Mont Saint-Michel is one of France’s most recognizable and most touristed destinations, with more than three million people visiting each year. Gift shops peddle postcards printed with every possible view of the fortified monastery island, but missing from them is one of the most popular modern images, a dreamy shot that depicts the Normandy landmark as the first moments of sunrise begin burning away a coastal mist. To view it, you’ll have to head online, to the social media profiles of Turkish photographer İlhan Eroğlu.
Posting as @ilhan1077 on Instagram, the 38-year-old from İzmir, Turkey treats his more than 620,000 followers to vivid depictions of some of the world’s most recognizable European landscapes. “I can say that many people have been to the same places I have been to, but I have my own style and vision,” he notes to AdoramaTV.
Getting his start more than six years ago as an automobile photographer, Eroglu’s style is influenced by past study of the fine arts, particularly painting. His focus is on sunrise and sunset, and the way the light and sky play against the regal, rigid historic architecture of Europe. Prague Castle, the clifftop towers and ramparts of San Marino, and the moody canals of Venice are frequently in Eroglu’s focus, though simpler landscapes of Tuscan fields and small, church-anchored valleys in Bavaria aren’t overlooked.
Eroglu’s main outlet for his work is Instagram, and yes, he does pay attention to feedback, though it’s not the sole reason he continues on. “Social media has a big influence on me and my work. Likes, comments are some of the main reasons of motivation but, before Instagram, traveling was already a passion, and I will keep on travelling despite Instagram. But when these two are combined it becomes a very big motivation.”
As a Sony brand ambassador for Turkey, Eroglu has his pick of camera bodies and accessories. “Having the best camera doesn’t mean you can take the best photos. It is just a tool that helps,” he says. His toolbox, then, is built with the aim of keeping weight to a minimum. “It is very important for me to travel with light gear,” says Eroglu. “I travel a lot, and I walk for very long distances.” You’ll find him toting a carbon fiber tripod along with his workhorse, Sony a7R II, a 42-megapixel, full frame mirrorless camera with 5-axis image stabilization and 4K video, paired with a 70-200 mm F2.8 or 16-35 mm F2.8 lens.
In planning for a shoot, Eroglu first researches the destination and surrounding terrain using Google Maps. He makes photo stops at the most popular or obvious viewpoints, then ventures off on lesser trafficked paths, sometimes ending up miles away from his start, for angles that work best with his desire to capture the color palettes of sunrise or sunset. Eroglu describes to AdoramaTV his most challenging shoot, of the active volcano Mount Bromo, in Indonesia: “Getting there is very difficult. After driving for 15 hours we reached the spot, and I took a few sunrise photos. Then, we drove back for another 15 hours. All that effort was worth it, because the scene that I have seen is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in my life.”
This October will see Eroglu revisiting one of his favorite destinations, the mightily mountainous South Tyrol region in northern Italy, for a small-group photography workshop departing from Istanbul. Following Eroglu’s style, it’ll be early mornings and late nights to capture sunrise and sunset among the Dolomites and the region’s most camera-friendly locations, including Val di Funes, San Genesio, and Lago di Braies.
