Ara Güler, born August 16, 1928 in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey, is a Turkish Armenian photojournalist, nicknamed "the Eye of Istanbul" or "the Photographer of Istanbul". He is considered one of Turkey's few internationally known photographers.
In 1958, the American magazine company Time–Life opened a branch in Turkey, and Güler became its first correspondent for the Near East. Soon he received commissions from other international media, such as Paris Match, Stern and the London Sunday Times. After completing his military service in 1961, Güler was employed by the Turkish magazine Hayat as head of the photographic department.
About this time, he met Henri Cartier-Bresson and Marc Riboud, who recruited him for the Magnum Photos agency, which he joined. (He is not currently a member.) He was presented in the British 1961 Photography Yearbook. Also in that year, he was accepted as the only Turkish member to the American Society of Magazine Photographers (ASMP) (today called the American Society for Media Photographers). The Swiss magazine Camera honored him with a special issue.
In the 1960s, Güler's photographs were used to illustrate books by notable authors and were displayed at various exhibitions throughout the world. His works were exhibited in 1968 in 10 Masters of Color Photography at the New York Museum of Modern Art and at Photokina Fair in Cologne, Germany. His photo album Türkei was published in Germany in 1970. His photos on art and art history were used in Time, Life, Horizon and Newsweek magazines and publications of Skira of Switzerland.
Güler traveled on assignment to such countries as Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kenya, New Guinea, Borneo, as well as all parts of Turkey. In the 1970s he held photographic interviews with such notable politicians and artists as Winston Churchill, Indira Gandhi, Maria Callas, John Berger, Bertrand Russell, Willy Brandt, Alfred Hitchcock, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso. Some critics consider his most renowned photographs to be his melancholic black-and-white pictures taken mostly with a Leica camera in Istanbul, mainly in the 1950s and 1960s, a golden age of photojournalism.
He has exhibited frequently since then, and also had his work published in special supplements. International publishers have featured his photographs.
Güler's work is collected by international institutions, such as the National Library of France in Paris; the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York; University of Nebraska-Lincoln Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery; Museum Ludwig Köln, and Das imaginäre Photo-Museum, Köln.
In the 1970s, Güler worked in film, directing the documentary titled The End of the Hero (1975). It was based on a fictional account of the dismantling of the World War Iveteran battlecruiser TCG Yavuz.
Journalist Nezih Tavlaş’s book Foto Muhabiri (Photojournalist) details Ara Güler’s life, by providing chronological details starting from the day he was born up until now, and also includes dialogue with Güler as well as photographs from his family albums.