I find Mosques often to be the most photogenic of the various kinds of religious buildings. They are all quite different and unique architecture. Another cool thing, that most people don’t know, is that you can go into any mosque whenever you want, as long the prayer services are not going on (assuming you’re not a Muslim). Depending on the country, women can go in too as long as they wear a headscarf…

Exploring Istanbul

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-02 16:02:29
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length15.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

I had a local friend from Istanbul take me to a cool rooftop restaurant for dinner one evening. We sat up there and dined through sunset and watched the Hagia Sophia as all the lights started to pop on. When the lights were just about perfect, I jumped up, set up the tripod, and grabbed this shot. If you have a chance to go to Istanbul, I definitely recommend it.

The Hagia Sophia at night

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-03 00:37:15
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time0.6
• Aperture4.5
• ISO200
• Focal Length39.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-2

If you make it to this city, don’t miss this spot! They didn’t let me take a tripod in there, so I had to get pretty inventive when it came to securing the camera. Sometimes I would just jam it up against one of the columns… and that’s what I did here! The only way I could get it stable was in this off-center way, but decided it looked pretty cool!

The Ancient Roman Cistern under Istanbul

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-02 22:32:24
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time13
• Aperture4
• ISO800
• Focal Length11.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

I only had 48 hours there, so I did my best to make the most of it. One great thing about the city is there are several rooftop restaurants, so it’s always easy to get multiple views of the Hagia Sophia. I knew a lot about the Hagia Sophia ahead of time thanks to how many times I had built it while playing Civilization!

Exploring Istanbul

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-02 18:33:39
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/1000
• Aperture6.3
• ISO200
• Focal Length115.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias+0.3

As far as religious buildings go, I tend to enjoy taking photos in mosques rather than churches or cathedrals. This is not a blanket rule, of course, because a few cathedrals can be rather stunning. They all get a little boring after a while, though… kind of predictable. But as you can see here, inside the Blue Mosque, the level of design and color blows away most of the rather dreary cathedrals in the world.

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-02 16:05:55
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1
• Aperture8
• ISO100
• Focal Length12.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias

I was working on a large format book, and this photo will probably go inside. When I started looking at my previous edit, I saw all sorts of mistakes. I thought, hey, those will be easy to fix. They weren’t. I probably spent a good four hours on the clean-up of this bad boy.

A Remastering of the Hagia Sofia

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-03 19:07:42
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time0.6
• Aperture7.1
• ISO100
• Focal Length11.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

I would love to get back to Turkey to take more photos. I only spent a few days here, so just barely enough time to explore the highlights of Istanbul. As you know, I hate to go into “tourist” mode and only visit the places that are popular, but if you only have a short amount of time, I guess that’s what you gotta do. And even going into these places like the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia, my goal was to try to get a unique angle… something a bit different. Fortunately, a friend told me about this epic rooftop restaurant where I could get some epic views of the Blue Mosque as the sun sets. I’d gladly share it with you if I remembered the name!

Beautiful Istanbul at Sunset

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-02 23:20:26
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/800
• Aperture6.3
• ISO125
• Focal Length37.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-2.7

On my last night in Istanbul, I was really wanting some more night shots, but not around all the main mosques. So I walked down by the seafront to check out what I could see. There was a lot of activity and I thought it was all very safe. I know some people are scared to go to Istanbul, but I wouldn’t give it a second thought. It’s also fun to stop at all these street vendors and have a little taste!

Grabbing a Snack in Istanbul

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-03 03:58:25
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/8
• Aperture13
• ISO800
• Focal Length24.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-2

I’ve finally decided to take action with all nine of these lamps that I’ve collected from around the world. For the longest time, they’ve just been sitting around my home… but now, I have a designer working on hanging them all up so it’s a cute little path from the main house out to the studio… I’ll let you know how it goes! This particular photo was from Istanbul.

No Photos at the Lamp Store

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-03 21:12:16
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time1/400
• Aperture4
• ISO1600
• Focal Length13.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1

Look, a wonder of the world! At least, it’s a wonder in Civilization. There are many different lists for Wonders of the World, and I never know which one to believe. Oh well, no matter, because this is on MY list. At first, when I went in here, I was a bit bummed out about the scaffolding. But then I decided to embrace it as a moment in time… and I think in embracing it and in the post processing, it came out quite interesting. I think it actually looks kind of cool, and it reminds me of a space station building a starship or something like this…

Inside the Hagia Sofia

Photo Information

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• Date Taken2016-10-03 19:07:42
• CameraILCE-7RM2
• Camera MakeSony
• Exposure Time0.6
• Aperture7.1
• ISO100
• Focal Length11.0 mm
• FlashOff, Did not fire
• Exposure ProgramAperture-priority AE
• Exposure Bias-1