The world of photography is rather interesting and unique. Each picture has its own history and consequences, this is why it turns out to be rather captivating to visit photo galleries and enjoy the masterpieces of different photographers. Each photographer captivates in his/her own way, and Matt Abbot is interesting for many viewers due to his unbelievable passion to adventures, desire to know more about all aspects of human life, and represent his ideas by means of various photos.
One of his best-known photo collections is all about life of people in Istanbul. Matthew Abbott underlines one simple fact that Istanbul is the only place where East has all chances to meet West, this is why it is hard to predict the traditions and interests of Turkish people, and each photo is a unique story with the variety of customs.
Not long time ago, Matthew Abbott got a chance to visit Turkey and learnt more about Turkish traditions and interests. He took his camera and started his travelling across the streets of Istanbul, enjoying and being amazed by the style of Turkish life. It is not surprisingly to find out people, who are busy with own home affairs or business, and children, who play near by. In fact, there is much work for Matthew Abbott on the streets of Istanbul. His photos represent Turkish life in action.
Swinging children, fighting boys, men, who are talking, or a man, who is driving – each of these actions proves that Turkish life is always in movements. Matthew Abbott decides to present coloured pictures in order to underline how dirty and rotten the streets are. With the help of coloured pictures, it is also possible to understand that these people are actually not care about their clothes, this is why something that hides the body is already good.
The colours also help to focus viewers’ attention on how sunny this country is. Even when it became dark, photos make the viewer feel the warm of this country; even when it is raining, people do not get cold; even when the sky is dark, shining of buildings inspires considerably. The photographer under consideration pays attention to each detail, this is why these works deserve attention and deep analysis. Finally, Matthew Abbott discovered a new city with its unique traditions and cultures with the help of his camera only. Such diversity of cultures may serve as the major reason for a certain number of people of each photo.
Three photos, made by Matthew Abbott, will be discussed in this work. First two photos are all about street life in Istanbul. Firstly, Matthew Abbott represents several people of different age on one and the same street. There is no concrete focus on one concrete person: two children fight in the form of the game, two adults are talking about something, and one man helps two other children to swing on some homemade construction.
It is also possible to notice two other men, sitting behind the swings. It may be a sign that Istanbul streets are always full of people, who like to spend their time outside. Another significant point is that this photo is taken at a crossroads: road kerbs have white and yellow colouring that symbolizes that parking is forbidden here. However, people, specially children, are not afraid to be on the road and do not actually care about possible accidents. The focus of this photo is not one person or one event; the focus here is the life in action on ordinary streets of Istanbul.
Another photo about street life is all about human activities and men’s affairs. Turkish people like to demonstrate their interests and occupation to other people, this is why they like to offer some things, advertise, and buy own skills. Music is something that makes Turkish life complete. On one of the photos, made by Matthew Abbott, we see several men, discussing something concerning the matter of sound and its quality.
It is impossible to know for sure the real subject of their conversation, but still, we observe how each person is involved into this discussion, so it makes sense for them. Background walls demonstrate once again how poor their life is; and plastic chairs may prove another idea – Turkish people have not enough places to spend their time outside, this is why they buy cheap chairs and put them on the streets.
If we look closer to the photo, it is possible to find out one peculiarity of this picture – the centre of the photo, the space between a man, who stands, and a man, who is smoking, is dark. Is it just a coincidence or the photographer’s trick? To my mind, this hollow may seem that these people still have some difficulties to be sure about their face future, this is why it is crucially important to care about people, who are around in order to achieve success in future and forget about the hollow.
The last image under consideration is a driver, who screws up his eyes and looks through the window. The colours on the photo are rather bright: the sun of Istanbul is really hot and makes each person feel uneasy, looking at it. The background, the viewer may observe the sights of Istanbul and get a chance to enjoy Turkish mastery and skills. Of course, this photo has the same characteristics: actions, hurry, and desire to achieve the settled goal as soon as possible.
In general, the photos by Matthew Abbott are quite unique – all of them represent people in actions. This peculiarity underlines that their life is always under some chances, and sometimes, it is better to look through the window in order to have some time to enjoy this life and appreciate a chance to live in this country.