Women of Istanbul

Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Muslim women of Istanbul are intriguing. I loved to notice the different colors and styles of scarves (or hijab). Sometimes the womens' patterned scarves totally clashed with what they were wearing, and others matched a scarf to their outfit just so. It's neat to see a tradition shared among women of several generations-- young and old. 

I think the scarves really bring out their facial features, don't you think? There's no hair to hide behind.

I never got turned down so much when asking for a photo, but it was worth it for the handful I did get. [Rejection is painful at first, but after a few times of feeling dumb, you get used to it.] 

- Julia


29 comments :

  1. This is a beautiful set of photographs.

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  2. very cool portraits! there's definitely something beautiful and liberating about the hijab.

    ps. i'm in the midst of planning my wedding for next december (2011). I love your style of photography and was wondering if I could discuss what I'm looking for (it's a tad bit unique) and see if it'd be something you would want to shoot? I'm from San Francisco and we're planning a fun cocktail party in the penthouse suite at the Fairmont. Anyways my blog is camillaleila.blogspot.com if you want to see who i am and let me know when and how to contact you?

    Thanks!!
    xoxo

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  3. Camilla- Check your email. I think I hunted down the right email address from your blog. Your wedding sounds fabulous already, do tell me more.

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  4. These are so so pretty. Good for you for having the courage to ask!

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  5. Hello Julia, a very beautiful and telling series, you are brave as well as talented - I am very happy to have found your blog.

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  6. Stunning! Any rejection you got was worth it for this lovely smattering.

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  7. LOVE this! And yes their facial features are much more prominent with out the hair.

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  8. Loved them! I'm glad you took the risk and asked for the photos, this is an incredible set.

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  9. Julia, this is beautiful. As a hijab wearer myself, it''s really nice to be thought of as unique. I'd never turn down a request to be photographed if the result is as good as this ;)

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  10. I am seriously in love with this blog. I am here from Camilla's blog...and will be adding you to my favorites!

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  11. This is amazing--what incredible pictures. My aunt is a Muslim woman from Istanbul (although she doesn't wear a hijab). I admire your bravery in asking for pictures, because this project was clearly totally worth it.

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  12. beautiful colour scarves and lovely photos Julia :)

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  13. the girl with the brown leather jacket is very modern and stylish and the older woman with the black floral scarf reminds me of the ones I have from Russia. very beautiful women and photos.

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  14. So brave of you to ask to take pictures! I'm a Muslim and the I would definitely have been too terrified to ask them haha... you're photos are amazing, and your subjects are gorgeous...My fave is the older woman in the 6th photo...perfection :)

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  15. Thanks for all the encouraging words and positive feedback! I think this will help me be more brave next time. I love photo collections of specific things. Maybe I can expand on this collection with time.

    Sya- That's the attitude! I would have loved to photograph you in your hijab.

    Nuha- I think I might agree with you. She has the most weathered face and the most colorful/beautiful scarf. Its such a neat combination.

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  16. Julia! You are my hero. I am going to quote what you said about not being too shy to ask on my blog if you don't mind. Beauuutiful photos as always!!!!

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  17. Annie- You're going to quote ME? What an honor. I checked your blog but didn't find it. Thanks for making me feel special.

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  18. julia, thank you for the lovely photos of istanbul women! my favorite is the lady on the second line from bottom, the one wearing bright orange abstract-patterned headscarf.
    i also wear hijab and this post kinda inspires me to make a similar post on hijabis here in jakarta. are you going to make a stop in indonesia?

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  19. Stargirl- You should definitely do it in your city and share with us. We will actually be passing through Jakarta for a few days at the end of this month (Jan 27-30 to be exact), then head to Bali. Any recommendations from a local?

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  20. just happened upon your blog and you've already won me over. blow away by these portraits. you seem to have captured such genuine faces.

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  21. julia and yuriy,
    for jakarta, here's my recommendations, starting from the north jakarta area:

    - sunda kelapa area, there is a timber port and the adjacent kampung luar batang (kampung: village)
    like many big cities in indonesia, jakarta started from a port. nowadays it only serves as a port for timbers, but we can see wooden schooners here. i love watching the download activity. you can climb the tilted menara syahbandar (the lookout tower) and visit a small fish market nearby.
    - the old town, in the past it was the center for dutch colonial government. today, the building are turned into museums, such as wayang (puppet) museum, ceramic museum.
    - glodok, the chinatown. you can see klenteng (temples) and wander through the small alleys.
    - get a bird eye's view of jakarta from monumen nasional (national monument), we call it monas for short. it's a 130-meter tall monument that lies in the center of jakarta.
    - while you're around monas, there's museum nasional (national museum) that displays artifacts from the hindu and buddha kingdoms that existed in the past.
    - i notice that jan. 28 is friday. would you like to see people going to a friday prayer? masjid istiqlal (istiqlal mosque) and the catholic cathedral are actually situated next to each other. when the prayer takes place (around midday), you may take pictures from the cathedral. but after the prayer is over, you can visit the mosque, too.
    - jalan sabang (sabang street) has many street eateries. and since it's located behind the business district, you can do people-watching during lunch hour and until 9 p.m.
    - jalan jaksa (jaksa street) has many backpacker motels, cafes and second hand bookstores.
    - another spot to do people-watching is probably kemang, south jakarta.
    - also, while you're in java island, try the real java:) my suggestion is bakoel koffie cafe and anomali cafe.

    i hope it helps. sorry if the recommendation is too history-center, i'm a history fan:) i don't really hang out much, so i don't know the hip areas, hahaha.
    if you have any questions about jakarta, i'd be happy to help. my email is: stargirl.supernova@gmail.com.

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  22. Stargirl- Wow, thank you! I know writing that up wasn't easy. We love history too and it looks like you pointed out things that will really interest us. Thank you so much!

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  23. defenately i agreed!

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  24. Hey... howcome you only took pictures of scarved woman? How about the ''modern'' Turkish women??? :( Our country is very modern and I wish you had pictures of women like me! (Modern, educated, goes to hair salon, bright hair colored and doesn't wear scarves)

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  25. Begooo- Yes there are many women who don't wear scarves in Turkey, but I can find those all over the world. We chose to photograph just women with scarves because they were unique. Hope you like them.

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  26. Ooooh ok now I get it :) My only concern was this: All of the posts have very beautiful pictures of Istanbul and the environment. However, there are no pictures of the modern women of Istanbul :) I don't want people to think like women of Istanbul are not modern :( That's totally not ture, as you already know that :)
    p.s. I love your photography!!!

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  27. didn't you see a woman not wearing scarves?

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