About a week ago I finally got my very first camera. I hope I get to use it for a long time. As you can see from the title, my pick was Canon. The shop where I bought it was running a promo: even with the camera already discounted, they were throwing in a spare battery, 8 GB SD card and a bag. So I told myself “this is your chance, Burak, go!” Where did I go? Straight to the fotografium.com office.

Honestly I never trust shipping for things like this, and since I was paying half in cash and half by card, I figured I might as well walk it from Sirkeci. Eventually I had it in my hands. I used to be the most impatient person whenever I bought something new, but this time I really did practice patience.

It reminded me of something. When my family bought our very first home computer, there was a “brand-new computer” ad in the newspaper, but with a 1-month wait. As the world’s most impatient kid I begged for “tomorrow, now, immediately”. So my mom mentioned it to my uncle, who said “I’ll bring you a second-hand one, cheaper”. The result? My second-hand computer arrived a full month later anyway 😀 But there was an upside — had it been brand new I would have been too scared to open it up. Because it was second-hand I opened it, poked around, and today you can hand me any laptop or desktop and I’ll tear it down and rebuild it. I have a soft spot for hardware.

Anyway, back to patience. After 6 months of saving and waiting for the right price, I now own a camera. I shot 30-40 test photos at home on day one, even tried a quick video — the quality really impressed me. Then I went on a mini tour around Sultanahmet, Sirkeci, Eminönü and Karaköy and shot roughly 600 frames. I posted my favorites on Flickr; about 20 more are still waiting for edits. For now you can see what I shared on my Flickr profile.

Photography turned out to be a lot of fun — though it would be even better with a buddy carrying a camera along. If anyone’s up for it, let’s do a photo walk. Going alone gets awkward when you need a subject. People give you weird looks if you try to point a camera at them. I avoided straight-on portraits to make sure nobody got upset; I did sneak in a few kid shots — should be fine. Sometimes I crouch on my knees to get a different angle and the people around me stare like “what is he doing?”, which is exactly when I feel like a pro. 😄

A Few of the Shots

To see the rest, head over to my Flickr profile linked above.