Tag Archives: Ara Güler

An everyday occurrence

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Малки хора

An excellent book by one of my favourite Turkish authors! I am happy that this book is available now also in Bulgarian.

But why does the Bulgarian publisher use three photos on the cover and the back and is not even mentioning the photographer (most probably Ara Güler)? – this is a very bad, disrespectful habit, and it is infringing the moral right of the author of these photographs. Maybe it was an oversight, but in any case I wish publishers in Bulgaria would be more sensitive regarding intellectual property rights and the moral rights of an author. Bulgaria has signed international conventions and is a member state of relevant international bodies – so this is not something that can be treated the way it is in this case and even more outrageous in another case that occurred recently where a big part of the content of a book was copied and re-published without mentioning even the original authors – an obvious act of theft.

It would be good if the Bulgarian Book Association would enforce a Code of Ethics that excludes and penalizes such practices – instead of issuing high penalties to exhibitors on the Book Fair in Sofia that leave their booth on the last day a few minutes before the official closing.

Do you know about similar cases of copyright fraud or lack of acknowledgement of the moral and intellectual property rights of authors in your country?

Sait Faik Abasıyanık: Malki Hora (Саит Фаик Абасъянък: Малки Хора), transl. Kadrie Dzhesur, Prozoretz, Sofia 2015  – a German edition, published by Unionsverlag in 1991 under the title Ein Lastkahn eines Lebens seems to be out of print; there is no English translation according to my knowledge.

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Ara Güler’s Istanbul

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Really great artists are frequently very modest, even humble persons, says Orhan Pamuk in the introduction to the photo book Ara Güler’s Istanbul. 

Güler calls himself a photo journalist, but he is much more: a chronicler of his home town Istanbul since the late 1940s, a kind of archaeologist (since Istanbul has changed a lot in the last decades), but definitely also a great artist.

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Ara Güler’s Istanbul presents just a small sample of the more than 800,000 photos he took almost exclusively with his Leica, but they give a wonderful opportunity to catch a glimpse of the artist’s most iconic works.

We see fishermen mending their nets, children playing in front of derelict Ottoman structures, ferry boats passing the Golden Horn, street vendors pushing their carts in the cobblestone streets of Kadıköy, a tram waiting for a man with his horse cart passing the rails. It’s usually not the Istanbul tourists know. We see crumbling buildings and people who look tired from their everyday struggle to survive in this glorious city. Istanbul and its buildings are only the backdrop for a big stage: the drama of life with its difficulties, everyday routines and small pleasures.

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Güler’s photos breathe a deep humanity. The people we see on his photos, no matter how poor they may be, are never devoid of a certain dignity. And frequently there is a touch of magic there too, which is difficult to describe. Just have a look at these breathtaking photos.

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Ara Güler’s Istanbul, Introduction by Orhan Pamuk, Thames & Hudson 2009

Ara Güler’s website: http://www.araguler.com.tr/

© Ara Güler (photos) 
© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.