Sule Ozturk is a street photographer based in Japan. Her images are like colorful dishes with an urban backdrop, people and vibrant colors being equally important ingredients.
Counterintuitively, taking photographs of bustling Tokyo streets gives her the opportunity to “slow down,” as it “creates a space where I can observe quiet moments without trying to shape or explain them,” the author adds.
Ozturk’s collection is a dynamic depiction of Jane Austen’s words from “Mansfield Park”: “Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.” She is here to notice them. “Through photography, I become more attentive to small gestures, fleeting expressions, and the silence between actions.”
The images are captured intentionally, yet they are not staged. The scenes are organic. That is why her portfolio exudes the swift, vibrant pulse of the city.
Ozturk’s street snapshots become an on-the-fly dialogue where passing strangers from opposite directions are frozen in time—an impromptu, one-second conversation held without their knowledge. This is how the photographer “pays attention to what feels subtle and fragile,” capturing a brief, unbeknownst exchange familiar to the witness but not to those partaking. It is a conversational paradox that uses the city backdrop as a canvas, where people are captured in what resembles a naïve painting.
At the same time, Ozturk believes that street photography—and photography in general—is a medium that serves as a safe haven: a space devoid of external interference where individuals can shield themselves from the world and discover themselves while within it.
Read our “Camouflage” issue in full
RAWGUE.’s 4th issue delved into the grey, moody, and cold atmosphere of winter. Yet it did not sink into the depths of madness or depression. Instead, it embraced this season of hibernation, allowing 31 artists from all over the world to present their timid work beneath a veil of quiet beauty.
We’re a team of writers using our craft to spotlight art in its most honest form. RAWGUE. started as a bi-monthly editorial experiment where each issue’s theme is dictated by the submitted work, thus removing editorial bias from the equation and preserving a more raw approach. We focus on all forms of poetry: written, photographed, painted, drawn, and filmed.
