Photography has been severely underrated in recent times. You, the reader of this article, will know of people that describe themselves as ‘photographers’ for just taking holiday snaps and uploading them to social media. iPhone snappers are completely ignorant to the current climate of the professional photography industry.
What makes great professional photographs; the preparation, the equipment, the craftsmanship, the ingenuity, the sheer difficulty of it; is more prevalent today than it has ever been before. Photography has become the new watercolour, the new acrylic, the new gouache.
This isn’t made any clearer than by the works of Cem Bayoglu.
Adjacent to a railway track just outside the great Turkish city of Izmir, Cem Bayoglu’s studio produces some of the most unique and impressive works that the photography world has never seen before.
His series ‘Sinful Colors’ explores colour schemes by clashing emboldened golds, reds and greens with chiaroscuro-style lighting. Portraits with a cacophony of moisture, emotion, textures and lips. The art is in capturing the moment, with no major manipulations or touch-ups in the editing process. The emotional depth juxtaposed with the interesting variation of texture is what makes this series so unique.
The titular description, ‘sinful’, is conveyed with the facial expressions of the models, who are captured in provocative states whether mid-air or underwater. These photographs are truly sublime. Cem describes the series as a regressive exploration of the magic of natural colour schemes.
Another of his series of photographs, ‘Berceste’, contain some of the most recent of Cem’s works. This series isn’t entirely referential to ‘Sinful Colors’, but it shows a continuation of Cem’s visual style. Another series of fine art portraits, the ideas behind it are wholly opposite to ‘Sinful Colors’ when it comes to the editing stage. ‘Berceste’ explores different textures and moods with a metallic undertone.
Cem’s works are the ideal photographs to decorate the house, providing a vibrancy that paintings or store-bought art can’t bring to the table. Cem’s photographs are perfect as focal points, so you can design a room around the photographs and complementing the bold colours.
If you’re looking to spice up your living room, or make visitors double-take in the hallway, look no further than Cem Bayoglu.
