I've moved into my new home. I'm in Altıntaş now.
As I write this, some of the boxes are still unopened. But I can say this clearly: I'm very happy here.
Moving as a photographer
When a photographer moves, it's less about furniture and more about gear and archive. Books and clothes find their place somehow. Camera bodies, lenses, lights and the drives that hold years of archive need a different kind of care. Each one is wrapped separately, checked separately and put back in its place separately.
And every move is, whether you like it or not, an inventory. You see once again what you really use and what you haven't taken out of its box in years.
Why Altıntaş
Altıntaş is a growing neighbourhood in the Aksu district, on the axis between Lara and the airport. Newly opened wide plots, planned growth, newly built parks. It may not have the texture of Antalya's old neighbourhoods, but it's a place that breathes: wide and new.
Some of the things that made the choice easier have to do directly with my work:
- The airport is five kilometres away. Heading out to a shoot, or meeting the crew of a brand coming from abroad, that distance is a real comfort. For someone who provides local production support in Antalya to international brands, living near the airport isn't a luxury; it's logistics.
- Lara and Kundu are right next door. Some of Antalya's big hotels are here. Hotel shoots are an important part of my work; getting to set is no longer a journey.
- The sea is close. Lara beach is a few minutes away.
Those are the practical reasons. But loving a place isn't a practical decision.
I'm happy here
For me, home isn't just where I sleep. It's where ideas first go down on paper, where shooting schedules get built, where the edit gets finished at midnight. A new home means opening up a new space for yourself.
Altıntaş gives me that space. I'm setting up my desk, my working routine and the rhythm of my day all over again, and it's doing me good.
Learning the light again
For a photographer, a new home means a new light. Which room gets the morning sun, which wall the evening light falls on, when to draw the curtain at midday... You learn these in the first weeks. Right now I'm in exactly those weeks.
When I wrote about the light in Antalya, and when I put the light clock at the bottom of this site, I wanted to make the same point: light doesn't arrive at the same time every day; it changes with the season, the angle and the place. Reading the light anew in a new home is the best reminder of that.
A small note: drones
Living this close to the airport comes at a price: you can't just launch a drone from here. The airspace around the airport is restricted, and flying requires special permission. A drone's place is on set anyway, not above the house.
A new chapter
Every move is the end of one chapter and the start of another. I have a feeling I'll make a lot of work in this new home.
I love Altıntaş very much. And yes, I'm very happy here.
The ordinary settles somewhere. The rebellious builds the place it settles in with its own light.
