One friend is enough

The light was not very good for such shot but I liked the idea of these two old friends watching at the sea and their bicycle not far laying against a signpost.

winter tree

The winter comes late in Izmir, and doesn’t last long. Since mid December we have had some colder nights, especially last week with even one night a zero Celsius! What an indelicacy! The rare deciduous trees lost almost all their leaves by now and seem raising their branches praying for the spring to come.

The Pelican Hair

The most awesome male of the pack, he stands apart and doesn't pay attention to other male and female pelicans disputing a tiny fish. he seems indeed to pay attention to not wet his hair and shows his profile proudly. This time it seems pretty opportune to publish the a colour work.

Snowmen get long holiday

Soon the snowman and his countless twins will be warehoused for a year waiting for another Christmas time to make kids and parents smiles happy to share and offer gifts.

Carferry (archive)

A passenger hides in the shadow of the carferry deck, the light hits through the window with blurred reflection.

Old Lady

The Bergama ferry is one of our finest and oldest. Commissioned in 1951 she shows a typical silhouette with her wooden captain bridge and rounded stern. Another old lady the ferry "Ihsan Alyanak" sunk recently but fortunately the captain succeeds to bring her back to the pier with all the passengers sound and safe. Every year 15 million passengers take one of our ferries to cross the bay. Come aboard, drink a hot glass of black tea and enjoy the twenty minutes necessary to reach the opposite side.

Pelicans

Pelicans share a habit with cats. Both they wander around fishermen waiting to grab some wasted fish while the men clean and repair their nets. This photograph's hi-lights are overexposed, hope to make a better one one of these days.

After the rain a shy sunlight pierces the clouds and light up the promenade of the gulf shore

mist

The fumes from the coal heated boilers blur the air ... and our lungs. Despite natural gaz is available many houses keep using cheap coal to heat during the not so cold short winter. Unfortunately this give a false romantic atmosphere and an irrespirable air, or the contrary.

sunset

A man went to the seashore with his bicycle and sit on a bench to look at the sunset and the fisherman working in the bey. Fishermen are more like miners than fishermen actually, they dig in the mud in 1 meter of waters to find some sort of edible shells. The stay hours in the cold water with old worn diving suits.

waiting for the ferry

10 minutes left before the ferry leaves for the other side a fulled geared fellow makes some picture of his partner, I am with the crowd already jailed in the pier's narrow building.

After the Rain

We have around 60 days of rain per year, and most of the time it rarely rains for more than a few hours, the sun shines again in the next half a day. But this year so far we can count rain occurrences on one hand, the last was this week, in the evening and I didn't have the opportunity to shot. I do not like the rain especially (this is why I live here) but still I like photographs taken after the rain when the sky is clear with a low winter sun and the ground still wet. Beside my selfish pleasure the dams are damn low and we will face a difficult year if the rain doesn't show. Well, to come back to the topic this is from my archive, a day like the one I miss: after the rain, 15 Celsius and a sweet sun trying to dry out the ground.

The red balloon

The red balloon - I first saw this picture in B&W but the tiny red balloon in the girl's hand make me change my mind. I am at the eastern entrance of the SevgiYolu (love street or love way). The street is in the city center, just below the Hilton. Bordered by palm trees (one of Izmir's marks) The pedestrian street is a place to visit absolutely if you ever get in Izmir. The time there seems to flow even slower, Izmir is already a slow motion city but there time really flow slow. The street shelters small stalls that exhibit second hand books or affordable jewelry. Passers beside enjoying a tea or hot sandwich can find some portrait painters as well.

Mustafa, the kid of Caratash

Caratash as written in Levantine or Karataş in modern Turkish is an old quarter of Izmir, just 1 1/2 km far from the trade center and 2 km from the port. I will come back to this old and picturesque area later with more pictures. The quarter is populated by upper middle class in its front side and less favoured families in the upper segments, you will better understand the reason why in later posts. 

Sometime I took a photograph to serve as documentary even if I do not see an artistic value, testimony of things that may change or to serve to show some places to people who didn't had the chance to visit. I was taking a picture of an old house twin front doors when a handful of kids ran in the street. Squeezing myself against the opposite wall to try to have the largest coverage with the prime the last of kids stopped just in the middle and started to dance. A second more and he ran again to reach his friends, I just had the time to trigger twice and ask his name, he answered loudly while running : Mustafa.

The house behind is one of the rare old houses still "standing", they are now protected but it costs a hell to renovate so often the land owner keep it empty waiting for better times. More photographs from Caratash to come.

Ferry's passengers

A couple sit on the stern deck of this old classic ferry. In 20 minutes ferries link north and south sides of the bay sparring time and proposing fresh orange juice and tea along the way. We get sometime very close to container ships and have to tack between the giant vessels. I will come soon with some more photographs of the bay and these impressive vessels.

Ferry's Passengers

Ferries are taking a very important place in Izmir life, thousands of people cross the bay everyday for different purposes. Here is one brief meeting.