Mobile Photography & Art – ‘Intimate Interview’ with Mehmet Duyulmus from Istanbul, Turkey
We have decided to launch a new intimate style of interview into TheAppWhisperer – the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website. We feel it is important that our community feel close to each other, as it is this support that helps us to nurture one another, gain confidence and continue to grow.
This is our twenty third interview, to read the others, please go here. Today, we are publishing this expansive and fearless interview with Mehmet Duyulmus from Istanbul, Turkey.
All images ©Mehmet Duyulmus
What was your childhood or earliest ambition?
When I was a child though it was popular to want to be a pilot, doctor, lawyer or an officer, I secretly wanted to be an actor or a performing artist.
First Recognition
Instead of becoming an actor, because I was studying at a French school in Istanbul in order to practice French during the summer holiday, I Worked in a shop in the Covered Bazaar selling carpets to tourists. This made me feel very flattered because I could talk a foreign language and I was proud to make some pocket money.
First Job
My first job was in tourism. First I became a professional tourist guide and then I became a partner of a tourism agency.
Private or State school?
I attended state primary school and then a private missionary catholic French high school, Lycée de Saint Benoit (by the way I am a Muslim living in Muslim majority country).
University or Work?
Obviously it was work!
Who was or is still is your mentor?
My first mentor was a French philosophy teacher in school. He broadened my way of thinking and looking at art.
How physically fit are you?
I don’t have much to complain about just a few things that come with age! I feel very well and fit!
Ambition or talent: What matters more to success?
Well I believe that ambition and talent go hand in hand of course with a lot of luck.
How politically committed are you?
It is not possible not to be politically committed in my country where economy fluctuates with high leaps considering the fact that I am a business person who owns a business. We also have a big issues such as human rights, democracy and justice.
What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
I would like to sail around the world and discover new lands and people.
What’s your biggest extravagance?
Art, especially mobile art. In fact it started as a hobby and now it seems as if it is going to be a full time occupation for the third phase of my life.
In what places are you happiest?
I am happiest when I am together with my dear wife and my son and daughter and grandchildren, because my kids live abroad and we can all come together in the summer in our summer house by the sea.
What ambitions do you still have?
I would like to own and run a renown art gallery!
What drives you on?
When there are people with good and beautiful thought s and who are happy, this feeling spreads and affects me.
What is the greatest achievement of your life so far?
My greatest achievement in life is my family.
What do you find most irritating in other people?
Lazy people irritate me a lot. I dislike fanatics, radicals and extremists.
If your 20 year old self could see you now, what would she think?
Would most probably be proud of me personally because I am a content person but might criticise me for not being more active politically!
Which object that you’ve lost do you wish you still had?
I lost my parents early in life because of their illnesses. I wish they had lived long enough to appreciate what I achieved in life.
What is the greatest challenge of our time?
Refugees all over the world and especially in Turkey. No more religions WARS!
Do you believe in an afterlife?
I want to believe in an after life but it does not sound real.
If you had to rate your satisfaction with your life so far, out of 10, what would you score?
Eight out of ten!
Contact Details for Mehmet Duyulmus
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
