Born in 1914, Selahattin Giz witnessed one of the most dramatic periods in Turkish history. He lived through the final years of the Ottoman Empire, the founding of the Republic, and the rapid modernization that reshaped Istanbul during the twentieth century. As one of Turkey’s pioneering photojournalists, he photographed political events, foreign dignitaries, artists, and the nation’s leading public figures. Yet his most enduring legacy may be something far quieter.
He photographed ordinary life.
Unlike many photographers who concentrated on monuments or ceremonial occasions, Giz possessed an instinct for the unnoticed. His camera lingered on rain-soaked pavements, ferry passengers, tramlines, fishermen, children at play, street vendors, and people simply making their way through the city. He understood that a city’s true identity is rarely found in its skyline alone. It lives in the rhythm of everyday life.
Today these seemingly ordinary scenes have become priceless historical documents.
In Selahattin Giz’s photographs, Istanbul feels effortlessly whole. Ferries drift across the Bosphorus, trams glide through glistening streets, children play, street sweepers begin their morning work, and elegantly dressed women stroll beneath umbrellas. Wooden houses, stone apartment buildings, church towers, synagogue domes, and mosque minarets all inhabit the same landscape with quiet ease.
Nothing appears out of place; nothing competes for attention. Rather than documenting a city of contrasts, Giz reveals a city whose richness lies in the harmony of its many layers, where everyday life unfolds with a grace that makes diversity seem not exceptional, but simply natural.
That is an Istanbul that feels so alien to me with all its elegance, calmness and urban sophistication.
Selahattin Giz was also one of the principal photographers of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. During his long career at Cumhuriyet newspaper, he produced thousands of photographs of Atatürk, documenting official ceremonies, public appearances, and intimate moments during the formative years of the Republic. He is estimated to have taken around 3,000 photographs of Atatürk, making his archive one of the richest visual records of the early Republic.
Founder of Turkish Republic Atatürk dancing
As someone fascinated by Istanbul’s layered history, I found myself returning again and again to these photographs but because they reveal something elusive: the city’s emotional landscape that has vanished forever. These photos capture moments that were never intended to become history, yet today tell us more about Istanbul than many written accounts ever could.
In an age obsessed with speed and spectacle, Selahattin Giz offers a different lesson. He reminds us that the most enduring photographs are often the quietest ones. They do not demand attention. They simply wait, patiently, until another generation discovers them and realizes that what has been preserved is far more than architecture or fashion.
His work has found a fitting home in the Selahattin Giz Collection of Yapı Kredi Publications, which safeguards tens of thousands of his photographs. Although only a fraction of this immense archive has been published, books such as Mevsimlerle İstanbul (Istanbul Throughout the Seasons) offer a remarkable glimpse into his life’s work. Each page reveals an Istanbul we can not even dream of! An Istanbul that feels more like a dream.
Let’s pay tribute to the great master who immortalised the old Istanbul we never had the chance to experience in all its timeless elegance, with a song composed by Zülfü Livaneli, featuring lyrics by Orhan Veli Kanık!
Visuals are taken from Oggito.com, Istanbulmodern.com, Yapikredi.com, Cornucopia.net, oktayaras.com.
Note that the video is embedded via YouTube and all rights belong to the respective rights holders.
