Nightlife in Seattle can be a lot of fun. Oftentimes it’s hard to accurately document the evening in the midst of all this. That’s when a talented nightlife photographer comes into play. A truly skilled nightlife photographer will make you look your best and impress your friends with the perfect capture of the craziest moments.
Sometimes in a single instant, that person will capture the most important moment in your life. Whether it be the person you met who you will fall madly in love with, a memory of a friend’s night out before leaving, or even that moment when you got to meet your favorite artist. Orhun Uygur owns Turk Photos and captures these memories on a consistent basis. We had the chance to ask chat with him, so that you can better understand the man behind the camera.
[divider]5 Questions With Turk Photos[/divider]
1. How did you get into Photography?
I always liked photography. When I was a kid we had a SLR camera i would always play with. I moved to US in 2003. After moving here I got in to riding motorcycles. One night me and couple friends rode around and took pictures at night. One of the friend had an DSLR camera. Even when it was at night he captured the bikes with a lot of light. I thought it was magic and bought my first DSLR in 2005. After that, I was hooked.
2. What does it take to get the perfect nightlife photo?
Getting Nightlife photo, there is always a thought that if you have an expensive camera gear you will get a great photo. Having a good camera gear only little part of making a great image. Getting a great nightlife photo is one of the toughest in photography. You don’t have a lot of available light. There are some different color lights that you have to think about.
One of the things I became very good at is using the ambient light to my advantage. I love capturing the ambient light. When you think about nightlife one of the first things come to mind is Night Lights. So if you can’t capture that properly most likely it won’t be a great nightlife image. Besides the lights, I am here to capture experience. So for me perfect nightlife photo would be capturing people having a great time with amazing ambient lighting and good composition.
3. We imagine that this costs a lot to produce, what kind of investments have you made into this career?
I have over 20k in camera gear. I have two cameras-6 lenses-laptop-camera flash-studio gear etc.
I am self taught & didn’t take any lessons. So no investment there. Besides investing money, I have invested a lot, I mean a lot, of time into my career.
4. Do you only cover nightlife or do you provide services outside of that?
I do a lot of weddings, portraits, different events such as fashion shows & corporate events. I do Real Estate photography. I used to shoot for UW. I did sports photography almost 4 years. I shot Husky football and basketball.
5. What was one of the worst and/or best situations you have ever been involved with in your career?
One of the best experiences I ever had was shooting my first football game at Seahawks stadium. I shot Apple Cup and that was my first time shooting a game at Seahawks stadium. When I stepped onto the field, it was a magical moment for me. Stadium looked so powerful with a sold-out crowd. It was a magical moment for me that I will never ever forget the feeling.
The worst situation? This is a tough one since I don’t have a lot of bad memories with photography. Really the worst thing I remember is breaking my expensive lens. I was holding my 70-200mm lens over my shoulder attached to a monopod. The screw that holds the camera got loose and lens fell on a rock. It was a pretty good hit that completely destroyed the glass of the lens beyond repair. That was my $2000 bye bye.
If you have ever been out and about in the Seattle night life scene, you have probably run into Orhun at some point. Next time you see him, give him a high five and thank him for the work he does. We have included some links below to view his work and contact him for any photography needs you may have. We have also included a gallery of some of his photos for you to view.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/turkphotos
Twitter: twitter.com/turkphotos
Web: http://www.turkphotos.com/
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