Wow, I Did That!

We had an early departure so we could visit the Hagia Sophia this morning before our final critique session.  This used to be a Greek Orthodox Church before being converted to a Mosque and now a museum.  You may not realize that the Head of the Greek Orthodox Church is actually based out of Istanbul which dates back to when it was called Constantinople.  You can see the remains of the Christian church and also how many things were hidden after it was turned into a mosque.  There are beautiful gold mosaics on ceilings and the walls and hallways are also quite decorated.  It's a very beautiful and historic building.

We had about an hour to grab some lunch and look through our pictures before our last critique session.  There are several restaurants that have traditional Turkish food along the street that you can grab and go, so I opted for stuffed aubergine (eggplant) and some rice and headed back to the room.  I had to choose 10 images from the night before and this morning to present to Ira and Liza, which was tough.  I have become much more critical of my work, noticing all the background that can distract from the picture and also the composition, keeping the subject out of the center.  You simply can’t be married to a photo because of something you remember about when you took it.

We were free to roam the city for a couple of hours after the critique, so four of us headed back to the Spice Market to see if we could find some interesting things to shoot.  Behind the actual market, there’s a much bigger shopping area with streets dedicated to formal wear, scarves, children’s clothing, fabrics, pretty much anything you might want.  It stretches for blocks and we only could cover one small area in the time allotted.   Since Istanbul is a city of hills, it’s easy to get interesting photos looking up a street at the crowds.  It also gets dark very early, so the glow of the lights in the shops adds an interesting affect.  We roamed for a couple of hours before walking back through the main hall of the Spice Market for one last look.  We found a shop that had some interesting spice and tea blends that I had to sample.  We also met some girls from the US that are studying abroad from Columbia University Law School.  They seemed to be having a great time exploring.

This evening started with a lecture by Ira on how he edits his photos when on assignment.  It was good to see that he doesn’t get everything right either, having to sacrifice one element in order to capture a moment or grab good lighting while it lasts.  Next we watched the slideshow they had put together from the best of our pictures from the week.  It really is very impressive to see what we were able to capture of this charming city.  We’ll each receive a copy of it that we can show to our friends and family which is one of the best trip souvenirs I have ever received.

We hopped on the tram for a short trip to the Galata side for our farewell dinner.  The food was probably the best we had during the trip.  Before our main course, several mezes appeared at the table including stuffed grape leaves, a pepper nut spread, and a vegetable relish of sorts.  Combined with my pasta, I was quite full and enjoyed the walk back down the hill towards our hotel.  Independence Street was stuffed with Turks out for a good time on a Friday evening.  If you can imagine Times Square during the holidays you have a good picture of the festive feeling on the street.  This was a young crowd (the average age in Istanbul is 29) out for a fun evening at the clubs that line the streets and alleyways. 

With this busy day behind us, we still had one more adventure awaiting us Saturday morning, so it was time to hit the sack to grab a few hours of sleep in preparation for our last day.