In the second installment of Holly's High Fives, photographer Holly Falconer chats with Timur Celikdag, a Turkish-German fashion and portrait photographer and asks him to sum up the highlights of his career so far in five photos and five questions.
Timur is beloved by magazines such as i-D, Fantastic Man, The Sunday Times Style and L’Uomo Vogue - who relish his intellectual approach that’s always undercut by a sharp sense of humour. His work always surprises and challenges the viewer - whether he’s shooting shoes from the pit of a helicopter, feet dangling below - to a fashion editorial studying the sartorial choices of Sikh men. His nuanced, beautiful use of lighting is astounding - setups are often as epic as that of a film set, and his ability to street cast just the right person for a shoot is impressive - he once flew out to Moscow to have coffee with a pianist for a musician-themed fashion shoot, just to check he’d found the right guy.
Brought up in Germany as a son of Turkish parents, he’s now lived in East London for over a decade. His career began when he won the photography prize at the Festival International des Arts de la Mode in Hyères, and he’s not looked back since. Recent clients have included & Other Stories, Alexander McQueen and Philippe Starck, and he’s just been featured in Thames and Hudson’s book Fashion Photography Next. Holly assisted Timur just over half a decade ago, and has vivid memories of Timur’s insistence on researching every possible angle of an aesthetic or idea, something that’s stuck with her ever since. That, and him being super fun to work with: even 5am call times were peppered with Timur’s cheeky sense of humour.
Timur Celikdag : One of the men from my Istanbul series that won the prize in Hyères. They were completely unaware that they were to me part of a ‘fashion’ shoot I had pre-staged in my own head. This project inspired me to work with more subjects in which fashion and portraiture got merged into one.
However, throughout my time there I had a strong preconceived fashion criteria - in that I only approached the ones with a certain style, which to many westerners may seem 'unfashionable' but to me it was so authentic and fascinating as it showed a connection to their culture. I found it admirable how these men - some of which came from very modest backgrounds - have a strong self-confidence in their look and a natural pride in their masculinity. They were completely unaware that they were to me part of a ‘fashion’ shoot I had pre-staged in my own mind.
It was important to us that the final images were really shot by them though, so we used huge mirrors in every shot. To document a reflection of yourself via a mirror is quite a weird concept and having a loving couple, feeling as one and taking images of themselves made it even more interesting. I was just directing the composition and the lighting so removing myself as the photographer was quite freeing as it enabled me to look at it from a more objective perspective. Also, giving them the control over which moment the image was taken also made a difference to the way they were posing and how they were acting towards each other.
I think it’s a bit similar to the concept of a Photo Booth - a few months ago my girlfriend and I took a picture in one of the photo booths you have on a few street corners in Berlin and it’s one of the most beautiful self-portraits I have. Drawing the curtain close so no one else can watch and not having one of us (we are both photographers) take the shot - instead it’s a machine on a self-timer documenting you - is quite funny.
Timur Celikdag : 'A Love Story with Eden and Lizzie', for & Other Stories, 2015. These portraits of the couple for & Other Stories were all shot by the sitters and were mirror reflections of themselves. Removing myself and acting more as a director was not only freeing in some ways, but also interesting in the way it changed the dynamics between me and them - and between them as well.
Timur Celikdag : The Recital, Fantastic Man, 2009. Watching musicians perform, I always envied how they transport themselves into a state of trance which almost seems sexual at times - and must be so absorbing otherwise they’d realise how silly some of the faces they pull look. So I had the idea of suggesting the idea of a pianist who had something really elegant and romantic about the way they play to Fantastic Man. I found this Russian pianist - getting to see his dedication and obsession with this instrument, playing endless hours every day was just mind-blowing devotion.