Ever since we went on a day trip to Priene, Miletus and Didyma last summer, I've been fascinated by Priene in particular. The city is just so haunting and desolate, sitting high atop a craggy hill isolated from nearby towns. The day we were there last summer, the thunderous clouds overhead added to the ambiance and I've come away from that day telling anyone going to Selcuk to definitely take a day trip to see it.
Fast forward to last fall and we accompanied a couple of our friends of ours to a photography show by an old friend of theirs. I love photography exhibitions and I especially love when the subject is Turkey. And, of course, Jeff and I simply couldn't help ourselves: we ended up walking away with one of the printed photographs.
The title of the photo is "Priene Harabeleri" or, "Priene Desolation". It's an apt title for a photo that I think captures beautifully the bleakness and the forlornness of the abandoned city's ruins.
A photographer named Aykut Erdoğdu took the photo, and one of the reasons I like his photography so much is because of its 360-degree aspect. It adds so much to the photo, so much life and artistry.
Of course, not all of Aykut's photos are quite this haunting. One of my other favorites is a 360-degree, panoramic shot of the Alsancak train station. It is super cool, but since I've never been to the train station, I didn't want to buy the photo and hang it on my wall.
After much debate, Jeff and I decided to hang "Priene Desolation" in our entryway, right above where we kick off and put on our shoes, where we can see it every day. It didn't quite fit in our salon, which is much more colorful, and we didn't want to put it in the guest room where we wouldn't see it often. So in the entryway it hangs.
If you're interested, you can check out Aykut Erdoğdu's work on his website.
Psst! We're getting down to the wire on the guest submission deadline! If you're interested in sending me 300 words or so and a photo on your favorite thing about Turkey, you'd better do it soon!
