From the Road Taken for the Camera to a Project that Makes Hearts Smile
This is a meaningful story ranging from the need for a camera to a social responsibility project that makes people smile. Ibn Haldun University Perspective Photography Club gives photography training to orthopedically handicapped youth every week at Bağcılar Disabled People's Palace as part of the "Gülümse Çekiyorum Project". They do their work with a smile and make others smile that they set out with the idea of "No Barriers to Taking Pictures". We talked to one of the architects of the project, Perspective Photography Club President Irem Sülük, and Project Coordinator Buse Şengül to learn the details of this meaningful organization. First of all, we leave you alone with the interview we made with İrem Sülük to learn about the origin story of the project and what happened during the training.
How did the “Gülümse Çekiyorum Project” come about? Can you share the story of the project with us?
When our club was newly founded last year, we needed cameras. We learned that if we wrote a good project, our camera needs could be met with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. With this intention, we all started to research how we could write a project. We thought that photography education is a very basic subject and that it can be given anywhere and in any way. We started looking for a different, creative project topic related to photography. In this process, we decided to start with definitions and concepts such as “What is photography? How is photography training given? Who is the photographer?” While doing research for this purpose, we came across “What a photographer should have” on some websites. We then compared this information with other books on the subject. Frankly, this took us by surprise. Because among the qualities that a photographer should have was the article "There should be no mental or physical handicap".
I think this was the breaking point for you. So what did you do afterward?
We did not accept the idea that being disabled might prevent a person from taking photographs. Because even if an individual with a mental disability is given a camera and told to press the bottom, even he or she can shoot something. It happens randomly, it happens unknowingly, but it happens. Or let's think about the physically handicapped: Today, such cameras are designed so that they can even detect blinks. We said that our disabled friends can also take pictures. To prove this, we started our project; We called it "Gülümse Çekiyorum".
How did the project develop? Can you tell me the details?
In the project, we preferred our physically disabled friends who use wheelchairs as their disability because when we consider the disabled profile in Başakşehir and its surroundings, we could reach this group the most. We started the project with 7 disabled friends at Bağcılar Municipality Disabled Palace. On the way we set out to acquire a camera, we started a very valuable project called "Gülümse Çekiyorum".
“Gülümse Çekiyorum” made both them and us smile
What traces do you think this project left on you?
The things we live in right now are much more valuable than those cameras. The happiness of meeting them and teaching them something is very meaningful. The excitement of Rügeyye, the youngest in the class, and the happiness on her father's face... It is an indescribable feeling for us to share the happiness of all of our friends, from Hatice who says "I want to be a landscape photographer" to Umut who says "I will shoot athletes". The tranquility of touching people's lives is not found anywhere else. All of these friends are still at the beginning of their lives. Some are our age, some a little younger than us. By giving them this training, perhaps we will enable them to have a profession in the future. Maybe they have a hobby where they can relieve their stress. In the end, “Gülümse Çekiyorum” makes both them and us smile. We all smile in the photos we take in the classes.
How did you feel before the first day of training for our disabled brothers and sisters and what did you encounter when the training started?
I could not sleep the night before the first training within the scope of the project. I was very happy and excited at the same time. I kept thinking “Is everything ready? Is there anything missing? and so on. As a team, we texted each other all night. “The disabled friends may have such and such problems, let's pay attention to them, let's not forget the chargers of the machines, and so on.” We shared with each other all the possibilities that came to our minds and what needed to be done. In the morning we went to the palace of the disabled. There we were given a nice large room. We set up all our belongings and waited for our friends. Later they came and we met each of them one by one. Some are high school students, some continue their education from open education. They shared their dreams. Among them are those who aim to be psychologists, athletes, and photographers. The purpose of our being there was to teach them photography and to show that the definition of a photographer in the books is not true, and anyone who wants can take pictures.
We were very excited, but they were also very excited. For example, we have a friend named Rügeyye. The smallest and most enthusiastic in the class. She tries to answer all the questions first and learns everything that is told. All through the lesson, her father watched her from the outside, looking towards the classroom. When Rügeyye answered the teacher's questions correctly, when the class applauded her, in short, every time Rügeyye was happy and laughed, the father also laughed. Frankly, we were very touched by this picture.
How are the courses taught in format?
Our courses continue both theoretically and practically. Our teacher first explains through the machine and covers topics such as“How to take pictures? Where should we position a person in the photograph? etc." Afterward, our friends take their cameras and shoot for the purpose of applying what they have learned. In our lessons we try to show all the tricks on how to take a good photo, starting from “how to hold the camera”.
“No Barriers to Taking Pictures!”
What do you think about the motivations of our disabled friends?
In general, the motivation of all our friends is very good. For example, our friend named Umut is a friend who has been involved in photography before and dreams of becoming an athlete. He shares his photos taken during training on social media with sentences such as "I'm going to be a photographer from now on". He has a social media channel. There, too, make sharing such as “I participate in such a training and everything will be fine from now on, etc.” We have a friend named Hatice. She is a high school sophomore and aims to study psychology at university. She wants to take landscape photos. We are thinking of arranging a trip by ferry for her. All of our friends have different wishes and needs regarding photography. There are those who want to work portraits, who want to take sports photos, and who want to take landscape photos. We will try to provide them with the opportunity they wish with the trips and activities we will organize during this project.
When we do a favor, we actually do ourselves a favor rather than the other person. Because perhaps we need this favor more than the other party. How did you feel during this project?
Yes, at first, we wrote this project so that we could have cameras. Then we thought about people with disabilities. We said that they could take pictures, too, but we didn't know exactly what to do or what path to follow. But after starting this project now and meeting these friends and having the pleasure of teaching them, everything is different. We plan to keep in touch with these friends and give advanced photography training next year. We want to continue this project. Because every person without any problem can achieve something, but a person in their situation needs a little more effort to achieve something. We saw this determination in them. For example, the example of Rügeyye. She is still young, but she understands everything faster than any of us. Her disability does not prevent her from taking pictures. A person can take a picture without bending over. As long as he knows what he wants and what he wants to do.
What are your goals for this training?
This is a total of 8 weeks of training. Classroom training will take place for 6 weeks. It will be a 2-week excursion. Final week, we will have an exhibition consisting of photographs taken by our trainees, both at Bağcılar Municipality Disabled People's Palace and at our school. We are planning this exhibition to consist of photographs of disabled athletes, disabled artists or people with disabilities who have achieved something. In other words, we will create the exhibition from the photos of disabled people taken by the friends who are also disabled like them. Our friends will achieve success by taking pictures of disabled people who have achieved something and putting their signatures on a beautiful exhibition. This will be a double success. Apart from that, we will have at least two trips. We are also considering a salon event. This program will be an event where disabled people who have achieved something can come and tell their stories.
“The challenge is not to write a project, but to implement the project”
“Gülümse Çekiyorum” Project Coordinator Buse Şengül answered our questions about the writing adventure of the project. Let's see what happened in this difficult process?
How did you write the "Gülümse Çekiyorum Project"? What should a student pay attention to when writing a project? Can you share your experiences about the project process?
Many friends have questions about how to write a project and how to implement this project. According to the experiences we have lived and observed, the difficult thing is not to write but to realize the project. As a result of the meetings we had with friends of the club, we went to Project Support Office Manager Sunay Karal with a few ideas in a short period of time. If you are going to write a project and you are going to get a grant from an institution, there are some points you need to pay attention to during the project writing and draft phase. These are so that which idea can be written and explained correctly as it is written, and at the end, you really need to make the other party like the project with both its subject and name and its wording. For this reason, Sunay Karal has helped us a lot, and in line with her experience, we chose the subject of the Gülümse Çekiyorum Project in order to enable our 7 orthopedically disabled friends to receive photography training.
What should a student do and not do in a project?
In fact, there are projects that take weeks or even weeks to write, but these are high-cost and long-term projects. In the student projects we will do, the writing phase takes a week, maybe two weeks. So friends with project ideas do not need to be intimidated. Although many of my friends had a project idea, they hesitated to write it and could not implement it. After choosing your topic, you need to think about every detail of the project in advance, how many weeks your activities will take, the expenses you will spend for them (transportation, food, trainer fee if there is a trainer, providing his/her transportation), determining and finding the segment you will address, finding the trainer, and every little thing that I can't think of at the moment. Even thinking about the details will make your job easier in terms of preventing future mishaps. In other words, the most important point of writing the project is to determine the budget and set the items in a good way, if necessary to learn the prices and demand the most suitable amount for you, and to clearly state the content and duration of your activities, so that the project writing is finished and now you wait for the answer from the Ministry. If your project is approved, they will call you to their institutions or organize a meeting in your city to sign a contract after a period of approval. Here, the issues that you need to pay attention to during the project process are discussed and you will have the opportunity to find answers to your questions. The next step is to deposit the grant into your account, and when your money is deposited, everything becomes easier for you. Because the draft project in your mind now comes to life.
We Can Remove Some Obstacles From Our Lives With "Gülümse Çekiyorum"!
From whom did you receive consultancy during the project process? What is the consultant's role in the project process?
A name whose help and support I can never deny during this period is our project consultant, Media, and Communication Department Research Assistant Ali Kivrak. He is a very valuable teacher who has written and coordinated many projects. If you are going to do your first project, I think it would be much better for you to start this journey with a consultant teacher. Because they will see things that you cannot see and will warn you beforehand. For example, most of us are very new to official affairs, yes, we know how to write a petition, we were taught this. We know this because we lived it. Everything is going well right now, and we know that with the 'Gülümse Çekiyorum' project, we can overcome some obstacles in our lives and make life more livable as they laugh with us. I hope we all take good lessons from this project and we can be an example for the projects to be done.
So what responsibilities does a project coordinator have?
If you are the coordinator of a project, you have taken on a lot of responsibility. You need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. The most important point is that you proceed through this process patiently and calmly. If I had to make self-criticism: Yes, there were times when I floundered a lot and there were days when I felt that my patience was not enough. Maybe I was a responsible person, but I learned that this is not enough. I've been through things where I have to maintain my patience and calmness. Because you need to be in contact with people and institutions all the time, your phone sometimes never stops, and the mishaps may never end. We also had such a process, and my advisor and my volunteers in the project never gave up their support. This is teamwork. Everyone should be willing and willing to do this work. I thank my teacher Ali Kıvrak at first, then to Sunay Karal, to the permanent staff of our club, namely İrem Sülük, Ayşe Müberra Bozaba, Ayşe Betül Eren and Semanur Güneş, and finally to our volunteer friends who came every week during our training and took care of our friends there.
