Fujifilm X100F: Discovering the beauty of Istanbul!

Chris Perkles
5 min readJan 22, 2023

--

Attention: The following text is written 4 years late, and my memories are viewed by some sort of love goggles.

Back in November 2019 I had the chance to visit Istanbul in Turkey for the first time. Still to this date, this was one of my most memorable trip in my life so far, and I’ve seen some places. So in this short article I wanna share some of my favorite places:

Also, all the photos have been shot with the Fujifilm X100F and the conversion lenses. The photos have been edited with Lightroom and my presets (you can get them here). If you like what you’re reading, please consider subscribing, this would help a lot!

The November light was just gorgeous.

We stayed in the Arden City Hotel, which was very close to the city center. The awesome thing about that place was, that they had a nice rooftop terrace with a view over the whole city. Check this out:

View from the Arden City Hotel

Also, the food was excellent up there. Big recommendation.

Since it was close to the centre, we walked towards Hagia Sophia first.

What an outstanding building. Just beautiful.

We mostly didn’t need any public transport, since everything we wanted to go was in walking distance, and the streets, bridges and peers of Istanbul offer amazing scenes.

We found a cute little coffee shop, next to the Galata bridge. It was called Books & Coffee Karaköy. They have tons of books, which you can read for free, and the coffee and vibe was exceptional.

Afterwards, we walked around the Galata tower and found some nice gems.

Back on the Galata Bridge to the Hotel, I took some of my favorite shots to this date. The sunset, the birds, and the mood have been burnt to my mind.

Galata Bridge.

The next day, we decided to take the ferry across the Bosporus to Kadiköy. This is also a big recommendation, very lovely neighbourhood with lots of little gems, coffee shops and street shops.

Kadiköy Area.
Views from the Ferry.
Little fisher boat.

When we got back, we took a turn towards the grand bazar. So many impressions, so many people, feels like the Bazar in Marocco, but more modern and less hectic. Awesome to place to watch people.

Grand Bazar Istanbul

The last day, we didn’t do much. We had lunch with an old friend on the rooftop terrace of the Seven Hills Hotel, with the beautiful view at Hagia Sophia.

Rooftop Seven Hills Hotel

And in the evening, as a birthday surprise for my girlfriend, we went to a very special dinner restaurant with a great view. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name.

After all, this was definitely a trip to remember. The photos I took back then, are still one of my favourites to look at. What a trip.

If you have any questions, leave a comment or hit me up!

--

--

Chris Perkles

I write about photography, communication and things that cross my mind // www.chrisperkles.at