Hard Light Istanbul

Istanbul is not a city you visit once. I return often - sometimes for family, always with my camera. The city's light changes constantly depending on where you are - soft and hazy near the Bosphorus, harsh and directional in the back streets. That contrast is what I look for. I wander for hours through the crowds and the noise, the food stalls and the call to prayer, waiting for light to fall in a way that isolates someone, creates a shadow, or turns a mundane corner into something worth photographing. Most of the people in these images never knew I was there. That's street photography - you observe, you wait, and occasionally the light and the moment arrive at the same time.