Istanbul~ Day 3~ A photographer's dream

 Istanbul is known as a photographer's dream so I decided it would be a great city to improve my photography skills.  After a lot of research online, I decided to book a private photography tour/lesson with a former National Geographic photographer.  I felt like I was definitely going outside my comfort zone, but at the same time, I was telling myself that this is an opportunity I would probably not have again.   So, thanks to Trip Advisor and a lot of back and forth debating with myself, I booked the tour.

Perfume seller on the street

What a fabulous day!  Kemal was a wonderful teacher and  photographer and I was able to see a side of the city that I wouldn't have experienced otherwise.  I've been trying to upgrade my photography skills since I've been in London and I wanted to get away from just shooting in auto mode and learn more about manual settings, lighting and composition.
The tour was described as a walk around the old town, with tours of the medieval caravanserais. A caravanserai was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey.  They were found along the Silk Road.  The building was a square with a walled exterior with an opening wide enough for camels and the camels stayed in the center at night while the travelers had room on the first level.  The ground level  had stalls around the square to accommodate merchants and their servants and merchandise.

a caravanarai building

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We visited a cafe where I took pictures of locals smoking water pipes and had some Turkish tea in the signature tulip glass cups.

 

  One of my assignments was to approach this man and ask him if I could take his picture.  He was very friendly (as were all of the Turkish people) and all he wanted was for me to send him the picture that I took.

I took a picture of this cemetery and worked on aperture settings and lighting.  

 As we were walking out of the cafe, Kemal noticed a mirror and had me practice taking pictures in a mirror, keeping everything in focus.  Still have some work to do on this one!

 These two men were making necklaces.

The most interesting and intriguing stop of the day was at a metal casting shop.   I was able to spend about half an hour taking all kinds of shots of these men making everything from brass finger cymbals, genie bottles, to any kind of brass trinket you could think of.  It was a fascinating process and I hope I caught some of the story of these men's work.  They were so interesting to watch.  The boss was interested in what I did for a living, how many children I had .  He was 60 years old and had been doing this for all of his adult life.  None of the men used gloves to pour the hot material into the molds.

 

a small square of a caravanarai

street scene around the Grand Bazaar

Pomengranate juice maker on the street

After we finished at the metal workers shop, we climbed some very steep stairs to the roof of one of the caravanarai.  As we climbed the last staircase,  a man came out of his shop to unlock the door to the roof and we walked along the top of the roof to this spectacular view.  Even though my lens wasn't the best for night shooting I couldn't resist these night shots. 

The Blue Mosque from the top of a caravanserai

Istanbul from the old town looking at the Galata Bridge 

It was a day I'll not soon forget.  Hopefully I'll remember all the photography tips I received photographing this ancient city.