I’ve loved photography since I was a teenager. I had a good sense for composition early on, and I loved the idea of telling a story through a single image.

But for a long time, I thought you needed a professional background to even pick up a real camera, that you had to be good before you were allowed to start. I didn’t know anyone who shared this passion, so it stayed a quiet interest, mostly out of reach.

Then someone who knew about my love for photography and my tendency to want to be perfect before even trying…gave me his camera. No pressure, no expectations. Just a way in.

That was the start.

A person standing on a rocky shoreline near clear turquoise water, with snow-covered rocks and hills in the background, viewed through a framed opening.
Street scene with a store selling various household items and textiles. Sign on the upper storefront reads 'Café Beykoz' and 'Azzam Galerie' with additional signs in Arabic and Turkish. Items like mattresses, boxes, and shopping baskets are displayed
Street view showing a building with outdoor laundry hanging on balconies, a red car parked on the cobblestone street, and a man sitting on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant named ZAIKA, The Taste of India.
Wall decorated with dried flowers on the left, a wooden shelf with glass jars, bottles, a small doll, and old kitchenware, including a vintage coffee container with a checkered pattern and the word "KAFFEE" on it. A framed painting of trees in a natu
A corner of a multi-story building with large windows, some with lace curtains, and a satellite dish mounted on the upper part of the building. The lower part of the building has signs for a business called Papatyam Tagespflege with a phone number.
A red poster on a graffiti-covered wall with large white text reading: 'A bed bakes my body like bread, filling it with a handful of dreams. When I open my eyes, how great is the hunger, woe to the walls.' A black and white mural is visible to the ri