Geniş Açı Photography Magazine

1997-2006

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Geniş Açı Photography Magazine was a cultural and arts magazine launched in 1997 by a group of young people from the Boğaziçi University Photography Club who wanted to create more lasting work beyond the club’s ongoing activities and satisfy their “hunger” for photography. From its very first issue, Geniş Açı developed its own financial resources independently of the university, and in 2000 it formally separated from the university and began publishing as an independent magazine.

Beginning with its third issue, Geniş Açı started producing thematic issues, publishing features on subjects including 'Performing Arts and Photography', 'Women and Photography', 'Travel and Photography', 'Fashion Photography', 'War Photography', 'Cinema and Photography', 'Self-Portrait in Photography', and 'Religion' up to issue 14. From issue 15 onwards, as thematic issues required increasingly long preparation periods and the number of photography-related events had grown, the magazine began to devote more space to events taking place in Türkiye and abroad. At the same time, Geniş Açı continued to publish special interviews independent of the current agenda, articles on the history and theory of photography, features on important figures and institutions in the photography world, and a portfolio-focused summer issue each year. The magazine was further enriched by columns by writers including Şebnem İşigüzel, Merih Akoğul, Nazif Topçuoğlu, and Laleper Aytek.

Initially published every six months, the magazine gradually increased its frequency, first to four issues a year, then to three, and finally, from 2000 onwards, to one issue every two months. Distinguished both by the quality of its photographic reproduction and the originality of its content, Geniş Açı was unusual among photography magazines internationally and received recognition abroad as well. It received the İFSAK Photography Award of the Year in 1998, and in 2005 it was nominated in the Photography Magazine of the Year category at the Lucie Awards, one of the most prestigious international photography awards.

As part of 'Young Talents', a discovery project first organised in 2001 for photographers under the age of 35 to participate with thematic bodies of work, special bilingual Turkish/English issues featuring the work of selected photographers were published in 2004, 2005, and 2007.

Rather than focusing solely on technical subjects and portfolios, as many photography magazines of the period did, Geniş Açı sought to produce theoretical and cultural writing on photography and to create a pluralistic platform for people interested in photography, the history of photography, and contemporary art. After ten years, the magazine ceased publication with its 50th issue, published in autumn 2006.

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[Click here for an index listing the contents of all 50 issues of Geniş Açı.]

[Click here to view and download Metehan Özcan’s work on Geniş Açı, prepared for the course 'Visualising Processes'.]​