Acknowledgements

People who helped me to find my bearings in photography, the resources that enabled me to establish a foundation are too many to list them exhaustively. But despite the risk of failing to mention some important ones, I'd like to thank some of them explicitly

From Mehmet Usta, the photographic technician of the University of Istanbul and Turgut Gökberk, who spent an extensive amount of time with me around Ankara, I learned the techniques of the darkroom and analog printing. My older brother, dedicated travel-photographer, Erkut Onart, has been a trailblazer for me to experience the joys of photography.

From Valerie Jardin, attending to her lectures at Fuji-love conference, and listening to her weekly podcasts, I developed not only a confidence in FUJIFILM X100 cameras but also a wholesome sensitivity for the ethical implications of street photography.The Golden Rule of the street photography: Don’t photograph people in a way you don’t want to be photographed. The compositional rule of street photography: it doesn’t need to be perfect.

From Steve Simon with whom I took a workshop in New York, I learned valuable techniques for taking pictures and making portraits in the streets. His passion for photography helped me to become a compassionate photographer.

Raul Melendez got me to feel comfortable with all kinds of settings of the digital cameras as well as the basics of on- and off-camera lighting.

Marco Larousse of Hamburg answered promptly and patiently many technical questions I kept tweeting him online. His weekly podcasts with Scout Bourne have been an exceptional resource for my learning. I still keep Scout’s 2017 year’s resolution write-up next to my computer. “To me, photography is a secret calling…"

I like also to mention John Greengo of Creative Lives whose online lectures provided me with all the technical details of digital photographic technology — a sound foundation.

Joel Satore Great Courses is an incredible role model for putting photography to the service of a great cause.

Finally, let me mention David DuChemin’s The Compelling Frame course that helped me with the better understanding of my visual instincts and compositional sensitivities. Yes, gear is good, but is better...