Ortakoy Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Hi. This is a picture from heaven, Bosphorus. Foreground, you see the Ortakoy Mosque, which inspired most of the people coming to İstanbul including George W. Bush. He chosen this view to explain the meaning of "Meeting of Civilizations". At background you see the Bosphorus Bridge also.
"Ortaköy has been here since Byzantine times, when it was a village outside Constantinople called Arkheion. Emperor Leon IV used to hold clandestine assignments with his mistress Zoe here a thousand years ago. Around the same time, Arsabarios, brother of the Orthodox patriarch, had a palace here, where he used to hold legendary feasts and entertainments. When the scandalous reports of these occasions became intolerable, the emperor seized the palace and turned it into a monastery. But it was too late to stop love and pleasure seeping into the very stones of Ortaköy. Today Ortaköy has a delightful baroque mosque built by Balyan Usta, designer of Dolmabahçe Palace in the mid-19th century. Next to it is a church filled with marvellous embroideries and paintings. There is just fifty metres between mosque and church, and forming the other corner of the triangle of faiths is the synagogue. Sitting in Café des Theatres against the church wall on a summer's day, I can watch the ornately decorated mosque at my leisure. Opposite are the ruins of what was the beautiful waterfront palace of Esma Sultan, elder sister of Mahmud II, during the first half of the 19th century."

Information taken from Exotic Destinations website,please click

What can we say for "Beautiful İstanbul". A quota seems so obvious: ISTANBUL: "There God, man, nature and art have created and placed the most magnificent view the human eye can contemplate on earth." Lamartine.

Worth to see. Bye.

sunny, nchifan, supereira, Aegean, ChrisJ, sandpiper, oochappan, rage_tm, lilycat, thaprem has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

sunny (3068) 2004-10-05 4:36

Extremely beautiful shot at down, Alpay! Lovely composition with water reflections and nice colourful lights. I like very much all details you included here: the boats in FG, the people, the Mosque, the bridge and the depth to it. I would love to see the minarets in full size but guess your angle of taking didn't allow it. Nevertheless: very good shot accompanied by wonderful note!

nchifan (910) 2004-10-05 4:39 [Comment]

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clodreno (0) 2004-10-05 5:02

A really pleasant picture to look at. A bit postcard, but nice enough to make you want to be there.
Nice.

supereira (9576) 2004-10-05 5:08

Very good photo!I .like very much the colors and the contrast between them.Good composition and framing.Good light and reflections on the water.Great POV.It´s a pitty that the minaretes are cutten.

Aegean (2567) 2004-10-05 10:17

You choose a perfect moment to capture Ortakoy Alpay! Light is really great as are the colors and composition. I agree with Maria about the minarets but still it's a great shot! Very well done!

Tibetix (0) 2004-10-05 10:20

Güzel bir çekim Alpay, kutlarım...

madska (0) 2004-10-05 11:52

nice !!! exposure is perfect for this situation. this blue tone with some warmer colors makes a very fascinating athmoesphere.. reflexions on the water are superb, too

sandpiper (1579) 2004-10-06 1:36

Beautiful, I love the blue lighting and contrast, well done. With a little more care you could ommitted the modern boat in the foreground and include the top of the columns on the mosque.

ChrisJ (70125) 2004-10-06 3:44

Superb capture & a great note. Wonderful colours.

banukulaksiz (157) 2004-10-07 9:52

o kadar gercek gorunuyor ki.. dalip gidiyor insan.. ellerine saglik Alpay!

emralc (172) 2004-10-07 10:02 [Comment]

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oochappan (22032) 2004-10-08 8:35

Waaaw, with a dary exhuberant great colors you put here in this nightshot, very well done, Alpay, I don't gone say, wish to be there, I was, 34 years ago, still having that same glans, remembering Usküdar as a very nice spot too but this is a weak argument for the way you mannage to put this spot in a most incongreous way of this nice place. Well Done. On the side, don't you think that you are a little bit overdoing your note with all the color, while the note is very well written.... ?
Iyi Günler
Henk

rage_tm (623) 2004-10-08 9:30

Exposure really paid well in this shot. Great colors and I like the sea reflections.

I do hope you were able to capture top column. But its still one great shot! Congrats Alpay!

lilycat (45) 2004-10-08 17:57

Great colors and composition. Very well captured.

ElenaGr (450) 2004-10-11 20:01

Hi Alpay, well done, it's a great shot! Nice colours and lights, and great composition!
I just have the impression the image is leaning a little at the left, so, i hope you don't mind, i've made a workshop trying to fix that. Check it out and tell me what you think, i hope it looks nice!
However, the picture is lovely and you have an interesting note too. Well done and thanks for sharing!

[2] [workshop] [compare] +

zeus (1462) 2004-10-22 10:01

the light is perfect on this picture on this famous view. i just think you could have not cropped the tower on the mosque...but the tons of the night blue are perfect.

mineelci (1488) 2005-04-15 9:48

It is super. This mosque is always looking good to me :)

Colors are great.

diğer fotoğrafa link nasıl verildiğini açıklaman mümkün mü? Senin beypazarı çekimlerinden birine link vermek istiyorum ama nasıl yapıldığını anlayamadım.

thaprem (2472) 2005-10-14 4:46

Alpay,
Excellent Shot!...
It makes me wish to be transformed immediately there, what with all your exciting note.
Wish to see turkey some time.
Who knows, the life is full of surprises & I may one day...
Cheers,
Prem.

Lengo (0) 2007-02-23 12:54

Absolutely inspiring! Superb lighting! Magical! This is the best photo I've seen of the Ortoy Synagogue!