Festivals and Events

Istanbul Photography Days of IFSAK

(the Istanbul Photography and Cinema Amateurs’s Club, www.ifsak.org.tr;
Address: İstiklal Cad. Ayhan Işık Sok. No:32/2 34433 Beyoğlu;
Phone: +90 (212) 292 42 01 / +90 (212) 292 18 07
Email: iletisim@ifsak.org.tr )

The festival has been held since 1985 and remains the major photography event of Turkey. At this festival, which lasts one month, photograph enthusiasts from Turkey and all over the world have a chance to join to exhibitions, lectures, forums and workshops with photography masters. The activity was also carried to the international field since it has been continuously growing with the participation of Alex Webb, Paolo Pellegrin, Anders Petersen, Joachim Ladefoged, Pentti Sammalahti, Kent Klich, Susan Schwartzenberg, Stanley Green, World Press Photo, Photography Center of Thessaloniki, and the Italian Federation of Photography Associations.

With the development of new festivals, IFSAK has decided to organize the Photography Days every even number years and the Young Photographers Festival every odd number years.

The month of November also holds some of the most important photography activities, "Come with Your Photograph” and "Photo-Marathon Competition".

The Young Photographers’ Festival aims to promote the exhibitions of the under 30 younger photographers around a theme. This festival was supposed to be organized every odd years but it was just organized 2 times, the last one in 2007.

UFAT in Bursa

UFAT is the student club of photography at the University of Uludağ. It is another important student initiative and every year they organize the Bursa Fotoğraf Günleri “Photography Days” (www.fotografgunleri.org) where nationally renowned photographers have the opportunity to meet, exhibit, share their know-how, and create a network.

The Photography Week of Eskişehir, which was organized for the 5th time this year in spring, is organized by the Eskişehir Art of Photography Club; (www.efsad.com.tr; info@efsad.com.tr, Phone: +90 (222) 3304777), the Photography Club of the Anatolian University (http://www.anfo.anadolu.edu.tr/ ; anfo.bilgi@gmail.com), and the Eti Photography Club. This year they covered a large retrospective of the last 50 years in Turkish photography.

Even though all those festivals constitute the main photography activities of Turkey, they remain on an amateur level and fail to broaden and develop the photography scene of the country. They need to create more international platforms and to widen their perception to become much more up to date and contemporary.