Mine Kasapoglu: Istanbul Expressed
Ultimately, she’s able to offer her clients more choice of images — without doing as much work. Explains Kasapoglu, “Before Aperture, I had to prepare 20 or 25 images, getting each one perfect enough to show the client. Then they’d only choose four or five for the story. So all that work I did on the unpublished photographs was wasted.”
Now Kasapoglu sends her clients Web Galleries, which takes just seconds. “They choose the photos,” she says, “then I finish the work. It’s a perfect system for everyone: I give them more choices while saving myself a ton of time, because I only finish the ones they actually want.”
Clients like the way she presents her images now, too. “Right after the shoot,” she relates, “everyone is eager to see their photos. Aperture easily transforms into an attractive display. My clients are always very impressed with the program. I can press one button to make the image go full screen, or two buttons to put multiple images up for comparison. I can show them details with the Loupe, and what corrections I might make.”
“Since I’ve started using Aperture,” Kasapoglu says, “it has improved the way I do my job 100%. I love the star ranking system. I love that it can see my RAW files right away. I love to use Web Galleries. Now, I cannot imagine working without it.”
Dresden Creative Conference
Kasapoglu was recently invited to exhibit her work at a new conference in Dresden billed as an exploration of creative entrepreneurship. “It’s about innovation, bringing creativity and business together,” she says, adding, “without question you can do that best on a Mac.”
Her contribution featured 10 portraits of creative people running successful businesses in Istanbul. She shot a fashion designer, a cultural events organizer, an art director, a filmmaker, a mechanical engineer and others whose professions illustrate the fertile nexus of imaginative thinking and nuts-and-bolts doing.
The Dresden portraits play off a theme Kasapoglu has made a regular feature in 2’debir magazine. She takes stylish photos of ordinary people, setting their hip, everyman couture against a graffiti-scarred wall or a crumbling stone stairway. “It looks like a fashion spread,” she says, “except that it’s real people, not models, and Istanbul ties everything together. The city is rich with photogenic backdrops, so you can find really great frames. Those textures are as important to me as the clothes and the subjects. Istanbul speaks through its walls — it inspires me.”
Good Chemistry
Whether she’s shooting athletes at the Olympic Games or creative types on the streets of Istanbul, Kasapoglu is always questing after the frank regard that signals something honest. She’s as skilled at reading people as she is at reading images — but sometimes the biggest challenge is simply the time it takes to establish rapport.
“The camera can be a scary thing,” she maintains. “For some people, it’s like a weapon. They don’t want to give away too much. So you have to make sure they’re comfortable with you. Because if the chemistry works, they may reveal something.”
And, Kasapoglu admits, “If I only have half an hour to do a portrait it’s difficult to get that candor. I want to spend time with the person so I can catch a moment when they’re really themselves. Usually, getting a good shot is about making a personal connection. The more I connect, the better the photo will be. Because in order to reveal a little of herself, the person has to trust you.”
No Posing
Kasapoglu has been a pro photographer for just nine years, but she’s confident she’s found her niche. “I know I’m doing what I love,” she says with a sigh. “With every project that comes my way, I try to make it my own style.”
Studio portrait, photo by Emre Unal. Photograph taken in Istanbul February 2007.
For her, that means abundant authenticity and “not too much posing.” As she puts it, “I love trying to capture something that’s real, but buried. Those things have a lot of energy. I like the raw moments, not too staged, where you feel the moment in the photo.”
Good planning, coupled with good instincts, lead her there. “I guess a lot of finding those moments is about being in the right place at the right time,” she suggests. “First you have to be there, then you have to go with your gut feeling.”
