Honestly I’ve never had a day this strange. We hit the road at 11 in the morning, started filming around 12:30 in Gülhane with a friend — and what a shoot. We brought a tripod, lenses, and because we ran out of memory we even hauled the laptop with us. The footage came in around 35 GB in total. We started in Gülhane, but oh boy. We laughed at least 2–3 times every 60 seconds. Neither of us had ever been on camera talking before, and there we were, on a public holiday with all this gear in the middle of Gülhane surrounded by crowds and tourists.

So we start talking. As soon as we do, the people around us start staring straight into my eyes. Don’t stare so much, folks — let us get our work done. But no — at one point a kid even came up and asked “big bro, what channel is this gonna air on?” That’s where I lost it. The tourists are a whole other world: friend, you don’t understand a word, but you keep standing there watching us. While you’re staring at me how am I supposed to talk to the camera?

Forget the people, even the ambient noise was brutal. If I ever attempt a shoot like this again I’m not going without a mic. It doesn’t work — the surrounding noise drowns out our voices.

But by the end of the day, wondering whether all this footage will turn into a single video, we headed home. We left home at 11 AM and got back around 8 PM with my friend. We figured we’d start editing right away — but no, doesn’t work like that. After hours in front of a camera you can’t. I got home, put my head on the pillow around 8–9 PM, and the next thing I knew it was 1:30 PM the next day. I don’t remember the last time I slept that long in one stretch. That’s how tired I was.

Stay well! Peace be with you.