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Istanbul Unseen
An intimate portrait of Istanbul, found in the everyday moments that usually pass unnoticed.
Istanbul Unseen is a photographic exploration of the city’s overlooked everyday life. Across 143 photographs, street fountains, market counters, ferry crossings, working boats and island doorsteps become ways of reading how the city is inhabited. The project follows small gestures, shared spaces and passing encounters that are easy to miss.
Conceived as a 188-page photobook, the sequence moves through five chapters: Ground Level, Edges of the City, Working Water, Island Time and Last Light. Images are paired through repeated colours, forms and gestures, bringing distant neighbourhoods into conversation. Generous layouts and short texts give each scene room to be noticed.
A closing register and series of maps connect the photographs to their locations across Istanbul, the Bosphorus and the Princes’ Islands. Together, the book offers a personal portrait of a city shaped by daily use, memory and the act of looking again.
Location
Istanbul, Türkiye
Year
2026
Project Type
Photography & Photobook Design
Format
143 photographs · 188 pages
01
Istanbul Unseen
01
Cover
The things we pass by. A photobook of everyday Istanbul.
02
A City, Noticed in Passing
An invitation to notice the small scenes that shape everyday life in Istanbul.
03
Water Within Reach
Zekeriyaköy: an everyday encounter with a street fountain.
04
A Few Steps Apart
Bostancı Sahil: the same waterfront walk, framed by two different trees.
05
Under a Canvas Sky
İstinye Pazarı: temporary canopies turn an ordinary street into a place of exchange.
06
A Pattern in Passing
Bottle caps on Bağdat Caddesi meet the tiles of Topkapı through colour and repetition.
07
Edges of the City
Fener Rum Ortaokulu ve Lisesi appears between the roofs of everyday city life.
08
Working Water
Galata Köprüsü: fishing rods and daily rituals form another skyline.
09
The Work of Hands
On the Bosphorus, net making is observed through gestures, threads and changing distance.
10
Down to the Water
Kınalıada: the sea enters the view before the street reaches the shore.
11
At Their Own Pace
Burgazada: cats trace another rhythm through windows, pavements and patches of sun.
12
Along the Timber Walls
Büyükada: timber houses, gates and street corners hold traces of island life.
13
On the Way Home
Across the Sea of Marmara, the ferry frames the last light and the receding shore.
14
Still Lit
Süleymaniye Camii: the city opens out again through light reflected on the water.
15
Where We Looked
A location register connects the photographs to areas and landmarks across Istanbul.
16
The Islands and the Shore
Büyükada, Burgazada and Kınalıada are read alongside the Asian shore and the Sea of Marmara.
- Dark green Istanbul Unseen book cover with a photograph of a man leaning towards a street fountain.
- Opening book spread with the project introduction and five chapter titles on cream pages.
- Photobook spread showing a man bending towards a stone street fountain in Zekeriyaköy.
- Two photographs of a walker beside the sea at Bostancı, framed by a young tree and a broad canopy.
- Book spread pairing the words Under a canvas sky with a photograph of produce stalls at İstinye Pazarı.
- Paired photographs of colourful bottle caps and blue patterned tiles, presented on a cream book spread.
- Chapter spread with a photograph of the red Fener school rising above neighbouring roofs.
- Book spread showing anglers along Galata Bridge beside the Working water chapter title.
- Colour and black-and-white photographs of hands working on fishing nets.
- Book spread showing a residential street on Kınalıada descending towards the sea at dusk.
- Two photographs of cats on Burgazada, one at a window and another walking through sunlight.
- Paired photographs of weathered timber houses and a quiet street on Büyükada.
- Dark blue book spread with sunset viewed from a ferry and a luminous wake on dark water.
- Dark green chapter spread paired with the illuminated Süleymaniye Mosque and reflections on the water.
- Book spread with a list of photograph locations beside a stylised map of Istanbul.
- Book spread mapping the Princes’ Islands, the Sea of Marmara and parts of Istanbul’s Asian shore.
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