John Cavacas
Photography

Piano player on Saint Germain

Each city has a sound, and in particular the “classic” cities like Paris, have a definite sound or in this case music that one can usually identify with. For me, and perhaps many, it is French Jazz. We found this particular band playing on Saint Germain one morning. If the information is correct from the CD we purchased from them, they are called Control Zèbre and the piano player pictured is Gwen Zitoun. As usual Paris doesn’t disappoint.

Sand

There are over 20,000 images in my Lightroom catalogue. An overwhelming majority of them, are simply bad photos. Mistakes. Bad compositions. The wrong time of the day. Out of focus. And then there are the photographs that work. Those are few and far between, but I like to think that it takes a lot of bad photographs until you get a good one. I believe it is the same idea as practice makes perfect. You need to make mistakes in order to learn and grow. It is partly because of that... Read The Rest →

Taksim to Tünel tram in Istanbul

When we first got to Taksim, all we saw was people. Lots and lots of people. Shopping, eating, walking, etc. We wondered if the tram was actually running. It didn’t take long however to notice that the tram was in fact there, just buried behind the masses. This was a quick grab of a few shots I attempted to make. I was aiming for something more dramatic, but didn’t manage to quite get it. However, I feel that this image represents what it is like to walk along this route.... Read The Rest →

The Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnici) in Istanbul

My first post from Istanbul featured a detail from this impressive structure, today it’s the main hall of the Basilica Cistern. It’s hard to imagine that hundreds and hundreds of years ago, this was all full of water. Today, there is only a tiny bit of water towards the main entrance (which is to the right of this photo) but enough that there are some fish which you can see on the lower right corner of the photo. It was slightly difficult to find the entrance to the Basilica, and... Read The Rest →

The interior of Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) – Istanbul

According to many Hagia Sophia, is the prime example of Byzantine architecture. We made it to Hagia Sophia on our first full day in Istanbul and manage to beat the lines by purchasing a Museum pass which you can find just next to the main entrance being sold from a mini-van. Once inside, the grandor and history of the mosque/church was all around us. It looks old, and I was a bit surprised but how some of it looks so rundown, but I guess that is what time does. Hagia... Read The Rest →

The Blue Mosque – (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) at Sunset

Perhaps it is a bit of a cliche to say that the Blue Mosque was my favorite mosque in Istanbul, but its true. I start with a fairly typical but must have image of the Blue Mosque silhouetted against the setting sun. Unfortunately the skies were not this orange It took a little bit of post work to get it to look like this. The interesting part was finding a view point to make this shot. After wondering around the Sultanahmet district looking for a roof top terrace to shoot from, and... Read The Rest →

Upside down Medusa head in The Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı) in Istanbul

One of the most interesting things we saw in Istanbul over Easter. This is one of the two Medusa heads that are placed in the northwest corner of The Basilica Cistern in Istanbul.  I thought it would be an interesting place to start sharing some of the photos I made during our visit, because it is (i think anyway) a departure from my usual photographs and style. These were a surprise for me. I had no idea going into the Cistern that these even existed, so once I saw them,... Read The Rest →

Gone Fishing

Well not really fishing, but I couldn’t find a more suitable image Heading to Istanbul today for Easter and really looking forward to it. It’s my first time that far east. Hope to capture some interesting photos to share with you. This image was taken on the way back from Burano in Venice. Underexposed by two stops, and toned in photoshop using curves. See you soon!

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