I’ve just recently came up with the work of Mehmet Ozgur,a Turkish engineer with a passion for photography. What caught my attention was the incredible smoke figures that he, somehow, manages to transform in something else,something that may take years to develop. Photography has been is passion since the early 90’s and besides the smoke photographys there’s a lot more to discover about Mehmet Ozgur in this exclusive interview for Creative Side.

Mehmet Ozgur Website

Hi Mehmet!Let’s start by telling us a little bit about yourself.Where are you from and how did your passion for photography started?

I’d like to tell that I was born in Europe, studied in Asia, currently working in North America, and hope to retrace my route back to home, through Asia and Europe.
Some may say that as a Turk, I’m following the nomadic traditions of our ancestors.
I studied engineering, and currently employed as an engineer. Photography -or what-I-would-call applied-arts- has been my passion since early 90s.
It is a hobby nothing more, nothing less. I love it, because it gives me strength and energy to face the world everyday.

Your works with smoke are incredible,how can you transform smoke in to those beutifull figures?Tell us a little more about that process.

The process is easy as described so many times. I take as many as pictures of smoke as possible. Thanks to digital photography this is no longer a dream and it does not cost a fortune either.
Over the years I amassed over ten thousand smoke pictures. I use mainly incense as the smoke source. Then, I spend weeks, months sometimes years to inspect and analyze these images.
In parallel, I work on new concepts for compositions. Finally, I create the composition using the smoke patterns selected out of thousands of shots. It is like painting except that you have use
random brush strokes collected from blind painters. That is why I have compositions that take years to develop. I hope one day people will pass beyond the initial impressions of novelty art and actually
try to see compositions as they are.

Most of the photographys on your website are from landscapes,is nature your ultimate source of inspiration?

I follow a similar process in my landscape work as well. I declared many times, I see landscape as malleable as the smoke patterns. I strive to create what I see, or would like see, rather than
what camera captures. This does not mean that I live in a fantasy world. I do visit grand natural displays of our world. I’ve been to all those beautiful places -that all self-respecting landscape photographers go-
to be inspired, not to present the same cliche pictures. Source of inspiration does not lie solely within me or solely outside. Rather, it is a reaction between the two.
Nature or smoke, something would have to give me brush strokes to work with, otherwise I’d have nothing.

Typical question, black & white or color photography?What do you prefer?

Whatever the composition needs. I love b&w, because it forces you to think, compose, execute more cleanly. It is elemental.
A great b&w piece would be still great if it is in color, but it is not the case for great color pieces.

Thans Mehmet for this interview and keep inspiring us with your photography’s.

Thank you for having me. We do appreciate your hard work on the website. Keep it up.

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