Ara Güler

Ara Güler — Biography

Ara Güler lived from 1928 to 2018, and as a photojournalist he fixed Istanbul in black and white, earning worldwide fame as "the Eye of Istanbul". He thought of himself as a journalist rather than an artist. Since his death, the museum and archive that carry his name have kept his work in view through new exhibitions and publications; his book on Istanbul recently reached French readers.

He began by wanting to work in cinema: at school he worked in film studios and took acting lessons from Muhsin Ertuğrul. He found his direction in 1950 when he became a photojournalist at the newspaper Yeni İstanbul. He later headed the photography department of Hayat magazine; in 1958 he became Time-Life's first correspondent in the Near East and also worked for Paris Match and Stern. In 1961 the British yearbook Photography Annual named him one of the world's seven best photographers, and in 1962 he received the Master of Leica title in Germany. He introduced Mount Nemrut and Aphrodisias to the world, and photographed Churchill, Picasso, Callas and Hitchcock. In the 1970s he made the documentary Hero's End, then spent years photographing the works of the architect Mimar Sinan.

His honours include the Legion of Honour, the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Award, a Lucie Award, the Medal of the City of Paris and, in 2016, the Leica Hall of Fame. He also stepped in front of a camera once, playing Süleyman in Yeşim Ustaoğlu's Güneşe Yolculuk (1999). He died in Istanbul on 17 October 2018.