Interview with photographer Alper Dutkin

© özkan oktay

A postgraduate student in the field of education, Alper Dutkin from the Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (Turkey) gained First Place in the People and Portraits category in the 2009 Microsoft Future Pro Photographer Competition. Alper works as a freelance photographer and has only started his hobby in photography as recent as 2006. Despite this, his works have already been exhibited at two international photography contests held by Arel University and Halic University. I had a great opportunity to ask him some questions about the competition and what his thoughts are on photography.

Blurry Lives © Alper Dutkin

Let’s start by telling us where this photo was taken.

The photo was taken in the Fevzipasa District, Canakkale / Turkey. Fevzipasa district is a colorful place in Canakkale. The people inhabited here are Gypsies from all over the world who were taken for the construction of the Cimenlik Castle (Kala-I Sultaniye) in 1462 by the Ottoman Empire. They have settled here since then.

What message did you try to convey through this photograph?

I am not concerned about conveying a message through a single photo. However, in general, I want to document the Fevzipasa District, an important place in the history of Canakkale, with my photos. These days, all over the Turkey, urban renewal projects are held and Gypsy people are forced to move from their living places. And these places are arranged for the rich people who want to build big mansions… Sulukule in Istanbul is a sad example for this situation.

What goes through your mind when deciding whether to photograph something or not?

I have my camera for 3 years. What I consider as ‘a photo to be taken’ has changed in time, naturally. When I first started taking photos, I didn’t want people to realize that I am taking their photos. A nice photo was like that for me then. I wanted it to be realistic, no poses or something and I used to stick to this thought. In time, I started to consider that communicating with the people in the photos is very important too. Now I talk with people, get to know about them and their lives, and take their photos. I can say I realized the necessity of communication. No problem if they look at the camera or not.
Tell us a bit about what you’re studying.

I have graduated from Canakkale Onsekiz MArt University, Social Sciences Teaching department. Now I do my M.A. degree in the Education Management and Supervision department in the same school. My department’s aim is raising school managers and supervisors equipped with institutional knowledge and ability to use them.

Has photography enhanced what you do in your field of study and vice-versa?

Mostly my department in the university helped me in my photo career. As I stated above, I am interested in the communication between the photographer and his model than dealing with thinking about the way he took the photo. In the university, I took courses like human relationship and communication and with these I gained different perspectives. The pros of my photos to my field are the exemplifications I made in the courses through my photo experiences generally.

© Alper Dutkin

What it’s like to be a freelance photographer?

It is good for the freedom it gave to you of course,  but to tell the truth I am a person who is a bit lack of self discipline so it might be better if I worked for an agency.

Whose work inspires you?

Firstly Josef Koudelka, Martin Parr and Bill Brandt inspire me.

What’s your formula for a successful photograph?

A photographer should have a reason, an aim but this aim needn’t to be a social issue. Even though I like instant photos, I like the photos that are thought before and taken when it is the right time. I think aesthetic is as important as the concept of the photos. Briefly, I reckon that ‘a photo which can speak all languages is a good photo.’

© Alper Dutkin

Do you consider your photography to be documentary or fine art?

My photos are mostly documentary. But the aesthetical aspect is important too, because it is the aesthetic that shows the photo. So that, I can say I try to combine these two in my photos.

What advice would you give to aspiring photographers?

In the recent years, the interest in photography has risen, along with the development of digital photography. Newbie people in photography world insist that they should be approved in a very short time by everyone. So that, this brought corruption in the photo world unfortunately. For example there is a so called photo sharing website. People upload photos there, the others only comment as ‘congrats mate this photo is so cool’ or ‘the light is great, everything is great’ and ‘congrats photographer of the day, visit my page too’ etc. These comments are accepted by keen photographers and they interpret these as ‘I am done, I am a good photographer’. This causes them to come to a deadlock. So, my first suggestion is they should choose their photo sharing websites carefully. Apart from this, the ‘mass consumption’ exists in the photo industry. It is wrong to believe that good photos can only be taken by really good equipments. For example, my machine is digital and my lenses as old as me. And we see what nice things can be done with these plastic Holga cameras. I want to say that photographers should know everything from the machines they should use to the places they should live. But, I hope these statements cannot be misunderstood as I am a developing and young photographer myself too.

© Alper Dutkin

Any big dreams about your future?

Naturally I want to deal with photos all my life. To tell the truth, I am concerned about when I start working, my photo life will be affected negatively so I want to leave on doing not too many work but living as a normal person. My parents are emigrated from Macedonia.

My grandfather Şükrü Karakaş and I were dreaming about visiting Macedonia with a red car and taking photos there. Sadly, he deceased recently. But the dream still exists, I want to go to Macedonia this summer and take photos there for my grandfather and grandmother.

© Alper Dutkin

An interesting photo story you would like to share with us?

ÇAnakkale is a city that surrounded by military services so that, taking photos there is not always easy. Policemen always asking for identity cards and sometimes they can shout as ‘ what the hell are you doing, there is nothing here to be photographed’. This behavior is hard to reply and this story goes on … But I succeeded taking a photo of the military area as it was like a knot for me. (photo below)

© Alper Dutkin

End of interview

Thank a lot Alper for sharing with us your time and story!

You can learn more about Alper Dutkin at his personal website.

Interview with photographer Carly Short

Carly Short, who studied at the Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology, is the Fine Art category winner of the inaugural Microsoft Future Pro Competition in 2006 with her winning entry called “Temptation”. Find out what she has to say about photography and the competition.

Fine Art Category Winner "Temptation" © Carly Short

The photo reminds me of Snow White and the poisoned apple. Was that where the idea came from?

At the time it was a project for school. We had an assignment for contrasting colors and I wanted to do something fairytale like. Some look at it as Adam and Eve, some Little Red Riding Hood, and others think of Snow White. Either way that was my first photograph that I truly loved that I had taken. It was the first image where I really felt like a professional photographer.

Do you photograph weddings for a living? How often do you photograph weddings?

Yes, I photography weddings. Probably 8-10 per year. I do a lot of freelance work and I am also looking into starting a Pet Photography business.

Do you work by yourself or with a partner for weddings? What are the challenges of working by yourself/with a partner?

It is great to have someone with me especially at weddings, so that I can relax a little more. If there are two photographers, I feel better about everything getting covered. I can pay attention to the smaller detail with another person working with me. Working with someone can also be a little bit nerve racking. A lot of trust is being put into their photography abilities, and that they are getting the job done.

Looking back at the photography course taken at Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology, what were the things you’ve learned there that still have an impact on your work today?

OIP&T taught me all the basic skills I needed to grow as a photographer and become a better business owner.

Do you see wedding videography taking over wedding photography?

What makes wedding photos unique over wedding videos do you think? Wedding photography offers something totally different [to] videography. Photography has the ability to capture the small details, where as videographers capture the day as a whole. There is a lot going on during a wedding and the videographer is getting the actual wedding as a whole while the photographer can capture the details of the day that maybe the bride or groom missed. Having something to hold in your hand and hang on your wall is just a must have after your wedding.

Can you briefly explain what the NAPP and PPA memberships from the competition offer and how do they help you in your career in photography?

NAPP and PPA both have awesome benefits. They are both full of useful information, such as ways to better your business or become a better photographer and digital artist. They offer tons of discounts and are always putting on trade shows around the globe.

On your website you’ve said that you want to portray people from their perspective rather than from other’s perspective. Can you tell us the difference between the two?

I think that people often see themselves very differently than other people see them. I try to bring out the real personalities of people in my photographs. For example, most people would view my father as a very serious business man. But if you ask him, he thinks of himself as somewhat of a comedian. He loves to laugh and spend time with his family. There is a difference between how other people portray you, and how people portray themselves.

What’s the most fun photo project you’ve worked on?

I had an internship in LA with Matthew Jordan Smith after winning the Microsoft Future Photographers contest. I had the opportunity to go onto Americas Next Top Model, and help Matthew with the photo shoot. It was so fun to see how the show was filmed. I had fun watching the show when it aired, and also had a 1 sec television debut!

What separates great pictures from good pictures?

The definition of a great picture depends on who’s looking at it. Personally, I think the greatest pictures cause an emotion when they are being looked at. They tell a story and make the viewer use his or her imagination.

If you could design your own camera, what would it be?

Well I’m no engineer, but I would love to have something small to slip into my purse, that still could have adjustable settings and a choice of lenses. There are times when I don’t want to chance getting my nice camera stolen, or damaged… but I want some nice pictures. Ex. A night out at the bar with friends, or a concert. Point and shoot cameras work fine, but a professional pocket camera, even better

What would you like to do in the future?

I would like to eventually start up my own studio. I am headed in the right direction. It just takes a little patience and the right timing.

End of Interview

Thanks a lot Carly for sharing your time and insights with us!

You can learn more about Carly at her website.

Interview with nsquared director Dr. Neil

Image credit: Dr. Neil

Dr. Neil Roodyn, better known simply as Dr. Neil, has been involved in the IT industry for over 20 years. He co-founded nsquared solutions, a Sydney-based company which develops apps for iPhone OS and solutions for Microsoft platforms, particularly Microsoft Surface. The company is a Microsoft Surface Strategic Partner and has shipped one of the one of the very first Microsoft Surface Certified programs called MakeWords 1.0. Dr. Neil has long been a supporter for and shares his expertise in Microsoft technologies in the last two decades including C++, COM, .NET, Windows Mobile and Tablet PCs, and has become a Microsoft Regional Director for the Asian Pacific and MVP for the Windows Live Platform.Dr. Neil is nice to be here to discuss with me a bit about nsquared and Microsoft Surface.

Tell us the story behind the founding of nsquared. What made you decide to form the company?

The company was formed by 3 Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, when the economy started to slow down and things were not going so well the other 2 guys decided to bow out. I am not the type of person to quit on something and I believe that nsquared has something unique to offer the software development industry. So I kept the company going.

And nsquared wasn’t the first company you’ve founded is that right?

Correct, it is the 6th company I have been involved in forming, I have also helped other startup businesses get going over the years. I love the startup culture, just getting stuff done and not dealing with too much politics.

How would you describe a typical day at work as an nsquared director, Microsoft Regional Director, and MVP?

Busy

I travel a lot, I am traveling for over three quarters of the year, 2009 was particularly crazy as I spent a lot of time traveling around Europe, delivering training and working with clients. I don’t really have typical days, things are always changing and I am often in a different part of the world.

Why is nsquared focused specifically on Microsoft Surface and education?

We believe that Microsoft Surface offers something very unique to education. We have spent a lot of energy building applications that focus on multiple student interaction. Surface enables a new paradigm for technology use in the class room. Previously technology in the class room has been a fairly solitary engagement, a single student at a computer, with a single mouse and keyboard. Teachers are wary of students spending too much time alone as it can lead to integration and behavioral issues. Microsoft Surface encourages the use of technology to enhance the face to face interaction that students can have. This is something nsquared believes is critical to enhancing the learning experience and the applications in the nsquared Surface Education Pack focus on this.

It seems that Surface is similar to Xbox in a sense that the hardware specifications are fixed (so far) making software development, debugging and performance tuning much simpler than standard Windows programs where they need to be tested against a range of hardware combinations. What do you think of this view?

I think that is partly true. the focus when building software for Microsoft Surface is not on the technology though. The technology is simple, any good developer can build software that will work with Surface, but most developers do not build software that really takes advantage of Surface. When building great Surface applications our focus at nsquared is on the human interactions that occur between the users. This is not something software developers have really thought much about before, which means most software developers don’t have the skills needed to build awesome Surface applications. This is not a technical problem.

In the Microsoft Surface User Experience Guidelines emphasis is given to simplicity in the user interface and trimming of program features. You’ve also mentioned in one of your nsquared videos about the feature creep problem. Do you think that in pursuing simplicity for Surface programs that the richness of desktop applications that users come to expect will be lost and therefore becoming supersized mobile device apps where features are also kept to a minimum?

Features are greatly over emphasized by companies that are selling features The reality with most software is that only about 10-15% of the features are used 90% of the time. If you can identify those features you can build applications that are very rich and provide far better experiences than most of the software we have seen produced over the last few decades. I think people in the technology industry spend too much time thinking about features because they are easy to quantify and put in a nice table for comparison. Great software will leave the user feeling happy about what they have achieved and how they achieved it. Really great software will keep the user happy while they are using the software. How do you put that in a little comparison table?

In Windows, nearly all programs use a standardized UI design featuring menu bars, toolbars, scrollbars, and window panes, making it easy for users to adjust to new programs. But Surface deemphasizes these UI elements and sort of encourages a tailor-made UI for each program based on its function. The question is, is it practical and preferable to have standardized and consistent Surface UIs?

Standardized UIs are super important for general purpose interfaces, such as OS X or Windows, where the interface needs to be used by a wide range of people for a wide range of tasks. What these GUI constructs provide is a ‘Lowest Common Denominator’ for all applications that run on those platforms.
When you have fixed location units (such as Surface) with a defined context of operation then you can get a lot smarter with the user interface and break away from being tied to the general purpose interface. This lets the applications behave in a much more intelligent way that feels more natural to the user, in the context of your deployed environment.

Now that Surface’s touch input can mimic pressure sensitivity (by sensing changes in finger blob size), do you see pen input (from Tablet PC) becoming obsolete?

Absolutely not. The fluid nature of digital ink is something I wish Microsoft would put more emphasis on. Touch and stylus are different things. A stylus is a tool for far more accurate input and manipulation. Fingers are great for availability and they are natural to use but you will never get accurate hand writing or painting with fingers. I worked closely with the Tablet PC team in Redmond for several years to help them engage with developers. I still believe the future will include the stylus for various forms of input, again think about the context of the application and the scenario and then you can get smarter with the interfaces.

Looking over the two decades of work in your career, what would be your greatest achievement so far?

Thats a really tough question. In many ways I feel like we are just getting started. I have done a lot of teaching in my time, COM, agile development, mobility, etc… I know that I have influenced many people but I don’t think it has made much difference to the over all state of the software industry.

I still look around and see companies (big and small) writing buggy code, shipping terrible software and making users unhappy. I would like to change that.

End of Interview

Thanks Dr. Neil for sharing your insights with us!

You can learn more about Dr. Neil at his personal website and nsquared solutions at its corporate website and its channel on YouTube.