UNIQ Istanbul is hosting the "Cinerama" exhibition, which reflects famous director of cinematography Gökhan Tiryaki's passion for photography.

Tiryaki has directed various important films including "Sarmaşık" (Ivy), "Kelebeğin Rüyası" (The Butterfly's Dream) and "Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da" (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia). The director of cinematography has received complimentary comments at many film festivals at home and abroad, and now brings his first solo photography exhibition "Cinerama," comprised of 30 photographs taken between 2005 and 2015, to UNIQ Hall at UNIQ Istanbul until Oct. 31.

Tiryaki is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the European Film Academy (EFA) and the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (APSA), and he returns to photography with the exhibition comprised of photos which have been taken using the "cinerama" technique, combining the director's cinematic signature with his photography identity. Opening with a ceremony organized on Oct. 10 at UNIQ Hall, "Cinerama" includes a total of 30 shots selected from the photographs that the famous director has taken during the places of the films he visits in which he has participated at home and abroad between 2005 and 2015.


Gökhan Tiryaki, "Yayla" (Flatland)

Reflecting human images on the panoramic backgrounds of various geographical locations explored by the director, Tiryaki said, "'Cinerama' is comprised of photos which reflect my cinematic and photographic perspective conceptually. The most important reason that the exhibition includes panoramic photos is because it endeavors to take people into an unusual viewfinder and to make the places the subject through giving them a larger perspective. There is a sentence that I like which says, 'Places are beautiful with people.' I am chasing this beauty. If you take humanity from art, there is nothing left."

'Two inseparable pieces of my life'

The director of cinematography's first solo photography exhibition brings together two inseparable pieces of Tiryaki's life: Cinema and photography. His exciting adventure began with the discovery of his father's Instamatic camera, which he found during his childhood. "I had examined these cameras before I began to take photos. I always looked at the mechanism inside it with admiration. I began to take photos with these cameras through threading them after many years. As my relationship with the world acquired an aesthetic dimension, my relationship with photography also grew deeper. Photography became one of the loves of my life," Tiryaki said. Therefore, the director's love for photography reveals his perspective and comment on life.

About Gökhan Tiryaki

Born in 1972 in Istanbul, Tiryaki worked at TRT, the Turkish state-run TV channel, and he entered the cinema world as a cameraman in 1991. He worked as a cameraman behind many TV films and documentaries between 1991 and 1996 before he started to work as a director of cinematography in 1996. Tiryaki is famous for his cinematography in "Kış Uykusu" ("Winter Sleep"), which brought a Palme d'Or to Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who is a famous director who won many awards at home and abroad and has made many blockbuster films.