On a full schedule, I took 1000s of photographs in Istanbul last year and too many were good.  Each time I went backto organise the files, I’d suffer overwhelm. 

Here I am, with a little to revisit the visit ...

One of the things I loved to do while living in Istanbul, was to cross the Bosphorous, traveling from the European to the Asian-side of Istanbul.  The Bosphorous is a magical body of water, overloaded with boats ... everything…

A Gentle Kind of Peace ... IstanbulApril 14, 2010

I loved the peace I found in the Istanbul mosques that welcomed nosey foreigners.  This teahouse in the grounds ... you can’t imagine the peace.

Disembarking, IstanbulApril 14, 2010

I wish I had the courage but no, I am no longer the girl who climbed on the roof to listen to the band practise.  And I never did jump off the Istanbul ferries ...

Butcher, an Istanbul Covered MarketMarch 13, 2010

My Istanbul Window ...December 11, 2009

I came to love this ‘window’ in Istanbul ...claimed it, in my casually colonial way, as my Istanbul window.  I have photographed it often over the years, measuring my progress as a photographer, seeing the instinctive become a knowledge-based act, still instinct- driven but perhaps enhanced by a growing ease with the technical.

It’s not at eye-level and that’s the first difficulty but then there’s the wire or string that cuts across.  It has always been there, and of course,…

Istanbul Street Cats ConversationSeptember 10, 2009

Ancient Istanbul ‘Window’.September 10, 2009

Everytime I visit Istanbul, I visit this ancient ‘window’ to see if the rope has been cut ... to see if it’s still standing.  I love it.

The Mona Lisa Cafe, IstanbulSeptember 10, 2009

For we sit surrounded by objects which perpetually express the oddity of our own temperaments and enforce the memories of our own experience.
Virginia Woolf

Nargile Mouthpieces, IstanbulAugust 18, 2009

More on these another day but for those who don’t know, the clue would be ... waterpipe or hookah mouthpieces.

Dolmabahçe Palace, IstanbulAugust 09, 2009

I love this place ... Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace ... built by Sultan Abdul Mecit back in 1856.  It is also the palace that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding leader of the modern republic, used as a presidential house in summers, the palace where he enacted some of his most important works. Atatürk spent his last days and died here on 10 November 1938.

A Little Island Peace, IstanbulAugust 04, 2009

An AbundanceMay 30, 2009

Most days we have spent 10 hours out taking photographs, returning to the apartment to organise and process them but I have never managed to keep up ... having taken 586 photographs on Saturday alone.  My photo folders are overflowing and after a hectic 48 hours of good people, a beautiful hotel, a niece from New Zealand, 2 kiwis who lives here, a little too much red wine on a warm Istanbul night…

I know people who know people who know peopleMay 30, 2009

And as a result, this Istanbul journey can only be described as truly remarkable.  Last night was a mix of marvellous coincidence and good friends.  I introduced friends and hosts, Lisen and Yakup,  to Hayden, the New Zealander of Zen Turkey.com, who has lived here forever.  Over dinner and drinks, information was exchanged that will benefit both and I was happy.  Maybe it’s a kiwi thing but we love making connections, meeting new people, introducing people…

Gozleme and a Roma Fashion DesignApril 17, 2009

Istanbul is being so good to us.  Today Lisen and I interviewed a Roma fashion designer while we tried to choose, from a stunning array of dancing costumes, a gift for Miss 4.  We began the day eating delicious gozleme at the organic market, had a tasty kofte lunch at Ayvansaray and, took incredible photographs all day because the people and the sights we saw were simply incredible.  A stunning stunning day, here…

The ‘Welcome to Istanbul Street Cat’April 17, 2009

Did you know, cats own the streets of Istanbul.

I love it of course, and this one was particularly friendly, nudging my wide-angle lens as part of it’s ‘oh-my-god-you-are-so-yummy-you-must-pat-me-NOW!

First Morning - IstanbulApril 17, 2009

I’m writing this, 8am on my first morning back in Istanbul.  The air is a little chill after the blue-sky warmth of yesterday but I love it.  It’s fresh, people are walking by and across the road the pharmacist … the eczane, is opening his store. 

Istanbul is breaking open.  There are new leaves on the trees and yesterday, tulips in full-bloom lined the coastal highway we took back into the city. 

Did I mention how good…

If I had been in Istanbul todayOctober 17, 2008

I looked up and realised that as long as the Belgian sky is blue, with jet vapour trails heading in every direction overhead, then I’ll never forget living in Istanbul and the sight of container ships, ferries and fishing boats in motion, jostling for space and heading in every direction, criss-crossing the blue of the Bosporus.

It made me think about what I would do if today was a day back in Istanbul.  I would begin at Taksim Square…