For the whole of my working life in the automotive industry, I was a jet-lag junkie. I travelled often and far from my base in south-eastern Australia. This lifestyle continued, but at a more leisurely pace, for the decade of my retirement. Then, in the first months of 2020, my adventures came to a grinding halt. I was cold turkey, tethered to home.
Firstly came Covid-19 and then, a few months later, my wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Since then, my life has turned upside down and inside out. The thought of jumping on a jet plane again and travelling outside Australia had not crossed my mind until late last year.
An idea
Nevertheless, when my daughter, Lisa, floated the idea of me joining her and my oldest granddaughter, Ellie, on a trip to Turkey and Europe in June of this year, my enthusiasm for travel was suddenly rekindled. Why not? I had to start somewhere.
The plan was to fly to Istanbul for eight busy days, followed a slightly less frenetic week in the UK, where I was born and raised, before Ellie went off to backpack in Europe for two months with uni friends. I did not hesitate. It would hardly be a return to my jet-lag junkie days, but I realised that I could see my brother and other relatives and also, at last in person, Macfilos editor Mike Evans. And the thought of a week in Istanbul sealed the deal.
I had been to Istanbul before, but those visits were back in 1972 and 1982, a lifetime ago. When I landed at the huge Istanbul airport this June, it really hit me that 2024 Istanbul is a very different city to the Istanbul of the seventies. The airport is claimed to be the biggest airport in the world — by area. And going by how long it took the Singapore Airways 777 to taxi to the gate at one of the terminals after landing, I don’t doubt this claim.
Sixteen million
On the journey to the hotel, the size of the population and area of the city really became apparent. And I was travelling through only a small part of the European side of the city. Much of the Istanbul is across the Bosphorus on the Asian side. When I had last visited as that jet-lag junkie, back in 1982, the population of the city was under five million. Today it is over 16 million.
Despite this massive growth, I soon found that the heart of the city has maintained its charm, with the historic areas protected. Tourist facilities are truly excellent. The main streets and side streets are still lined with uniquely Turkish shops. While there are some international brand shops, they are very much in a minority.
Istanbul is a very vibrant, exciting city and many shops are open late, even after 10 pm. The hundreds of bars, restaurants, and cafés are still teeming with people late into the night. Then there are the cats.
If you don’t like cats, then maybe Istanbul is not for you. The city is renowned for its street cats. It is said that ‘Istanbul’s cats belong to no one and belong to everyone’. The citizens of Istanbul love their cats. It is estimated that there are over 200,000 cats in the city. But, of course, no one will ever know the true tally.
People feed them and put up little houses for them in the most unexpected places. Locals carry little bags of dry cat food in their bags to feed them on the streets. Dry cat food is sold in the most unlikely shops — such as electronics stores. The locals tolerate them lying down and having a nap on a nice display of towels in a shop.
Cat hairs
Locals warn you not to sit on a chair in a café because it is covered in cat hairs. You see cats asleep on a post in the middle of a pedestrian plaza, or snoozing beside the very noisy entrance to a subway.
“As a dedicated cat lover, I took photos of them at every opportunity”
The story goes that the first cats arrived in Istanbul on ships, where they were rat catchers. Others say that the Sultans introduced them and protected them. I do not know if the cats are in the modern business areas because I didn’t look there, but I saw them everywhere I visited. And, as a dedicated cat lover, I took photos of them at every opportunity.
I decided before setting out that I would take photos to use in a photo book as a memento of the trip. But as we were really trying to pack as much as possible into our short visit, I knew that I would not have the luxury of spending much time searching for photographic opportunities.
Ideal camera for a reformed jet-lag junkie
As a result, I decided to take Leica Q2. It is an ideal travel camera, but if you are my age and rushing around a very hot, crowded city on foot with your much younger daughter and granddaughter, the ideal travel camera feels heavier each day! By the time I was lunching with editor Mike Evans, a week later in the UK, I was contemplating lighter alternatives.
I took a medium size Peak Design sling bag to carry the Q2, smartphone and water bottle. After the story on the Peak Design cuff and strap system in Macfilos in December 2023, I have adopted it and fitted anchors to most of my cameras. I can thus switch from wrist strap to neck strap easily. I then decided to take only the wrist strap for the Q2. With hindsight, that was a mistake and I would have been more comfortable with a neck strap, but that’s just my opinion. Others may well be comfortable using the wrist strap for extended periods.
I use my phone to ‘tap’ for all my payments, so I did not carry a wallet or any currency for the whole. And I definitely don’t walk the streets carrying my passport — I learned to be streetwise in my jet-lag junkie days. The Q2 is a very tight fit in the bag and I put my phone under it at the bottom of the bag.
Tight fit and thieves
That tight fit came into its own when a gang of three pickpockets — in full burkas — targeted me in a crowd crossing a busy main road. They must have picked me as an easy mark and were probably salivating at the thought of the contents of my wallet, my iPhone, perhaps even a useful passport. I suspect they would not have been primarily interested in the Q2, however.
The zip on the Peak Design bag comes up the side and does a 90º turn at the top. The lead burka-clad thief had just started to pull on the zip when I felt a tug on the shoulder strap. I turned around just as my granddaughter who was walking behind me shouted “pickpocket”. I caught the thief with his or her hand on the zip pull. It was all I could do to stop myself punching their beady eyes staring at me through the slit of the burka.
The gang of thieves rapidly dissolved in the crowd. It really was not a close shave, as there was absolutely no way they could have pulled the Q2 out of the bag without my noticing. It is a very tight fit, as I said. And the phone was inaccessible unless the Q2 was out. They would not have been happy to steal just my water bottle.
The photo book
I took about 135 photos in Istanbul. Most with the Q2, but also a few with my iPhone. There are only a few pictures of the major palaces and mosques. You need time and early access to avoid the crowds to do them justice photographically. I’ve put 45 of the photos into a photo book, with three copies being printed.
It will be a great souvenir of a trip to what must surely be one of the most exciting cities in the world.
Sadly, Macfilos does not have space for all 45 photos, so I’ve picked a small selection for this story. Hopefully, you will feel that I have captured some of the atmosphere of Istanbul.
A cup of coffee works wonders in supporting Macfilos
Did you know that Macfilos is run by a dedicated team of volunteers? We rely on donations to help pay our running costs. And even the cost of a cup of coffee will do wonders for our energy levels.
Dear John, how good to read that you are travelling again. And what a great destination you have chosen! Thanks for sharing this experience. If you next trip to Europe takes you to Switzerland, South Germany, Austria or Eastern France, do let me know! All the best, Jörg-Peter
Thanks John for a wonderful read. I had already seen some of your images on your blog and the ones in the article are a great complement. As for me, jetlag days are over as my wife and I no longer contemplate long flights and limit ourselves to a 4 or 5 hours’ flights. My Ricoh GRD with its tuny sensor is an ideal travel camera, just as big as Mike’s GR III. I contemplated the Q but it is definitely to big for travelling.
Enjoy the Australian summer
Jean
Thanks for this, it is as close as I will ever get! Beautiful photos, when I left the big Rice Paddy I was stationed in Ethiopia . My friend went to Turkey. I kept my travels to Israel, Saudia Arabia, and Syria,, I grew up with Armenian friends and my out look on all things Turkish shaped by them, hence did not travel there. It is always wonderful to travel with family.
Thank you, John. A very interesting story which ended too quickly. I would be very interested if you could analyse your results and tell me how often you cropped to other focal lengths, your Leica Q2 being your sole dedicated camera. Can you tell from EXIF? perhaps a simple filter for your dates away would yield the answers. You can do this in Lr, but not sure whether that is what you use. Leica makes big claims for its cropping potential.
David, thank you for your appreciative comment.
About 50% of the photos in the article have been cropped -most modestly.
I have taken thousands of photos with my Q and Q2 cameras and I’ve never found the 28mm focal length a problem. Leica are correct regarding the cropping potential. I always try wherever possible to use my personal 2 foot zoom when taking the photo if I am not close enough when taking the photo.
The digital zoom feature on the Q cameras only works for photos taken as jpegs. If you take a photo as both a DNG and a jpeg only the jpeg file is cropped when you use the digital zoom. If ,like me, you only shoot DNG then you can crop in Lightroom or another editing program.
I think that there is a tendency by many photographers to overthink this fixed 28mm focal length issue. I certainly don’t see it as an impediment. For this reason I’m not considering purchasing a Q3 43.
Thank you, John. That makes sense to me. I am still content with my original Q, to which I funded an improved EVF when the original failed when outside the warranty period. With a little pre-planning, I can usually find interest in the foreground which works well with 28mm focal-length. I look forward to part 2 of your last journey.
All too short, just as I was enjoying those wonderful photos. Perhaps there’ll be a sequel, where the Wild Evans is captured in his native habitat — somehow I’m imagining a pub and a pint of Old Peculiar.
I’ve always wondered about the etiquette of photographing in predominately Muslim societies. I see your daughter did wear a head scarf — how did she adjust to that.
Let’s hope you’re on the road again, soon.
Well, I am definitely an Old Peculiar, but I’ll settle for a glass of wine. It was great to meet John after so many years (nearly ten) of corresponding with him regularly and working on over 70 of his articles. It reminded me of how much pleasure I get from the wider Macfilos community. Indeed, any new author becomes part of the team and can share in our success.
Mike,
Apologies for a media reference gone wrong: The McDonals & Dobbs mystery Season 4. It appears our Detective Sgt Dobbs is an expert on cameras and famous photographers. His chosen Saturday night? A pint of Old Peculiar with his mates.
As for pleasure taken in the community, apparently it’s mutual: as it seems from John and many others, you’re one of the must-see attractions of London.
Ah thanks for the clarification. I thought I had watched all the McDonald and Hobbs series but could have missed Season 4. I will check, but I don’t remember the camera angle.
It’s S4E3, ‘Wedding Fever’. Of course there are the Leica references for the die-hard fans…
Not a bad season; we also enjoyed S4E2, Jinxy Sings the Blues!
Thanks, Kathy. I will check. I vaguely remember something about Leica, so I might well have seen it. I recollect another series (not this one, I think) where one of the characters was using what appeared to be an M3, but clicking away as you would with a digital and no sign of using the lever. Winding on and having only 36 pictures is an alien concept.
Kathy, thanks for you kind comment.
Yes there is sequel from the UK part of my trip featuring editor Mike. He has the article so look out for it in coming weeks.
Turkiye is nominally a secular society so Lisa and Ellie only had to wear a headscarf when visting mosques. They did not feel that in anyway it was an issue. Men and women cannot wear shorts in the mosques. As it was very hot whilst I was there this was a little inconvenient for me but the alternative of wearing a full length plastic bag coat supplied at the mosque door did not appeal.
The etiquette of photography in Muslim countries varies from country but as a general rule even in “liberal” Muslim countries such as Oman and Jordan exercise caution.
Thanks John for this lovely travel story. Nice to see you out and about again. I’m sure there must be a “Q2 Part 2: UK” piece so we can read about your encounter with Mike and also some of the places you revisited in the UK.
Enjoyable read, and great photos John.