I’d been out of Saudi for almost a week and my juices were flowing, I was looking forward to this. The great thing about Istanbul is that all the amazing sights are in walking distance from your hotel. It was the end of Ramadam and the people were in the streets, an entertainment and food tent city appeared outside the blue mosque, it was fantastic at night.
I am pleased to say that I took a step forward here and really started concentrating on framing, there was so much that interested me all around so it was easy to get right into it. I think I got my D80 to it’s best here and it is a fantastic camera for night stuff.
What really amazed me was you can walk through mosques at prayer time and even take photos inside....of people praying.....now this was in such contrast to the Saudi thinking that I was gob smacked, so of course I went to town on it. I learned later that other Mid Eastern countries are very happy and focused on their prayers and like to display this to visitors, it’s a much more open view.
I walked and photod myself to exhaustion, loved the abstract shots possible in the Underground Cistern, and of course Aya Sofia is a must, subdued colors and wonderful soft light. One afternoon I went to the Grand Souq and wondered through the maze of color and smiles, then went out around the square as the sun was setting and watched the hussle and bussle as the traders set up for night and then made my back to the hotel in darkness getting some great shots on the way....that was a memorable day.
