Photographer Fazıl Saraç, who has been photographing nature for 40 years, has a unique archive including works depicting the reflections of seagull movements on the sea. A passionate lover of the sea, Saraç says he always dreamed of immortalizing the movements of the birds long before he had the opportunity to photograph them.

Digital cameras may have made photography easier, but the best pictures remain those that excite the photographer before taking the shot, according to Fazıl Saraç, a noted nature photographer and reporter for Anatolia news agency.

Saraç, a native of Trabzon, a province in Turkey’s eastern Black Sea region, first began photographing 40 years ago. In time, his signature pieces began to focus on unique shots of seagulls along Turkey’s northern coast.

After graduating from university, Saraç became a teacher and was posted to various locales around Turkey. An eventual assignment to the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri ignited a passion for photographer after he began contemplating the beauty of the local Mt. Erciyes.

“Why don’t I eternalize this beauty of Erciyes?” Saraç asked himself. “During my service in Kayseri between 1967 and 1970, I realized that a different scene appeared everyday on Mt. Erciyes. Of course, finding a camera was not as easy as it is today. I talked with a photographer who was sent by the Education Ministry to our school to take photos – he recommended a Russian camera, Lubitel, to me. I bought my first camera for 140 Turkish Liras. With great excitement, I took photos of Erciyes. These first photographs were very influential in increasing my passion for nature.”

Later, he began taking photos increasingly in his spare time. “During these years, I always traveled to various regions during my weekend holidays and took photos. My goal was to improve my talent and catch the best frame.”

Saraç’s nature photography was also aided by his part-time work for Anatolia news agency, where he also worked as a photographer.

Looking through perspective of seagulls

Having lived next to the sea in Trabzon until the age of 20, Saraç said he had always dreamed of photographing the movements of seagulls even then.

After retiring, he began attaching greater importance to seagulls when taking photos as he attempted to see nature through their perspective.

“Until the age of 20, I went out to sea with almost all the fishermen in Trabzon. I used to follow the movements of seagulls. The moments when they caught fish were particularly amazing for me. Of course, however, it was not possible to photograph these moments when I was young,” he said.

With the emergence of digital photograph technology, immortalizing the colorful world of seagulls became easier, Saraç said.

“It is very nice but hard to take nature photos in winter months. Roads are closed and there are many handicaps. However, you can work on seagulls easily in winter. One day in a fisherman’s hut where I went to take seagull photos, I was struck by the reflections of the colors of big boats on the sea. It made me very excited because I thought that I could take very good photos if I could bring together these reflections with seagulls,” he said.

Noting that he made many trials with such reflections, Saraç said, “When the various colors of boats, such as yellow, blue and red merge with seagulls, photos that were likened to a photomontage by some, began to appear.”

‘Good photos always make me excited’

Ultimately, Saraç said the best photo is one that excites the photographer. “Every photo may not be good. But in my opinion, there is a reality that the best photograph is the one that makes the photographer excited before taking a snapshot of the moment. Because he creates a composition with his own eyes and determines that best. The rest is to push the shutter in the fastest way. This is true for seagull photographs.”

In the end, Saraç said, “The fact that our agency follows the latest technology all the time caused me to improve myself in photography because good equipment is a very important factor in taking the best photo.