Ara Güler
Known as 'The Eye of Istanbul,' he captured the soul of a city in transition, freezing its melancholy, beauty, and humanity in stark black and white.
1928–2018 (age 90)·Turkish photographer of Armenian descent·Birthday: August 16·The Silent Generation
Biography
Ara Güler didn't just photograph Istanbul; he listened to it, wandered its backstreets at dawn, and chronicled its fading cosmopolitan heartbeat. Of Armenian descent, he saw himself first as a historian with a camera. Beginning as a photojournalist for *Hayat* magazine, his lens soon found its true subject: the everyday poetry of his hometown—fishermen mending nets, fog-shrouded bridges, the worn faces of dockworkers. His portraits, whether of a humble shoe-shiner or of international figures like Picasso and Churchill, shared a same direct, empathetic gaze. Güler rejected the label 'artist,' insisting he was a visual reporter, yet his compositions possess a cinematic gravity that transcended news. He built an unparalleled archive of 20th-century Turkey, preserving a world of wooden mansions and intimate communities before they vanished into modernity.
The Silent Generation
1928–1945
Born between the Depression and the end of WWII. Too young to fight, old enough to remember. They became the conformist middle managers of the 1950s — and the civil rights leaders who quietly dismantled Jim Crow.
Ara was born in 1928, placing them squarely in The Silent Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Ara Was Born
The biggest hits of 1928
#1 Movie
The Singing Fool
Best Picture
Wings
Ara's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1928Born
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin; Mickey Mouse debuts
President: Calvin Coolidge"Ol' Man River" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: Wings
1933Started school
FDR's New Deal launches; Prohibition ends
Gas: $0.18/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stormy Weather" — Ethel WatersBest Picture: Cavalcade
1941Became a teenager
Pearl Harbor attack brings the US into WWII
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,060Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Chattanooga Choo Choo" — Glenn MillerBest Picture: How Green Was My Valley
1944Could drive
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
1946Could vote
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1949Turned 21
NATO founded; Mao proclaims the People's Republic of China
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Riders in the Sky" — Vaughn MonroeBest Picture: All the King's Men
1958Turned 30
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1968Turned 40
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinated
Gas: $0.34/galHome: $14,950Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Hey Jude" — The BeatlesBest Picture: Oliver!
1978Turned 50
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1988Turned 60
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 70
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2008Turned 80
Barack Obama elected first Black US president; financial crisis
Gas: $3.27/galHome: $153,100Min wage: $6.55/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Low" — Flo RidaBest Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
2018Died at 90
Royal wedding of Harry and Meghan; Parkland shooting
Gas: $2.72/galHome: $211,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"God's Plan" — DrakeBest Picture: Green Book
Key Achievements
- His extensive archive is considered an irreplaceable historical record of 20th-century Istanbul and Turkey.
- Was the only Turkish photographer included in the 'Master Photographers of the 20th Century' series.
- Served as the chief photographer for the Turkish magazine *Hayat* during its most influential period.
Did You Know?
He originally wanted to be a film director and studied cinema before turning to photography.
He was a close friend of the Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk, who wrote about Güler's work.
His photographs of Istanbul were used by researchers to document the city's architectural heritage for restoration projects.
“Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world.”
