© Murat Harmanlikli
Series Finalist · Open Call 2024
Murat Harmanlikli
The photographer’s journey with Istanbul began as a university student, drawn by the city’s unique strangeness, chaos, and refusal to fit into any classification. Wandering through the historical peninsula, the city’s melancholic core suspended between East and West, past and present, became a favorite escape. He would lose himself in the labyrinth of narrow streets, drift with the crowds, and observe life in the courtyards of historic mosques. The shop windows filled with curiosities, the musty-smelling passages, and the bustling bazaars evoked an almost timeless wonder. For him, Istanbul was a city of endless fascination, where every corner seemed to exist beyond the constraints of time.
Now, years later, the photographer is revisiting the city with a long-term project in mind. With his camera in hand, he walks the streets of Istanbul like a modern-day flâneur, capturing fleeting moments that reveal the city’s essence. Much of the city remains the same: children still chase pigeons in the squares, mannequins in shopfronts seem to silently plead for help, giant posters loom over the streets like watchful guardians, and cats continue their reign on every street corner.
Through his lens, he feels a connection between past and present, as if time has dissolved. Is he still the young man discovering Istanbul for the first time, or is this a new moment entirely? The echoing call to prayer mingles with the city’s cacophony, evoking the verses of Turkish author Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar: “I am / not within time / Nor entirely beyond; But in the flux / Of an all-embracing, complete, indivisible moment.” His photographs aim to capture that same timelessness, a portrait of a city forever shifting yet unchanging, chaotic yet deeply poetic
The Eyeshot Open Call 2024 Issue #16 is a limited-edition magazine and photographic collection, showcasing the best in street and documentary photography. Featuring winners, finalists, and honorable mentions from over 15,000 global submissions, this exclusive edition celebrates exceptional storytelling.
Eyeshot Magazine #16
The third Eyeshot Open Call, a reading of contemporary street and documentary photography across continents and approaches. Issue #16 collects six awarded works, single images and series, selected by a jury of seven photographers, editors, and curators. The works move between street observation, documentary practice, intimate portraiture, and political witness, presented as an annual reading of what photography is doing now.
NEXT EDITION
Open Call 2026
The next edition of the Eyeshot Open Call. Submissions open annually. Single images and series are welcome from photographers working in street and documentary photography.
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Each edition is read by a different international jury of photographers, editors, and curators. The full list of jurors who have read for Eyeshot is on the past jurors page.
OPEN CALL 2024
