The Game

I've long thought of writing about the zines I and four other photographers published over the course of 5-6 years, but wasn't quite sure where and how to start, because there are many aspects to it. I didn't want to force it, so I let it linger. And now, whilst on holiday, sitting in a strong breeze, from a fairly high vantage point watching the Mediterranean waves crash onto the shore, the content of this post started to form in my mind and I pulled out the laptop. Here it goes...

It is called "Gözaltı", which literally translates to "under-the-eye". It also means "being under surveillance" and "being in custody"; plenty of subtext there. Self-publishing the zine had quite a few pain points, one of them being coughing up the 100 Euros per photographer. 500 Euros, that was roughly the cost of 2000 zines, each 16x24cm in size, with 32 pages. 100 Euros per photographer, every 6 months, for a zine we give away for free, without expecting anything in return. It doesn't sound too much, but it was a problem that came up in our discussions quite often. Why throw good money out of the window? We talked about trying to find a sponsor and what not, but eventually continued to cover all costs from our own pockets.

Anyway, the moment we were done with the edit and design of our fifth issue and had to collect the money, one of our photographers decided he'd had enough and pulled out. Obviously, you can't blame anyone on money problems; everybody has their own circumstances after all. So, with four remaining in the group, we had the challenge of completely redesigning the issue, and the question of whether we would continue as four people or whether we should look for another photographer. In the end, an excellent photographer whose style we thought would enrich the zine, and who, as a person, would also be a good fit to the group, accepted to join. And indeed, with her contribution of pictures and her help in the edit, I think issue 5 turned out really well.

I should very briefly summarize the concept of the zine. We aimed to publish an issue every 6 months. Beforehand, we decided on a theme, usually a simple word. For example, the theme for issue 5 was "Game". Then we have about 4 months to produce photos that fit the theme. In the last 2 months we try to finalize the edit, the sequencing, the interior design, the cover design and the printing. Once printed, the cycle begins again. And in the meantime, we also deal with distribution of the printed zine, another can of worms.

The editing & sequencing was always the highlight for me. Because here we would all gather in a suitable space, with all pictures laser printed in small format which would be easy to pin up on a board, and we would all talk about the photographs. It was extremely enriching to hear everyone's opinion on each picture and why this and that sequence would or would not work (which could be an entire new post). This was our final edit, but there were many other candidates prior to this.

A social media presence, especially on Instagram, is also a must for visibility. So, after publication, we prepared all sorts of "content".

With the camera it's a bit goofy and I slightly cringe when I see it now. But I did take the photo with that camera and lens. I was on a conference trip to Barcelona and only took the plain-prism F2 with an old pre-AI 35mm/f2.8 Nikkor with me. You can also see the front cover and get an idea about the size of the zine.

This is another one of my pics. It still fits the theme, but has a lot of sadness in it as well. We used it as the closing photo. The first and last photo, and the two-page spreads always had somewhat more importance and I could often sense some hard-supressed rivalry for those spots :)

Here are a few short notes about the above photos:

1. A spontaneous scene in Istanbul. I had a Pentax 645Nii with its standard 75mm/f2.8 lens with me. This camera is a workhorse but somehow I can't fully bond with it. I could say it's a close friendship but not a love affair. I'm not exactly sure why, but the way it extends towards the front, especially with anything but the 75mm, must have something to do with it. The film was Tmax400.

2. A playground in Adana in southern Turkey. Made with a Leica M6 and 35mm/f2 ASPH Summicron. My standard companion for 20+ years. The film was Ilford FP4.

3. Barcelona, as I already mentioned. The film was Tmax400.

4. A zoo. The camera was a Nikon F4 (which I hate) and the 45mm/f2.8 pancake (which I love). The film was Ilford Delta 100. The fine detail on that 30x40cm print I find quite remarkable.

Quite a motley of cameras...that can't be a good sign.

I had two more photos in that issue which I've not included in this post.

A Book of Prints

The period between 2016 and 2021, when with four friends we published a periodic zine, was amazing. We managed to print a total of eight issues, each with a specific theme. The recent economic crisis killed it off, but anyhow, it was a hugely rewarding experience. Towards the end of last year nostalgia started to creep in. So, I began pondering about handcrafting a one-off book that contained my photographs in the zines. 

Weighing various options and my own capabilities, also trying out a few different ideas, I decided on spiral binding proper RC prints; something I'd never done before. To keep the size reasonable and manageable I also decided to only include the 26 photos from the first four issues. If it looked good, I could produce Vol2 sometime later. I was in no hurry and began printing the photos over several months; one or two at a time during every darkroom session. This is the end-product:

I trimmed each 24x30cm Ilford RC pearl sheet down to 24x25cm for an almost square format. The extra centimeter was reserved for the spiral holes. The print size and location on each sheet was another thing that had to be gauged. The book has four chapters separated with a sheet of blue card, each chapter containing my pictures from that issue. I also printed out and glued the zine covers onto each separator card.

I think it turned out quite OK. Very spartan. Very simple. Too spartan? Too simple? I wish I had the abilities and imagination of a Peter Beard...but, oh well, I am what I am, and it's still better than nothing.