Istanbul Street: On Black & White and Colour

In June 2023 we walked Istanbul with Bulzei: ferry decks, the back streets of Karaköy, the foot of Galata. We carried a single decision — this series would be black and white. This essay is that decision's defence.

Colour informs, black and white judges

A colour frame tells you "what it is": the jacket is blue, the sign is yellow, the sea is grey. Black and white tells you "what it feels like" — because when the eye can't read colour, it reads contrast, texture, gaze. With a thousand stimuli on the street, b&w mutes the noise and leaves the sentence.

When colour, when not?

• If colour is the story itself, it stays: a red tram, a neon sign — when colour is the subject, deleting it is murder.
• When light is harsh, b&w wins: the merciless contrast of noon sun becomes graphic power in monochrome.
• When a face is central, b&w deepens: the gaze steps forward without colour scattering it. That's exactly what happens in this series' portraits.

Colour calls the eye; black and white holds it.

In a street series the model doesn't "model" — she lives in the same sentence as the city. Zeynep's strength here is exactly that: leaning on the ferry's light and Galata's stone with the same ease. Credit where due: model, Bulzei; lead role, Istanbul.