eensoy and musician Fuat G\u00fcner of MF\u00d6. With the arrival of color came new generations: actress and singer Zuhal Olcay, footballer Metin Tekin and singer \u015eevval Sam, now a celebrated artist in her own right.<\/p>\n

Television also left its mark, with personalities such as Ilker Ayr\u0131k and the late Vural \u00c7elik, while younger visitors today are delighted to spot historian Emrah Safa G\u00fcrkan among the portraits. Perhaps the most striking image belongs to Ebru G\u00fcnde\u015f, one of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s most popular singers. Long before fame, she posed here for a wedding scene in a television drama. Standing beside her fictional groom, she froze a moment that was both staged and real. That portrait still adorns the studio\u2019s window \u2013 a reminder that many of these figures were beginning their journeys, unaware of the roles, records and acclaim awaiting them.<\/p>\n

Equally symbolic is Zehra G\u00fcne\u015f, star of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s women\u2019s volleyball team and a native of \u00dcsk\u00fcdar. Her portrait reflects the nation\u2019s shifting imagination: from cinema and song to the global arenas of sport. Alongside her stands L\u00fctfi Ar\u0131bo\u011fan, basketball player and administrator, tying past and present together.<\/p>\n


\n \"Portraits
\n <\/a>
\n Portraits displayed outside the studio\u2019s storefront in Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye, Aug. 26, 2025. (Photo by Halil Ibrahim Izgi) <\/p>\n

Ba\u011flarba\u015f\u0131\u2019s resonance extends beyond its storefronts. In one of Emel Say\u0131n\u2019s famous songs, the refrain asks: \u201cK\u0131z, sen Istanbul\u2019un neresindensin?\u201d (\u201cGirl, where in Istanbul are you from?\u201d) The lyrics answer with a line that lingers in memory: \u201cFrom the dusty road of Ba\u011flarba\u015f\u0131.\u201d Once, Ba\u011flarba\u015f\u0131 marked the very edge of the city. Beyond lay farms, open fields and countryside \u2013 a threshold where Istanbul ended and rural life began. Today, the same ground is crowded with apartments, cafes and constant traffic. Yet through music and memory, Ba\u011flarba\u015f\u0131 still whispers of its past, a place both within and beyond the city, where nostalgia and modernity meet.<\/p>\n

Why did this storefront image resonate so deeply? The answer lies not only in celebrity but in memory and belonging. Istanbul\u2019s waves of redevelopment and gentrification have displaced countless families. Migration is not just rural-to-urban or international; it also occurs within the city, pushing people away from their familiar neighborhoods and rhythms.<\/p>\n

For many, the neighborhood photo studio is a fragile bridge to those lost geographies. To recognize a face in the Ba\u011flarba\u015f\u0131 window is to step back into a shared past \u2013 to recall a time when greatness lived next door, or when one\u2019s own family portrait might have been taken there. That is why the viral reaction was less about fame and more about pride, longing and a collective act of remembering.<\/p>\n

The streets around FotoAS reflect this layered history. Across the road lies the Ba\u011flarba\u015f\u0131 Armenian Cemetery, a solemn marker of the city\u2019s multiethnic past. Nearby, old tram depots are being transformed into cultural centers, such as Nevmekan, blending heritage with Istanbul\u2019s thriving cafe culture. On the same street, baklava shops, kebab houses and tradespeople keep local life alive.<\/p>\n

Yet it is the humble storefront of FotoAS that captures Istanbul\u2019s heart. More than a collection of portraits, it is a visual archive of a city always in motion, yet forever bound by memory. As Istanbul reinvents itself \u2013 sometimes violently, beautifully \u2013 such places matter more than ever. They remind us that history is not only recorded in archives and textbooks, but also in the glass windows of neighborhood photographers who once said, \u201cSmile.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a brief moment, when the shutter clicked, an ordinary day became part of something larger. And decades later, standing before that same photograph, we realize that memory is never only personal. It is shared, woven into the city\u2019s fabric \u2013 a portrait of Istanbul itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n The Daily Sabah Newsletter\n <\/p>\n

\n Keep up to date with what\u2019s happening in Turkey,
\n it\u2019s region and the world.\n <\/p>\n

SIGN ME UP\n <\/p>\n

\n You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
\n This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In every great city, there are places that quietly preserve memory. In Istanbul, one such place is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,27871,366,18,117,19,17,11384,14013,27869,27870],"class_list":{"0":"post-35900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-baris-manco","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-istanbul","19":"tag-nostalgia","20":"tag-photo-album","21":"tag-uskudar"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}