This photo was taken in September 2010. The photo depicts the world famous Armenian photographer Ara Güler. He is sitting at the Güler café on Yeni Packman (New Market) Street in Istanbul.
At that time, the master was 82 years old. It was a great enjoyment for us, the Armenian journalists to accidentally meet with the master nicknamed “the eye of Istanbul” at the café named after him. He was taciturn and shared just a few sentences with us. We did not want to disturb his state of being calm and simply took seats in the same café, at the tables next to Güler to enjoy his presence. Tea and coffee seemed uniquely delicious that day.
Ara Güler is one of the seven most popular photographers in the world, he has won many prestigious awards, particularly in 2009, he was awarded the «Lucie» prize, which is the “Oscar” in the industry of photography. In 2000, the master was recognized as a “Photographer of the Century” in Turkey. Ara Güler has photographed such figures in politics, culture and other fields, including Winston Churchill, Maria Callas, John Berger, Bernard Russell, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Indira Gandhi, Sophia Loren and William Saroyan.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
