NAKIPOGLU'S CAMERAS
Exactly 173 years have passed since the Frenchman
Nicephore Niepce took the first photograph. The combination of optical
knowledge with the discovery of light-sensitive film came together
to create the camera, one of the most important human inventions.
Since its invention, photography has not only developed to extraordinary
new heights of sophistication, but has found applications in innumerable
spheres, including medicine, communications, art, defence and archaeology.
In many countries photographers interested in the
history of the camera and photography have built up collections
which have become valuable documentaries of the progress made in
this technology. One of them is Hilmi Nakipoglu, a 53 year old businessman
from Bakirköy in Istanbul who is also a keen photographer and
a member of the Society of Amateur Photographers and Cinematographers
(IFSAK).
He has been collecting cameras and other photographic
equipment since 1970, and in 1997 established the Camera Museum
in Bakirköy. Hilmi Nakipoglu’s interest in photography
began as a child, when he turned his mothr’sr trousseau chest
in the basement into a dark room and started making his own contact
prints. His first camera, bought by saving his pocket money, was
a 6x6 plastic Ferrania, and he later moved on to a Russian Zorki
camera. In his twenties his interest in photography led to a fascination
for old cameras, and for the next thirty seven years he combed the
flea markets and junk shops, accumulating a vast collection.
‘As the years past, finding room for the collection became
a problem,’ he explained. ‘And the time seemed to have
come to have it properly classified and exhibited. So we established
the Camera Museum on the top floor of Bakirköy School for the
Mentally Handicapped..
The museum contains 550 cameras, arranged by brand
in chronological order. In addition the showcases and cupboards
contain flashlights, light meters, tripods, enlargers, camera cases
and diverse other accessories. The museum is airconditioned to protect
the exhibits from damp and extremes of temperature. The exhibits
represent only around half of the entire collection, which consists
of over 900 items altogether. The oldest camera dates from 1868
and measures 102x52x54 centimetres. It is a handmade German camera
made of wood, and was used in a photographic studio in Beyazit.
Hilmi Nakipoglu found it abandoned in the corner of a storeroom
years later, and this veteran of early photography now stands in
the prominent position it deserves in the museum.
As you wander past the cases in the museum you take
a journey through time. The faded yellowed photographs which accompany
the exhibits give fascinating glimpses into Turkey’s social
history.
In a school photograph from the 1920s, rows of girls
wearing berets and their teachers look into the lens. Another photograph
dating from the Gallipoli Campaign shows two soldiers off to the
front with a small boy. The boy clings tightly the hand of one of
the soldiers, presumably his father, as if begging him not to go.
Alongside handmade German and French cameras with
gleaming metal fittings dating from the turn of the 20th century,
are unusual stereo cameras with double lenses which look more like
binoculars. There are early Kodak Eastman box cameras made of wood,
and tiny espionage cameras the size of cigarette lighters used during
World War II. Another even stranger camera is in the form of a metal
drink can.
For anyone interested in photography and the near
past this museum is a treasure house.
For generations who take photography for granted,
it reveals how truly magical is the ability to capture images at
the touch of a button, bringing the past alive in a way that was
never before possible.
By Josie LEFORT TUNA
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