In the summer of 2023 I decided to take a street photography trip to Istanbul as I’d heard great things about this historic city and it’s been a popular place for street photographers over the last few years. Aside from street photography Istanbul is a city I’ve wanted to visit for a long time due to its diverse culture and iconic landmarks. After all it’s not known as the ‘Gateway to the Middle East’ for nothing! For this trip I stayed only on the European side and would have loved to have made it over to the Asian side if I had visited for longer.

So after a 4 hour flight from London Heathrow, I landed at the vast Istanbul airport around 8pm. The airport felt very quiet, but still took me a good half an hour until I got out of there due to the size of it! The best way to the get into the City centre is by travelling on the M11 line which takes you into Gayrettepe Station, but it’s a long journey, the best part of an hour. At Gayrettepe I changed to the M2 line, however unlike London Underground stations, when you change lines in Istanbul you have to exit the station and then go back into another entrance for the other line, which became very tedious throughout the trip. I was staying at the Raddison Hotel President Old Town so I got off at the Vezniciler station. Unfortunately I couldn’t check Google Maps as I didn’t have data on my phone and finding wifi spots was proving very problematic. I must have been into at least 6 different hotels to ask the staff where this hotel was! I eventually found it, by which time it was late so pretty much went straight to bed.

Day 1 - Sulanahmet/Karakoy

The next morning I started off with a satisfying hotel breakfast and headed out to explore the local area. It was late May 2023 and the city was heating up, already around 25 degrees centigrade. WIth me was my Fujifilm X-T3 and the 35mm 1.4 lens, I didn’t bring any other lenses with me to keep things light. I was staying in the Old Town on the south of the river close to Sulanahmet and headed west on the first morning just walking and walking, as this was the old part of Istanbul it felt very traditional, however there were no other tourists around and not a lot to see so realised I must have been missing something! After a lot of walking I eventually made my way over to the other side of the river which is when I realised this was a very different area to the south side.

Once I set foot on the Galata Koprusu bridge I began to feel the energy of the Istanbul locals, there were people everywhere, I soon realised Istanbul was a busy city. The first thing I noticed was how many men were on the bridge trying to catch fish from the river, literally hundreds!

Once on the other side of the bridge I found a buzzing little neighbourhood with lovely restaurants and coffee shops, The view back from the port area over the river was stunning, I carried on walking further north through winding little streets. The area I found was called Karakoy and realised I’d be spending a lot of time here! Karakoy is a small area by the port in the district of Beyoglu. I knew straight away that this was a great area for street photography, it just felt like a cool place to hang out. It had a nice mix of traditional Ottoman-era buildings with new classy bars and cafes.

Day 2 - Grand Bazaar/Blue Mosque

On Day 2 I explored the area around my hotel and headed for the Grand Bazaar as I’d heard a lot about this sprawling indoor market. I thought it would be a great place for street photography and as I entered I was overwhelmed by the number of shops and stalls selling everything you can imagine., including textiles, spices, jewellery and ceramics. Located in the Faith neighbourhood it is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. Construction first began in 1455 and suffered from multiple fires meaning it needed to be rebuilt in parts throughout the years. Sadly, in terms of street photography it didn’t feel like a comfortable place to take shots, it felt like each time I walked past a stall with my camera peoples eyes were just fixated on me waiting to take a shot, maybe it was just paranoia. I felt much more comfortable outside in the surrounding streets where there were plenty more opportunities.

After the Grand Bazaar I headed towards the Blue Mosque as I knew this was something I had to get up close to. Also known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque it was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the Ottoman era. It has a central dome which is 43 metres high and is surrounded by four semi-domes. The size and scale of it can only be appreciated by visiting as no photograph will do it justice.

Day 3 - Galata/Taksim

On Day 3 I headed back over the Galata Koprusu Bridge to Karakoy, but this time I headed west towards the Galata Tower. I’d seen this amazing piece of architecture from afar, but was keen to get close up to it. It originates from the Byzantine era and stands at 63 metres tall. It began it’s life as a wooden tower called ‘Magalos Pyrgos’ when the city was named Constantinople. In 1204 the tower was damaged due to fires and earthquakes and was rebuilt in 1348 to become the tower that stands there today. During my visit I could see it was a popular tourist spot with queues forming around the corner to the adjacent street and at night it felt even busier around the area. Leading up to the tower there are multiple restaurants and coffee shops, which you may well need after walking up and down the steep surrounding streets!

On day 3 I also walked over to Taksim Square which is the main shopping district in Istanbul. To the west of the square is Istikal Street which was very busy with many high street shops, kind of like Oxford Street in London. I didn’t really feel like there were many photographic opportunities here so I headed west and then noticed some trams coming up behind be, I couldn’t help turn round and take a closer look.

This is one of the trams from the Istanbul Nostalgic Tramway and travels from Taksim to Tunel on the T2 line. The line is 1.6km in length and also stops at Odakule, Galatasaray, and Ağa Cami. It opened in 1990 after closing for a long period after its orginial conception in 1871. However, don’t expect to to get anywhere quickly on this mode of transport due to the number of tourists who wish to use it and admire it, walking on foot can often be faster.

Food and Drink

During your time in Istanbul you will no doubt want to experience some of its culinary delights as well as numerous coffee stops while out photographing the city. Turkish coffee isn’t to everyone’s taste as it’s very bitter, but I’d recommend trying it especially when visiting Istanbul. If you’d prefer something more akin to a flat white or oat latte then there are plenty of modern cafes in Istanbul to suit your taste. My two favourite cafes I came across were Kronotop in Karakoy and Federal Coffee Company near Galata Tower. Both served fantastic coffee and had a chilled vibe.

On day 3 I was looking for somewhere for lunch and came across Sa Va Anatolian Breakfast House in Cukurcuma. I’d already had breakfast at the hotel, but I’d heard good things about this place so I had to give it a try. I went for the Turkish Anatolian Breakfast which was an omelette with an abundance of different sides of spices and sauces. It was meant for 2 people, but I persuaded the waiter to serve a single portion version of it. It was delicious, with an array of different flavours and to say it was a large portion is an understatement!

The final place I’d recommend is Karakoy Gulluoglu which sells the famous Turkish dessert called Baklava. If you’re not familiar with Baklava, it has layered pastry with pistachio nuts and syrup. I’d experienced this dish in the UK, but this version of it which came with ice cream was on another level. I can honestly say it’s one of the best desserts I’ve ever tasted and I don’t really have a sweet tooth!

I visited here in the early evening and it was fairly busy, but still managed to get a seat, There was a bit of a queue, but no more than around ten minutes. I dread to think how many calories this dessert contains, but it felt like this treat was justified after a day of being on my feet doing street photography. This was also my final evening in Istanbul so it rounded off the trip nicely.

So after spending three days in Istanbul doing street photography I was ready to come home. Istanbul is a vibrant city and a fantastic place for shooting, but it can also be intense and chaotic so I was happy that my trip had come to an end for now, but it’s definitely somewhere I’ll look to return to in the future.