BasBasBas.com

Tag: photo

  • Celebrating Christmas in Istanbul

    So what did you do for Christmas? Christmas isn’t really celebrated in Istanbul, but our university organised a Christmas dinner for the exchange students (and their families, if they had come over). Free food and free drinks (incl. alcohol) is an easy way to make international students happy, but they also threw in some Turkish folk dancing. There were two groups and the picture above is of the second. Two guys, dressed up as above, danced in a playful way depicting some story. Very cool.

    More pictures up soon! For New Year’s Eve we’re renting a boat and throwing a party on the Bosphorus… I’m DJing and my means are quite limited so I have to do some preparing. Speak to you in the new year!

    Best wishes to you all!

    ~ Bas

    So what did you do for Christmas? How are you spending your New Year’s Eve?

  • Another Day at the Bazaar

    Click for bigger version.

    Makes you feel like a total foreigner, and slightly out of place, don’t you think? 😉

  • Tunnel


    click for more detailed version

    It’s amazing what you can do with a little Photoshoping. Upon returning from Borovets to Sofia, in Bulgaria last weekend, our busdriver dropped us off under a bridge (click here to see the original photo). I immediately envisioned the above picture and snapped a photo. I was anxious to see if my idea would actually work and it’s always exciting when they do. To quote The A-Team’s Hannibal, I love it when a plan comes together.

    So what do you think people? Post-apocalyptic enough?

    More travel photos soon; including some snowy shots of Bulgaria! If you’d like to get them straight to your feedreader, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe by email using the form in the right sidebar.

  • Snow in Bulgaria

    This weekend I was in Bulgaria due to my 1 year anniversary with my girlfriend, who’s from Bulgaria. We went to a mountain resort, which is cheaper than Sofia (in the low season). On the day we arrived everything was green, but this Saturday the world turned white. I love it. I notice I feel quite at home in Bulgaria, and especially Sofia.

    Will write more about my stay there in the days to come. Have to find my way back to Istanbul in this snowy mess. You can stay up to date by following my Twitter feed, or subscribe to this blog by RSS or email.

    I’m hoping for some nice snow in Istanbul this winter. Has it snowed where you are yet? Will it at all?

  • Hypnotized by Futbol

    By far the most popular sport in Turkey is soccer, or as they call it futbol (football). This snapshot was taken on Istiklal Caddesi during the match of Turkey’s two biggest teams, both coming from Istanbul: Fenerbahçe versus Galatassaray. It’s one of the top 10 derby’s in Europe and one of the most exciting games for futbol fans across Turkey and especially in Istanbul. People in shops were following the match on the radio, waiters watching on televisions (as you can see in the above pic) or if they don’t have a TV in their restaurant you can see the waiters running around the corner whenever they can to look at a TV through the window of a nearby shop or restaurant.

    How popular is soccer/futbol/football in your country? What do you call it? What other sports are very popular in your country?

    I’m off to Bulgaria for a few days but posting will continue. You can stay up to date by following my Twitter feed, or subscribe to this blog by RSS or email.

  • Mosque Street Shot


    click to enlarge

    A typical shot of a street on the Asian side of Istanbul in Kadıköy, where I live. I didn’t want to feature this picture until I realized that this very every day scene for me might not be so ‘every day’ for the my many visitors from around the world. Click on the picture or here to get a larger and higher quality version of the photograph. In Holland we have a huge debate about the towers of the mosques, called minarets, spoiling the way the street/neighbourhood looks.

    What do you think, would one (or a few) of these towers spoil the sight of your neighbourhood? Why (not)?

    If you’re not yet subscribed to updates from this blog and you’d like to be, do so now either by RSS or through email updates. If you have any questions about Istanbul, about me, anything else, or you’d just like to tell me how your day was, do not hesitate to email me at .

  • Turkish Lamps

    click to enlarge

    Taken in a touristy shop along Istanbul’s famous Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue), this photo features the famous Turkish glass mosaic lamps. I’m not sure about the origins of them, whether they’re Middle Eastern, Central Asian or from other regions or just from Turkey, but they’re undeniably associated with Turkey. Every one of them is very unique and very beautiful and they make a great object for photography, don’t you think?

    I see there are quite a bit of mosaic lamps on Amazon, what lamps do you prefer? The mosaic lamps there or the ones above? Though the ones on Amazon are true works of art, I prefer the more exotic ones.

    Can anyone tell me more about the origins of these lamps? Can anyone tell me how to take these lamps on a long busride or airflight without breaking them?

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  • Kadıköy Bazaar

    The following shot was taken at a big bazaar that’s held every Tuesday and Friday in Istanbul’s Kadıköy area, which is on the Asian side of the Bosphorus.  You can find food like fruit, vegetables, spices, nuts and grape leaves there, but also clothes such as the headdresses below. I was walking around there with a blond girl and boy, do you draw attention if you’re a young, blond, European woman in Istanbul. People were yelling out “Obama, Obama”, “hoÅŸ geldiniz” (welcome), “hello!” and “buyrun” (come in please/come here).

    I apologize for the recent lack of updates. I had a friend from Holland visiting me here, but will now resume my posting about life in Istanbul. 🙂

    I plan on posting a lot more pictures and short stories like this one in the coming time, so if you’re not yet subscribed to updates from this blog, do so now either by RSS or through email updates.

  • Dawn in Istanbul

    click on the photo for alternate version

    Just before dawn, Istanbul’s fishermen get in their boats and move onto the Bosphorus or the Marmara sea. If you walk or sit along the coastline, you can hear them talking or listening to music. A great place to visit in Istanbul, if you want to sit along the coast, is Kadıköy, which is also where this picture was taken. Inspired by the work of Michael Kenna.

    Tell me, which is better, the above or the alternate version?

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  • Beautiful Istanbul Sunset

    As said in the previous posts, I live very close to the sea. The first evening that I was in my apartment, I got a bit bored and went to walk around a bit. I found a gorgeous sun setting in the sea. Check out the video below… It’s really soothing, relaxing, meditative. 🙂

    Sorry for the crooked horizon… see it as artistic expression.

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