Seren Coskun’s photography is alluring and intimate. She blends sensuality with reality and focuses the viewers’ attention to her wonderfully captured frames. Her creativity, talent and art is evident in all her images. It’s not just about beautiful photography, but rather she’s sharing her life. Be it her dramatic portraits or misty landscapes she shoots, there’s always a strong sense of her world through her eyes. Her self-portraits are about what’s going on inside than out. Her photographs are always original, always beautiful and her use of tones, lighting and angles are just superb. Her sense of aesthetics and art carries through her photography - an artist in every sense of the word. We are glad she speaks with us about her life and photography in general:

Hi Seren! Tell us a bit about yourself:

I was born in Turkey, in a city full of spirit and history. Then I moved to Istanbul when I was around 10 years old. I have been studying science since my young ages, and now I continue my studies with masters about Sustainable Energy Systems and Engineering. I’ve always believed that science and art are alike; when one of them is missing from my life, I don’t feel complete.

When did you get into photography, Seren?

Never had a certain answer to the question “when” but I believe 4-5 years ago I started being more and more interested in photography. However, there was a transition in my life from digital to analog that I cannot exactly say when.

I see photography as a passion rather than a profession for myself. In this sense, I never take photographs in a hurry or under some sort of pressure. I usually take photographs when I get a chance to travel these days. Somehow, it’s one of the busiest periods of my life and my studies require a lot of focus. But meanwhile, I’m shaping a few new ideas and in a couple of months I will hopefully be publishing more photographs.

What do you enjoy shooting most and what is in your camera bag? Got some achievements?

Portraits and travel. I don’t think I have ever had a “big” achievement but I suppose I’m not chasing opportunities. I am just happy enough when people ask for my permission to use my photographs for various reasons. As long as I like the project or the idea, I enjoy being a part of it.

I currently use a Canon ae1, Zenit 122 and recently bought a Minolta 35 PL to make more daily pictures. I have a small analog camera collection but I don’t use the rest, I rather just keep them. And about editing.. I think analog photographers know the answer the best, cause we don’t really go for editing. There are some small corrections I make but except from that, my camera gives the effect I like naturally.

Tell us about your creative impulses:

Improvising is what I do the most. It’s important for me to do photo-shoots in places that I’ve never seen before. If that’s an indoor photo-shoot, I step in and my first observations help me shaping my ideas the most. There are also the times when I think on a shoot too much, and then nothing really satisfies me cause I try to get the exact same image in my head. From my side, these are the difficult photographs to take. But I also enjoy to work on these ideas cause it feels like completing a puzzle and the closer you get to the end, the more you enjoy the composition you create.

I think there’s no particular concrete distinction. It all relates to the understanding / perception of the people who see the image. I see inspiration, without imitating, as a positive contribution to photography and art in general.

Tell us about your inspirations motivations and all that stuff:

Motivation comes from my ambition for photography. I prefer to take photographs when my mind is eased and sometimes it takes too long to find the right time when I can completely be included in what I’m doing without thinking of anything else.

There’s no photographer who I like the every single work of. Instead, I have favorite “series” from some photographers. Recently, Pieter Hugo became one of my favorites with his “This Must Be the Place” and “Permanent Error” series in which he photographed two different stories based on reality and I found it very powerful. Chadwick Tyler “Tiberius”, Tim Hetherington “Infidel” are some of the others that I can think of right now..

Say something to another girl going to get a camera:

Don’t take “change” as compromising from yourself; your roots, perspectives, ideals or ideas and go for a change!

Connect with or follow Seren Coskun on: Flickr

Note: All images appearing in this post are the exclusive property of Seren Coskun and protected under the International Copyright laws. Their copying and reproduction in any manner is strictly prohibited without the express permission of the owner.