“Instead of focusing on overused, popular themes and locations, I chose to explore some lesser-known and developing parts of the city to create something new and fresh. These kinds of buildings aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think about Turkey, which is more known for its history. [Its architecture] is known for being more decorative.”
14 breathtaking photos of Turkey’s rainbow-colored neighborhoods
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- Yener Torun is an architect-turned-photographer who takes stunning pictures of rainbow-colored buildings in Turkey.
- Torun shares his vibrant photographs to showcase a different side of the country and its cities.
- “I chose to explore some lesser-known and developing parts of [Istanbul] to create something new and fresh. These kinds of buildings aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think about Turkey,” Torun told Insider.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
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Photographer Yener Torun is a connoisseur of color.
The Istanbul-based architect-turned-artist captures photos that show modern, vibrant neighborhoods and buildings throughout cities in Turkey. He’s hoping they’ll show a different side of the country, which is typically known for having historic, ornate, Ottoman-style architecture.
“These kinds of buildings aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think about Turkey,” Torun told Insider.
His unique style of photography has captured the hearts — and social media feeds — of people around the world.
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Keep reading to see some of his most eye-catching photos.
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Photographer Yener Torun captures eye-catching shots of multicolored buildings around cities in Turkey.
When Torun shared his first photo on Instagram in 2014, he was focused on taking black-and-white photos of building exteriors. Later, he experimented with adding pops of color to parts of his photos, like windowsills and pipes featured in the facades he captured.
He said he gradually developed his unique style of photography, capturing architecture with sharp, geometric shapes and dazzling colors.
“I started studying building facades and street views more closely, and in time, I started to conceptualize more. I took a more artistic path,” he said. “Ultimately, I wanted to do something real and new and fresh.”
Fleeting Wonders: Thanksgiving Turkeys in Every Color of the Rainbow
(Photo: Aldo Hynes/flickr)
Ah, autumn. The brightly colored leaves! The crisp Thanksgiving turkeys! The … brightly colored Thanksgiving turkeys?
Every year for decades, the folks at Gozzi’s Turkey Farm in Guilford, Connecticut have been using a temporary feather dye to turn their white turkeys blazing shades of pink, purple, and yellow.
For the most part, people don’t go pick up their turkeys at small family-owned farms anymore–Gozzi’s sold 150,000 birds a year in the 1970s, but by the late ’80s they were down to under 20,000. If you want to compete against easily-available, widely-distributed supermarket meats, you gotta have a gimmick, and for Gozzi’s it’s Manic Panic birds.
A photo posted by @mstoriale on Nov 21, 2012 at 1:17pm PST
But you don’t have to be a meat-eater to appreciate the Gozzi’s turkeys. The Gozzis are tight-lipped about the exact formulation and method of their feather dyes, but it doesn’t hurt the birds (and owner Bill Gozzi says they kind of like the attention). Animal lovers should be able to visit the birds without distress.
After all, as Bill Gozzi pointed out to Today news, the punked-out gobblers are meant as attractions, not dinner. Turkeys that are fixing to be eaten are already packaged up, not strutting about with hairdos. “Those are the only ones walking around here Thanksgiving morning,” he said. “They’re the lucky ones.”
Every day, we track down a fleeting wonder—something amazing that’s only happening right now. Have a tip for us? Tell us about it! Send your temporary miracles to [email protected].
Colorful Photos of Turkey’s Rainbow-Hued Architecture
Photographer Yener Torun has an eye for color. While many consider the urban landscape a drab environment, Torun thinks differently. The Turkish photographer, who studied architecture, spends his time wandering the streets of Istanbul to find unique examples of rainbow-hued buildings and prove that urban living can be colorful.
Torun creates his compositions with surgical precision. Each angle is exact and the results are so surreal that they seem plucked from a film. Given the graphic quality of his work, it should come as no surprise that Torun had an interest in design long before he picked up a camera. By merging all of his interests, he’s seen his work progress and his Instagram following explode—he now has nearly 200,000 followers watching his every move.
Now, Torun is stretching himself and moving beyond Istanbul to explore some of Turkey’s other cities. Ankara, Izmir, and Antalya are just some of the other urban settings where Torun has been able to find technicolor architecture. By sharing his work online, he is transforming expectations of Turkey. Focusing on colorful contemporary architecture rather than Turkey’s historical monuments, Torun is providing an often unseen vision of the country.
“It’s possible to find something inspiring in almost every corner of the city,” Torun tells My Modern Met. “You won’t be discovering something pretty every time, but you’ll find something original nonetheless. And even if some of the discoveries are some sort of atrocities, it’s a satisfying feeling to find the best angles to transform them into works of art.”
“I think my work offers an alternative vision of Istanbul—or even Turkey—and helps people to form a more profound perception of it. What I show in my photographs are not very common things and I’m aware that my approach is somewhat idiosyncratic, but these photographs have the shock value to make people realize that there’s a lot more than they know about this city and its dynamics.”
For Torun, each photograph is also a representation of himself, making his work extremely personal. He hopes that through his work, he inspires other creators to take risks and experiment with new projects. As his success shows, you never know what you might find.
