Graffiti

backalley in downtown Izmir, Alsancak quarter

Morning Ferry

Friends

The Izmir Bay after the rain

Rain never lasts for long in Izmir and the bay looks even better straight after a shower. The harbour almost deserted this very day is on the right and in the far, on the left are the marshes with their salts bassins and birds nesting.

Fog

Vineyard in Brittany

Windy Day

Winter is slowly showing up and the cold is late this year. We still walk with relatively little protection. So here is a picture from January. The place is the famous Kordon, the name given to the Izmir's shoreline promenade. 

The last of the Immortal

Olive Trees are considered immortal. New shoots coming out of the roots, the tree seems able to duplicate himself and thus open the legend to the never dying tree. This one is several hundred years old, who really knows? How many lifes begenning or ending has he see? I wonder who is the keeper, the Kangal dog or the Olive tree?

Fishermen

Morning Cruise 2

Morning Cruise

Patterns

I generally prefer not too much modify or alternate my takes, it is mainly contrast masking through layers much more like we use to do in the darkroom, but with much more amplitude and latitude now. But here the whiteness of this crate of empty “ayran” bottles with the random patterns of the red straws attracted my eyes and my lens.

For friends not familiar with Turkish food ayran is a beverage made of local yoghurt salt and water, it is healthy and nourishing and…. we drink tons of it :)

Early Morning

Stairways not always lead to Heaven

Karatas is an old quarter of Izmir, it was for a long time the main settlement for Jewish families seeking a place to live away from the post inquisition troubles. This is here the famous singer Dario Moreno family lived once. With the population growing the settlement gain in heights and long stairs link the lower city to the upper streets.

Here even the woman’s dog seems dragging his feet in face of the effort awaiting on his way back home.   

Turkish Stars' show

It doesn't happen often one can look at a flying fighter jet from above, if his is not himself a jet pilot :)

Last 9th of September, as every year, the Turkish AitForce acrobatic team "Turkish Stars" made the show. An hour of breath taking performance for these seven jets and their pilots.

Unfortunately the show was set for 6 PM and the sun at this time is already lowering behind the jets, giving poor contrasts and colours to work with.

To give a scale about the performance I am at around 50 meter elevation, they fly really low over the city!

More about them on
https://www.facebook.com/turkishstars
and
http://www.turkyildizlari.tsk.tr/EN/Index.aspx    

The Turkish Stars

Cormorants, Pelicans and Seagulls are not the only birds flying over the bay, the Stars making their last fly before the 9 of September show. They fly low over the city and the bay and make their acrobatics just a stone-throw away from the shoreline. 

The are flying 8 supersonic jet fighters, a variant of the F-5 Freedom Fighter.

Shadow

The Cormorants

I have never seen that much cormorants over the bay, they generally spread on poles or moored boats in half a dozen lazily picking a fish around or drying their wings, what cormorants best do :) , this morning there were hundreds of them flying swiftly in long lines and raising slowly over the water to form long V formations

Father and Daughter

In their memory, RIP

Ali Ismail Kormaz just left our world to rest with his brothers who like him, just peacefully protested, exercising their democratic elementary rights. Thursday we met and walked to remember him and the reasons we have to stand up. Many are recovering from their wounds, sometime marked forever, sometime fighting for their life directly hit by tear-gas shells.

The Van cats

This beautiful Van Cat young mother is not happy about my intrusion, she first swiftly pushed her blue eyed son in house and than came back staring at me with her piercing yellow eyes in such unfriendly way.

Van Cats are not a breed but a true race one can find in the wild around the lake of Van even if they become rare, they have yellow or blue eyes, sometime one of each, and beautiful white hair. There is a trade of them but often made of bred lookalike van cats, true Van Cats are really hard to find. I do not know actually if this pair is pure race.

But what a regard!

In their Memory

After the police forces cleaned out the small camp set in Alsancak in support of Gezi proptests remain only a handful of trees planted in memory of our brothers killed in the events. May the trees grow strong and tall, and our dreams come true along! 

Kids and Pigeons

Pigeons gather in the park where people sit for a while drinking tea and eating simit (O shaped bread with sesame), they have not a chance to run hungry here. What a better game but running through the flock?

Lady

Brugge

I arrived in Brugge for the dinner, I first planned to make some night shots, the sky was grey and the light awful anyway, after a day of sporadic showers the evening was bathed by a terrible greyish light when suddenly the sky cleared and a beautiful light shadowed streets and canals. Finally night falls late and I renounced to the night shot, maybe another time.

Early Morning on the Passenger Ferry

Disobedience march

Some pictures from Saturday night spontaneous disobedience meeting and march organised in my district Bostanli (Izmir) in support of the action that started 15 days ago in Istanbul Gezi Park. No police force showing around here for the ninth consecutive night, as for the previous actions. As you can see yourselves the profile of attenders is very much more of the "most wanted" than of people of the streets :) .

There are no organisation or political part behind just citizens in search of a better future for the new generations!

Tempest on the rise

There are days the sky suddenly turns black, darkening the waters below, a brief notice to humans they better run back home before the storm breaks and wash away the streets.

The glass studio

Glass necklace