By Heidi Trautmann

I well remember the time when I interviewed Ümit Ali Esinler and other photographers, including Kadir Kaba; it was between 2006 – 2009…., the launch of my first Art Book “Art and Creativity in North Cyprus” was in 2010, and getting myself into the mood for my review of the new book presented just recently at the SOL Atelier in Nicosia, I went through articles and photos of those times.

I read the book; Kadir Kaba and Zehra Şonya are great researchers, and Kadir Kaba has the passion, knowledge and deep interest to record the work and life of Cyprus old photographers in the form of books, and I have them all. Leafing through this new book left me smiling and brought back so many memories. I thought of my meeting with Ümit Ali Esinler, with his deeply human understanding, and with the eye of an artist and philosopher. However, all the photographers I interviewed had a deep understanding of the human kind, its many faces; I call them artists, art photographers. Here are two links, showing many of them at my book launch, and it makes me melancholic to know that some of them have left us.

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=2255531231#.XY73v1UzaUk

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=3456424264#.XY78o1UzaUk

Ümit Ali Esinler, Kadir Kaba and myself, we have lived already a good part of one century, have seen wars, unrest, migration, and all the human stupidities, but we have also seen development in many fields, here: development in photography techniques. In this book we not only get a glimpse into Ümit Ali Esinler’s life and development as a photographer and his passion, but also on the hardship of those years when wrong visions divided the island. He was more or less at the front of it all, being employed by the police and court to work in the criminalistics field for them. It is an eye opener in many ways, the time seen from a different angle. We also learn about how hard it was to get photographic material; he followed international development in techniques and rules of light. It is a most interesting book and I am happy to have met him, the photographer, still in good shape at his high age, surrounded by his family, at the presentation and exhibition supported and opened by the Eastern Mediterranean University, DAÜ and by the Chair Person of DAÜ-KAM , Prof. Dr. Naciye Doratlı together with the artist and incessantly researching and recording colleague and co-worker Zehra Şonya.

The book is written in Turkish and English; the exhibition at the SOL Atelier, see the poster for details for viewing times; also see the facebook site of the SOL Exhibition Hall for directions how to get there.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Art-Gallery/SOL-Atelier-Exhibition-Hall-287301985103600/

For those who are interested in the culture and history of the island, it is a most recommendable read.