Sunday stroll...

Last weekend, I took a stroll along the canals in London. I started from Victoria Park and went to Haggerston stopping by Columbia Road flower market and Broadway Market on my way. Along the way, I ended up becoming friends with a cat, getting some nice tea and listening to a great band playing some of the best folk blues I had listened to in a while...all of which sit in my photo gallery on DeviantArt now. It was just like my other Sunday strolls in my neighbourhood, but this time spring had come and the sun was shining. Hope you can feel the warm glow in the photos.  Check them out here.

the Masquerade

The Venice Carnival has been brought back from the dead by the Italian government in the 70s to reinstate the Venetian tradition of the mask and costume, which was only allowed to be worn during specific times of the year due to the 'immoral' behavior mask-bearers would indulge in.  But most likely, the revival of this carnival was to promote tourism. I must say it works, as I found myself in the narrow cobbled streets  of Venice last weekend during the last three days of the carnival.

Despite the annoying number of annoying tourists in the city, I could get some great shots of men and women donning their most elaborate costumes and masks (check out my DeviantArt gallery for the photos).  There is something magical and a bit eerie in the way they hold themselves - very still with only the slightest of movements.  For most of them, I couldn't even see their eyes behind their full-face masks, called bautas.  I could only see blank, black holes that looked out at me.  The background of gondolas, San Marco, and the aquatic city just made the whole experience very cinematic.

I created a video from my trip to highlight this eerie feeling of statuesque poses and slight movements that belie it all.  Check it out on Vimeo! Link here.

"I couldn't even see her eyes moving behind the bauta. Her statuesque pose echoed the city's stillness. Then the slightest of movements - a nod, a shift of the fingers, a footstep - gave away what lay underneath the mask and the costume. It was in those fleeting moments that Venice came to be as it once was. Every man and woman in a masquerade ball pretending; a carnival celebrating the Venetian tradition of anonymity."

"Miniature Adventure" - a Photomotion Roadtrip

I finally decided to challenge myself with a Vimeo Weekend Project now that I have my DSLR. My first attempt can be seen at this link.  The rules were simple: to create a video of any length using Vanchy's "Catching The Simple But Happy Days (Electronica road song)" on SoundCloud.

After four hours of taking photos of millimetric movements, I had my first submission. Video consists of ~1,500 stills. Shot entirely on Nikon D7000 with Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4 G and Nikon 18-105mm VR lenses. Edited and color graded in Final Cut Pro.

A groovy mascot goes on a road trip his own size.  Check it out on Vimeo!  Link here.  Looking forward to feedback in general as I'm still learning my DSLR and the new methods with which I can create video.  Constructive criticism welcome!

On the way to Cinematography...

I am fascinated by the camera and how it emulates how the human eye sees the world.  From aperture to shutter speed, SLR technology allows us to capture the exact moments in time that we see.  Even tough my main goal is to work in cinematography, I am delving into stills photography to understand the workings of the camera better.  As such, I have established a new gallery on DeviantART where I'll be posting my best photography work.  I will also try to post and tweet informational blogs and articles on the subject that I read.  The first one to come will be on the 180 degree rule in shooting video with a DSLR.

Until then, enjoy my first work: a portrait of Deniz Harut. Below is a low resolution version of the image, which you can view in full resolution on DeviantART here.

A Heart as Big as the Universe

Kosmos (2010) - dir. Reha Erdem - 4 stars

"The funny thing about life is that everybody has the same fate" declares Kosmos, Reha Erdem's latest protagonist.  As one of the first lines of dialogue in the film, this quote profoundly captures the essence of what Erdem is trying to convey with his creation. Sufi ideals, shamanistic rituals and a lot of frantic running dominate Kosmos and defines its visuals, sound, rhythm and mise-en-scène, which combine for a worthwhile experience albeit a bit long.


Seemingly to appear out of nowhere, a stranger named Battal finds himself in the middle of a snow-covered landscape. As soon as he approaches a town, he ends up saving the life of a boy drowned in the river. Immediately, he becomes a local hero, but his enigmatic speeches make the locals weary. Battal claims that he's looking for love and nothing else, as nothing else matters in the world, which is greeted with laughter and ridicule. Soon, strange events take hold of the town from mysterious robberies to a crashing satellite. The stranger becomes a loved and hated prophet as suspicions grow. On top of it all, he falls in love with the sister of the boy he had saved, who chooses to name herself Neptune.  It is poignant that in reaction Battal names himself Kosmos, as the quest for love is as old and infinite as the universe itself.


Sufi ideals such as the quest for true love take center stage in Kosmos' language and are introduced via various scenes.  The main argument is that, regardless of good or evil, the same fate awaits everyone. Therefore, it is vain and useless to try and define oneself as superior by comparison to other people or animals. At the end of the day, we're no better than a duck, a cow or a bird. As such, many visual juxtapositions are made between humans and animals in the film. Multiple close-ups on cows' eyes are interspersed with other tracking shots of ducks running away. There are many lines in the script that consistently refer to how humans define themselves in relation to animals, which is problematic in principal. We are not as special as we think we are, and the more special we think we are, the less we can understand the world and our place in it. Kosmos patiently explains this in various dialogues he has with other characters.


Sufi elements are further strengthened with shamanistic rituals that fortify the fantastic aura of the film. Firstly, Kosmos heals people in a ritualistic manner, but more prominently, his mating calls with his lover, Neptune, are striking. Throughout the film, Neptune and Kosmos call out to each other like birds. They tease, flirt and play as if they're animals.  The constant mating calls reach a crescendo when they almost literally transform themselves to birds perched on the bed frame. The euphoria of requited love is enough for both as no sexual release takes place. Erdem pulls together the sounds and visuals of this scene in such wizardry that this seemingly unnatural act appears to be completely natural and plausible. Goosebumps abound.


On the topic of sound, Erdem's attention to the soundscape of the film is constant throughout, which extends the suspension of disbelief. The soundscape is full and vibrant, pulling in the audience to the environment of the film and complementing the ominous visuals.


All things considered, Erdem delivers a powerful punch with Kosmos. The cinematography and sound design both picked up awards at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival along with Best Film and Best Director awards.  The script, written by Erdem, is fairly mature and well-written; however, the film could probably be trimmed to be tighter and shorter.  Regardless of its fantastic visuals, engrossing sound and overall impressive vision of its world, it will be hard for the film to reach to the mainstream as distributors are likely to shy away from it due to the above sticking points. Let that not be a hindrance though as it deserves a place in the cinephile's library.