Roberta Fedele Saudi Gazette He is known for his outstanding collection of aerial photography in his books “Istanbul from Air” and “Makkah from the Skies”. He has spent the last three years extensively traveling across Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem, Turkey and other Islamic cities for his projects. He is renowned Turkish photographer Orhan Durgut. Durgut's book “Makkah from the Skies” is comprised of 250 pictures out of 40,000 photographs, illustrating the changes not only taking place in the Grand Mosque, but also of the massive construction and renovation going around it. Durgut's latest photography ventures are “Panorama Turkey” — the result of a year-long travel through 81 Turkish cities covering a distance of approximately 110,000 km; and “Three Holy Mosques of Islam” — a miscellany of pictures from Jerusalem, Makkah and Madinah portraying the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque — Islam's principal pilgrimage destinations, which will be available from December 2012 onwards in Arabic, Turkish and English. For centuries, the landscape around the immutable structure of Ka'bah has undergone continuous changes. Durgut's intention is to document the transformations occurred during the last decade in Islam's holy lands and create a historical archive from which the future generations might be able to benefit. Durgut started his photography career in 1975. He has photographed many Islamic and European countries, capturing the charm of cities like Damascus, Baghdad, Rome, Seville, London and Paris. What distinguishes his work from others is his passion for city landscapes and Islamic and spiritual subjects. The passionate Turkish photographer's first visit to Makkah was in 1977 and the experience of watching around five million Muslims from the sky on the day of Arafat overwhelmed him the most. “The collective energy disclosed by millions of people praying in unison touched me with an intensity impossible to express with words. This energy undoubtedly contributed to enhance my creativity and put all my heart in the work I was doing.” “Since 2005, I decided to concentrate almost all my efforts on portraying cities and locations that are relevant to the Islamic community. Apart from Saudi Arabia, where I have been doing photography for the past three years, I've been traveling at least twice a year to Jerusalem to take pictures of Al-Aqsa Mosque. My idea is to compile pictures of Islam's three holy places into one single collection and share it with the Islamic community, as majority of them are denied access to Jerusalem,” said Durgut. “I would like to thank the Mayor of Makkah for granting me permission to take aerial photographs of Makkah and Madinah from 2007 to 2010. In the last three years, I've been documenting the radical changes that have occurred around the Ka'bah like the demolition of more than 3,000 buildings, the creation of new luxurious edifices, the construction of the road connecting the mountains of Safa and Marwa and the expansion around the circumambulation area,” added Durgut. Durgut regularly comes to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah and work on his upcoming book. He wants to travel throughout Saudi Arabia to capture the beauty of the country, just as he did in his homeland. One of his latest collections “Panorama Turkey” will be launched within a month. Durgut hopes that after viewing his massive miscellany of Turkey's most fascinating cities and landscapes, Saudi officials might want a similar work from him of their country. Meanwhile, Durgut is also working another magnificent project — photographing 40 Islamic cities in the world. And, he has already visited 14 such cities up till now.
