bufok fanzine
DESCRIPTION
Boğaziçi University Photography Club MagazineTRANSCRIPT
WHO IS BUFOK?
BUFOK's roots date back to 1929 when it was founded under the name "Robert
College Photography Club". It got its current name in 1972.
Many a photographer who made a name for themselves in our country such as Nuri
Bilge Ceylan, Laleper Aytek, Orhan Cem Cetin and Ali Taskiran were members of this
club. Our club has also earned its reputation with being the first college
photography club in Turkey.
In 1996 BUFOK started to publish its own photography magazine called Genis Aci
(Wide Angle) and has distributed it countrywide and has been very successful. By
publishing 50 issues it has filled the photography magazine gap in Turkey and has
become more modern and higher in quality.
Because of some issues, our club has been absent from the publishing scene for
the last couple of years, however now it is in the phase of renewal and revival. We
hope that after this phase BUFOK will return back to its former reputation. In the
coming pages we will talk about all the events that we have organized this year.
Translator: Su Akaydın
CONTENTS
CLOSED BOX
THIS AND THAT
NURİ BİLGE CEYLAN SPECIAL
FROM OUR MEMBERS
NEW POSE
GERDA TARO
FROM OUR ALUMNI
WHAT IS BUFOK DOING?
WHY A FANZİNE?
It has been almost 10 years since the early 00's when the digital age of
photography really started. We have been buried under a mass of photography,
produced either solo or collectively. This is the reason why this fanzine you are
holding in your hands right now came to be, to purely being able to touch photos
away from all the chaos. Of course our aim is to produce as much photos without
using up too much paper.
[email protected] || www.facebook.com/groups/bufokmail
CLOSED BOX
I've been living in this closed box since I've been born. Nobody wanted to show me
what was outside of the box, but I saw it for myself. Now I want to escape it but they
have me pinned down with invisible chains. A life with drawn out limitations. A closed
box surrounded by bars made of prejudice... What are all these responsibilities,
expectations, and limitations for? Why do they look at me like that, why do they
interfere with my life? They are waiting for me to surrender. No, I wont accept it. I'm
trying to find a solution but all I can do for now is scream until my lungs hurt. I scream
so I don't go insane. Do you think anyone hears me?
It's all there. The labels you slap on to me the moment you see me. The labels you
put without giving it a second thought, without knowing who I am. The way you talk
about me without knowing me, the way you criticize my everything, the way you label
something different as wrong... I carry all those with me.
How many of us have been lucky enough to be someone who they want to be? Without
us even knowing our roles were pre-prepared for us. You created stereotypes and
banished the ones that didn't fit. Our free will was called "failure". You stole our
freedom, defiled our dreams.
Now, as you read this and look at this photo, you again create new prejudices, don't
you?
Routine, ordinariness and numbness of the brain. An effort to look happy, when
nobody is. I've become numb now; I'm numb and slowly dying.
I don't know what the end of this story will bring. Maybe one day I won't even have the
energy for a last stand, a last struggle and I will be devoured. Years later after I've
succumbed, these pages will come back to haunt me and I will be ashamed of myself.
"Coward" I will call myself, because I hadn't been brave enough in this game where
we only have one life. But there is another option. A tree blooming green amidst the
black, a leaf falling, an escape. It's the rustle of the branches that keeps me alive.
Photographer: Onur Hunce
Model: Can Ortak
NEW POSE
Waiting with big anticipation under the red light, while the photo develops in the
developer fluid after taking it out of the aggrandizer. The image in the negative literally
comes to life as the reaction happens and a fresh and new pose appears in front of
you. The darkroom creates such an atmosphere that your photograph can totally turn
into something else. This time I applied some developer fluid on the negative with the
help of a brush and now the photo does not just reflect what has been shot but is
more selective in what it chooses to show.
Alican Barkan
THIS AND THAT
WIGGLE WIGGLE, 2015
Merdan Berk
GERDA TARO
Who is Gerda Taro you say? She is more than three consecutive shots that were
photographed by Robert Capa, she is the first woman war photographer, Orwell's lost
camera, the closing eyes of Anarchist Barcelona...
Gerda is the youngest daughter of a middle class family
and was born in 1910, in Stuttgart. After getting arrested
during a NSGWP rally in her 20's, she was exiled to Paris
where she would meet Capa who was going to play a big
role in her life. When she met Capa she got introduced to
the world of photography. In 1935 with the help of a Leica
they were barely able to get from a pawnshop, they started
their agency that would later on produce their much
coveted photography.
Just then a great war,
that would change the
history of thought of the
20th century, broke out
in the south, the Spanish
Civil War. During the very
first day of the war Taro,
Capa and David Seymour
cross the border. They
document the victorious
days of Barcelona and
the foundations of the
biggest anarcho-
communist structure in
the world.
Taro, creates a name for herself with her unique techniques and by keeping a close
eye on current events, among the leftist French media of the time, where she worked
alongside with Capa and Seymour. They become the only image source for the
independent foreign media of the time.
According to
Eric Blair, Spain
suffered the
worst
propaganda
and media
censorship in
history. While
non-existent
wars were being
written, a blind
eye was turned
towards conflicts in which thousands of people died. Gerda Taro and a journalist
friend of hers get trapped during an air raid in Madrid. Chances of survival seems
next to zero and they document the aircrafts as if trying to show that they aren't
dying for naught.
Taro was expected to return by train to Paris the next day. But she never arrived at
the train station where Capa awaited her. Taro dies.
Eric Blair wrote about the lost revolution of a lost country. He lost his camera when
he got shot so only his writings remain. Gerda Taro photographed the lost revolution
of a lost country. She died. Her photographs remained.
Do not spray into eyes, I have sprayed you into my eyes
3:10 pm, Capa pends death, quivers, last rattles, last chokes
All colors and cares glaze to gray, shriveled and stricken to dots
Left hand grasps what the body grasps not, le photographe est mort
...
Do not spray into eyes, I have sprayed you into my eyes
Hey Taro1*
Onur Ciddi
1 Taro, Alt-J
NURİ BİLGE CEYLAN FROM THE BUFOK ARCHIVES
Nuri Bilge Ceylan is one of the former presidents of BUFOK. While perusing through
our archives we found some photos he worked on in the club. We wanted to share
these special photos, of which we think are no other copies, with you with his
permission.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, his self-portrait in front of the darkroom
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
PRETEND IT’S AN ANALOG
I’m sure it has happened to you too before. I look. The more I look the more I see. If I
look less, I see less. A scene sparks my interest. It grabs my attention. Sometimes,
bam! I take a quick photo of it. Sometimes I get good results but sometimes I say, “I
wish I had shot it further away, I wish I had included the kid in the background” or “I
wish I hadn’t included the kid in the background, I wish I had shot the depth of field
in a wider angle so I could take in all the textures” and so on. A regret one feels after
missing an opportunity. “I wish I had..”
Digital cameras are
wonderful devices. In
addition to many
perks, they give us
the luxury of being
able to take photos
quicker and enable
us to move quicker
too. Wee see, we
take a photo.
Sometimes we shoot
tens of photos, look
through them, they seem good so we move on.
However us rushing can cause us to miss opportunities. We become a quicker
photographer.
However we miss being a photographer, who makes a difference with his choices or
makes these choices consciously. Also it may not be always possible to create a bond
between oneself and the subject or scene, or to enjoy internalizing what is happening
in front of us.
I have been taking photos with a digital camera for about five years now. Last year I
bought a medium-format and large-format analog camera. I learned a lot from these
cameras.
First of all, in order to shoot with the medium-format camera, one has to really plan
which film is going to be used for what kind of shots. You can’t rush it. When you can’t
rush it you look at the scene. When
I look at the scene, I see new
relationships, new patterns, new
objects, new textures, new lighting,
and new options. Afterwards I make
a decision on how I am going to use
these. What I want starts to take a
form in my mind. During this
process, the bond between me and
the thing I am looking at,
strengthens. I don’t fuss with the
camera or concern myself with what
is coming next but with the thing that is right in front of me at that moment. The
camera does not get between my work and me.
After the decision is made, the technical side of things is much simpler on an analog
camera. It suffices to decide on the exposure with a light meter, a sunny16 or
sometimes with pure experience and to play with the diaphragm and instantiation
settings. After that of course it is also important not to shake while taking the photo
Wide-format is much harder. First of all it is next to impossible to take a photo without
a tripod when using a wide-format camera. The camera, tripod, cartridges, lenses and
loop make a very heavy backpack to carry. Setting up the camera is in and of itself a
ritual. Set up the tripod, mount the camera, open the camera, put the lens on, focus,
tinker with the standards and focus again, if not try to focus again… In order not to
say “I wish I had set up the camera a little farther” you have to really decide where
you are going to stand.
For this, one has to focus the scene nicely, go through options, try to imagine how
each camera will see the scene and internalize everything that is going on.
At this stage you don’t have a
camera. It is just you and the
object/scene. The feeling this
process gives is probably one of
the most satisfying things for a
photographer. After all decisions
are made, one just has to set up
the camera, get the settings
straight and push the shutter
button.
During the year I used my analog
camera, I understood the
importance of these
experiences better and I since have been trying to transfer these experiences onto
my digital photos. Before I even take the camera in my hands, I stop and look at what
I’m going to shoot. I start to imagine. Sometimes I pause for a while and stop looking,
and then come back and look at it some more. The camera does not get between me
and my object or scene. After that, when I’ve decided on what and from where I’ll take
the photo I take the camera out and push the shutter button.
For a better experience I now take photos with my digital camera as if I were using an
analog camera.
Selim İmer
94’ Mezunu
FROM OUR MEMBERS
Gökberk Koçak
Onur Ciddi
Begüm Yılmaz
Ömer Ak
Ömer Ak
BÜFOK NE YAPIYOR?
During the first semester
we organized trips to the
Historical Peninsula,
Anatolian Lighthouse on
Garipce, Cengelkoy-
Kuzguncuk and Balat.
Before every trip BUFOK
got caught in rain. From
now on we prepare for the
trips expecting rain :)
In between the two semesters we went on a Bursa trip despite the heavy snow fall.
In addition to the regular trips, seminars and darkroom workshops some changes
were made. We renovated our clubroom in which cats had been living for the last
couple of years. We even turned the small clubroom into a studio.
We will continue where we left off in the second semester. We will be glad to have
new members coming who are interested in photography!
BÜFOK 2014-2015 ADMINISTRATIVE BODY
President: Onur Hunce
Vice President: Alican Barkan
Bookkeeper: Gizem Kılıç
Secretary: Kadernur Akpınar
Core Members: Onur Ciddi, Atakan Arıkan, Salih Tosun,
Sevcan Özkılınç, Kemal Berk Kocabağlı, Aylin Gülüm
CONTRIBUTORS
We thank Can Ortak, Merdan Berk, Ömer Ak and the Bogazici University press for
helping during the production.
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Güney Kampüs, 1. Erkek Yurdu Altı, Bebek / İstanbul
OPEN CALL
This is an open call by BUFOK, which has in the past published Geniş
Açı and Kare and now works hard in order to publish a new magazine.
Contribution is essential for this fanzine that you are holding in your
hand and for the continuation of the functioning of the group that has
made this fanzine possible.
This is a timeless open call for everyone who is reading this to partake
in BUFOKFANZINE. There are no subject limitations. If you have any
questions you can reach us from the below mentioned places:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/bufokmail
Our door is open for everyone!