Elif Koyutürk

The only word that young photographer and director Elif Koyutürk, who shines globally in a short span of time doesn’t want to hear is “to stop”!

Elif Koyutürk, who calls herself a “nomad photographer” is a young photographer and director who already achieved global awards. Elif, who attracted our notice at the shooting she did with Red Bull for Turkey Rally in 2014, started to film big budget advertisements and brand stories of global brands such as Red Bull Media House, KTM, Husqvarna, KISKA, and Carl Zeiss with her work reflecting motorsports world with all its speed and thrill.

Elif, whose short movie titled Good Morning Louise elected in the previous days as the video of the week by Awardeo, also holds the Sony Photography “Commended Photographer” award. We interviewed Elif before the opening of her personal photography and video exhibition titled Eternity of Nature and Soul which will start on 27th April in Consulate General of Austria in Istanbul.

[Photograph of Elif Koyutürk]

Portrait Photograph: Gökhan Yorgancıoğlu

Oktay Tutuş: Elif, would you define yourself as an emotional woman?

Elif Koyutürk: It depends. All the things I experienced whilst working and constantly leaving people behind when changing countries ensured me to get this under control. I especially used to suffer from strong yearning. In the beginning, I used to cry while leaving every country; now I’m getting accustomed to this situation. I realized that my sensuality has a switch on/switch off button and now I can switch it on or off. When you encounter lots of different stories you have to control your emotions and concentrate. But I had times that I cried while writing a story! When I enter the world of that character or that mood, I get very emotional, especially at the stage of writing.

How much importance do you think this aspect has or how much it dominates when telling stories?

I love drama. Actually it’s an ironic situation. Because I am a positive person, I always smile no matter what. Even my friends always say “Elif, we are expecting a comedy from you!”.

The characters I tell usually have sides coming from difficulties and victimizations. To write about them, I initially have to wrap myself up to their characters or their lives. I collect data about them for weeks. My emotional side shows up then; it is important for me to feel the character in my heart. The roads he/she walked, the sufferings he/she had become my world out of a sudden. Any work without emotion doesn’t have much importance for me. Any work done without any feeling is a bit superficial for me.

I try to create a feeling and a context for every work. Music, colors, visuals and stories are the best ways for me to express these feelings. That is to say, my emotions matter a lot when telling stories. And it is really weird but whenever I am truly happy, I can write perfect drama stories; stories coming from the merger of two different emotions.

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Details in Nature from Elif Koyuturk on Vimeo.

How much importance do you think stories have? And do you ever feel anxious about truly reflecting a story while telling it?

Humankind grows up listening to stories. It continues to want to hear these stories when it grows up. It wants to watch and read the characters which it puts itself in their place or dreams about. After all don’t our own lives consist of the stories that we create? For me, stories mean different experiences; to enter into one’s life, to learn everything like a spy, and to recreate… Stories are one of the most important things in my life. Without a story, shoot amazing things with any camera you like, it is meaningless. Stories are the building blocks of everything. If you have a strong story, that film forges ahead!

To genuinely tell about it, I need to be “IT”. At the beginning of my research, I actually always feel that excitement; “If I will be able to tell it?” concern. And the reason for it is I barely know that character yet. But in time, I read about it, I interview relatives (if they are alive) and then this concern disappears. These researches and trying to be “it” phases even affects my own life; such as an actress living like the character she performs. These sweet concerns are like a game for me. A game that I can’t give up enjoying!

Can we call you an adventurous person?

I love adventures. I always find myself in a different adventure at every work and I love difficulties. My self-respect rises when I succeed in a difficulty. “Yes Elif! Look, you made it; there was nothing to be scared of. Come on for the next one!” I say to myself a lot.

I especially experience this at productions necessitates physical power. Because there is a real situation there; there is a place that I need to climb up with heavy equipment on my back. By the way I am not a climber, if I was one, maybe these productions would be easier for me, and they wouldn’t even be on my adventures list! When I find myself in male-dominated productions, I push myself 10 times harder to find the “best potential” in me. I definitely am a risk taker adventurer; otherwise life would be too boring for me.

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Serkan Özdemir / A Riders Passion from Elif Koyuturk on Vimeo.

Actually I think that you have a war reporter profile. What do you think about being a reporter or about reporting news?

My basis comes from there. I studied documentary and journalism and as a child my dream was to become a war reporter. The reason for this was again to go there and to listen to the stories of the people there. To make news and basically report them was never my dream. I tell news with my own style, by making films; more allusive, by making people think about it.

I always question everything in my life.

I never directly wanted to be a reporter. I used everything I learned from journalism for film-documentary field. They are like two different worlds, but they are too interwoven for me. I grab varied emotions in my works as I try to dominate these two different sides. The most important thing I learned in journalism and affected my movie career was my communication with people. I realized when living and working in different places on earth that communication style matters a lot. I learned how to ask questions to people, and how to create a story in that world. To this end, actually I have a bit of everything that you think of.

Could you tell us a bit about your exhibition Eternity of Nature and Soul which will be held in April?

It shows the photographs and films from my roadmap and binary oppositions. My exhibited works are examining human and nature as two separate realities and in the meanwhile focusing on their interaction and their dialogues. It records the modifications of people who are in touch with nature.

As I was always in touch with nature, I came up with that same emotion for this exhibition. My fellow friend Zeynep Bolat stood as the curator. The exhibition is consisting of the photographs and films that I took in Austria. It will be held in the last week of April in Consulate General of Austria and it will also exhibit the series of a social responsibility project that I undertook for the children suffering from Progeria disease. We will support the fund with the sales from this series. To raise awareness with the power of art was one of my dreams and I think it will become true. Our readers are all welcome!

Even though humankind exceeded the limits of nature, currently it is in trouble with the borders that it itself drew. As a wanderer, what was the most troubled human-made thing that you encountered as you were travelling?

Ego and prejudice. They are human-made and one of the things that everyone has. I always encountered egos and prejudices of people in different places. It is in our nature. It was the most challenging thing for me; instead of leaving their ego at a side and trying to do something perfectly, they are trying to denigrate or separate each other. It happened a lot of times to me as well; but I’m not a quitter. Someone looking down on me, it is not a problem for me at all; it is their own problem… But I had times that these egos tried to get the things that I had. Then you become a warrior. The best answer I give to ego is success. Easily and quickly, those people go back to their cores when they see success and your relationship becomes a normal one. I learned to be patient in these ego wars.

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Surf Project #N2 from Elif Koyuturk on Vimeo.

You believe that travelling changes things in people’s lives. What do you think about the technologies that changes people’s lives without travelling? For example VR technology? Because researches have shown that people want to see places they have never been and to travel the world with VR technology.

VR is an amazing thing… But I don’t count it as travel if I don’t touch! My sense of travel is a bit different. When I travel, I don’t stay less than two months in that place. First of all, I contact the locals and I ask them to take me to the ghettos, to the most dangerous places. Usually they ask me “Are you crazy?”, but I see the reality there, I talk to people, I take their photos or I just listen to them and look around. For instance if I didn’t get in contact with people in those streets of Brazil, I wouldn’t count myself as I travelled. I don’t know, maybe if they contact VR with Skype or something… Joking aside, you need to be in the field and in dialogue to reach and understand the real people of a city. For that reason, it wouldn’t make a difference for me if I travel the world with VR since what change me aren’t buildings or streets, it’s the people.

Would you say “Okay I need to stop here” someday? Or what point would that be?

No, never! I don’t like to stop! I think I am not at the age to answer this question yet; as a 23 year old woman, the word “stop” scares me a lot! Now it is time to move fast; countries are changing, I am changing, I am improving myself.

Everything is developing too fast around me; even if I exhaust, even if I fall down, I get up and move on and it will be like this for a long time. It has to be.

Author: Oktay Tutuş