Yeah, I received many international awards with the wedding photographs I took. But, the real honour for a wedding photographer, is the fact that the couples and their followers appreciate the photographs, even after so many years.
I have realized that a while ago, by chance, when I saw Barbaros Sansal shared some of the photos I took at Esra and Aykut’s dream wedding on his Facebook page. The wedding dress was designed by Barbaros Sansal and Yıldırım Mayruk. When they was the photo above on Esra’s album, they loved it. So I made a latge print of it and gifted it to them.
I have photographed Esra Banguoğlu and Aykut Oğut’s wedding in 2008. Back than, I wasn’t blogging my weddings on my website, and I didn’t have the chance to share their story. After seeing Barbaros Sansal’s post, I though it would be nice to blog about this wedding, which was my first after moving to Turkey.
Even though I photographed this years ago, I still love these photos (and not just because I love this couple). Let’s see if you will like them as well.
Do you know how the famous people search for their photographers? Let me tell you; many of them don’t. They don’t bother. Their wedding planner is the one who recommends a few photographers to the couple.
But some famous people know what they want. And when they don’t feel a connection with the photographers who were recommended, then they start to look around. Let me tell you how Esra found me, and decided I would be her photographer for the wedding.
Esra and Aykut teach about the power of universe and how it grants your wishes. She believes the universe was in action when she first heard about me.
She first met my wife Derya at a vacation. As they talked more in the following days, it somehow came to the fact that I was a wedding photographer. Esra didn’t have any plans to get married than, but she wanted to see my work anyway. When she saw my docmentary style, which was a total unknown in Turkey at the time, and still highly misunderstood now, she felt a connection to the couples in the pictures.
Than more than a year has passed, and Esra and Aykut decided to get married. When she started planning, the work of the famous wedding photographers whom she was introduced to by her planner, failed to touch her. She says she saw neither any emotion, nor reality, in those photos.
She did decide to work with the recommended vendors for all other services from catering to music and decoration. But she wanted me to photograph the day.
But she had a problem. Since she never met me in person, she didn’t remember my name. She only had Derya’s name in her mind. Somehow she managed to find Derya’s phone number, and called her to reach me.
I think I should also talk about this inspirational wedding. The venue was on the backyard of a private home owned by a close friend of Esra’s parents. Since Esra was a Kundalini Yoga instructor, they chose a spiritual theme. Esra’s own instructor, world famous Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa would be at the wedding to marry them. Gurmukh’s ceremony was great, and filled with many emotions. The official Turkish ceremony that happened afterwards seemed just like the paper work afterwards.
After the ceremony, the party started. Aykut’s first book, Evrenden Torpilim Var, was not completed yet. When it hit the shelves, it included one of my photographs from the wedding.
The surprise of the night was the Grease show performed by the couple and their friends.
It was a lovely wedding overall. Thanks Esra and Aykut for letting me witness and photograph this beautiful wedding.
ÖNCEKİ YAZI
SONRAKİ YAZI
Thank you so much for the amazing capture of the best night of my life.:))))
You are the best ever.
Thank you.
Thank you, Aykut! For giving me the opportunity to witness and photograph that beautiful night 🙂