Mehmet Masum Suer - A Photographic Career Is Both Valuable and Well Paid in Some Developed Western Countries (Photographer)

Mehmet Masum Suer, Photographer in Turkey. He lives in the historic city of Diyarbakir in Turkey.

1. Tell us more about your background and journey.

I started photographing when I was a 13-year-old little boy. I got an analog camera that took 6x6 cm photos at that age. We lived in the Kızıltepe district of Mardin. The first photo I took was a photo of my father, mother, and sister posing together. This photo I took in 1970 is among the most valuable photos in my archive. In the following years, I continued to take pictures of our family members.

In 1974, I started writing articles at a very young age as a reporter for a monthly magazine published in Ankara. I was also taking photographs of my articles. In 1976, I started working as a reporter for Turkey's national news agency. Until 1992, I worked as a representative, reporter, and editor in different news agencies and newspapers. My photography continued as news photography during these years. I have improved myself in this area.

In 1992, I had to quit journalism because of the violent environment my country was in. I turned to researches on culture, language and history. Starting from 1998, I took photographs of the historical district of Hasankeyf at intervals until today.

Because Hasankeyf would remain under the dam waters and the historical sites and artifacts here had to be documented. The entire district, which includes many historical buildings, was flooded at the beginning of 2020.

My curiosity to document historical sites, buildings, and artifacts that started with Hasankeyf continued with my shooting in our historical cities Diyarbakır, Mardin, and Van. Meanwhile, I started to be interested in Kurdish culture. Because of the Kurdish culture, like many other traditional cultures, has lost an important part of its clothing and daily life tools due to modern life.

National clothes are no longer worn, and some items are no longer used. I started documenting these cultural values as well. As a project, I shot portraits of more than 200 Kurdish artists from all fields of art. In the last 5 years, I have started to take animal photographs and nature photographs of wildlife.

Previously, I was taking the photograph only for documentation. Most of them were news photos. I started taking my artistic photos in 2005. I studied art history and painting in my youth.

When this art education combined with the photography technique I got from journalism, I quickly turned to art photography. This time, I added an artistic perspective to my documentary photographs, and with the additional training I received, I managed to become one of the leading art photographers in the world.

I was awarded by the International Federation of Photography Art FIAP in 2017 with the title of AFIAP, that is 'artist', and in 2018 with the title of EFIAP 'excellent artist'. In the last 4 years, I have received honorary membership titles and diplomas from 22 different international photography institutions.

I have been a member of the American Photography Association PSA for 5 years and I have a PPSA diploma from this association. I won many awards from international competitions. I attended two international symposiums and studies in Iraq and Romania.

I'm Bangladesh Phoenix Photo Society Representative to Turkey, also Honorary Advisor of PPI (Professional Photographers International in Hong Kong) in Turkey.

2. When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?

Actually, in my youth, I just wanted to be a journalist and succeeded. But I never thought of taking the photo in an art form. When I started documentary photography intensely after 2005, I saw that my photos were appreciated by a wide audience and this made me happy.

This liking compelled me to take better pictures. During these years, I tried to improve my photography technique by reading, researching, and especially by carefully following the works of masters. I sent it to international competitions to understand the value of my photos and measure their quality. When I won awards, starting with gold medals, I realized that I am now an artist.

3. Is it a financially stable career?

A photographic career is both valuable and well paid in some developed Western countries. However, the country I live in Turkey, unfortunately, does not see much interest in art and works of art.

Artists from all fields of art have difficulty maintaining their arts because they cannot earn money and have to do other works that have nothing to do with art. I have a master theatre friend, he opened and started a restaurant.

I also work as a teacher to earn a living. We are also experiencing copyright issues. Although there is copyright law, it is still not followed.

4. Who is your favourite painter, photographer/artist and why?

My favorite painters is Dr.Rebwar Saed, he lives in the Federal Kurdistan Region of Iraq and is also an academic at Sulaymaniyah University. My friend Rebwar has a very special style, using different shades boldly and skillfully together. His paintings mostly feature portraits of women. In his works, he describes the mood of the Kurdish woman.

As a photographer, the photographs of Ara Güler attract my attention. Both the landscapes and especially the street photographs he took from Istanbul in the 1950s are impressive. He skilfully documented daily life and working people and made good use of light in the black and white time of the photograph.

5. What is your inspiration for creating art?

I started document photography in 1998 by shooting the ancient town of Hasankeyf and many historical buildings and artifacts in this town. Together with Hasankeyf, I was very interested in historical cities and artifacts. I document them with the thought and concern that these cities or artifacts may one day be destroyed, damaged, and destroyed.

In other words, historical cities, historical buildings, and artifacts are my inspiration. I also have a great interest in Kurdish culture. I archive by taking photographs of Kurdish culture and cultural values that have disappeared over time.

Folk dances, old clothes, old daily life items also impress me. In the last few years, I have started taking nature photographs. Like photographs of landscapes and animals. These photos also make me happy and relaxed.

6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring artists?

My first suggestion for new or young artists is that they should love what they do. I have been taking photographs for 50 years. For a moment I did not get offended by the photograph and did not regret doing this job. During my journalistic years, I did my best job and I was never unemployed.

Despite the economic difficulties, I tried to do my best in the art of photography and I believe I succeeded. For example, while still alive, 4 of my photos were printed on postage stamps.

My advice to photographers for young people - They should love their work or they will not be successful. Also, they should learn the photography technique very well in theory and practice a lot. Let them watch the photographs of the masters very carefully.

I learned a lot of information in my art by watching other people's photographs. After they reach a certain level, they can participate in international competitions and see the results of their success. The competitions will show them what they lack and help them complete themselves in this area.

7. Which is your favourite book and why?

My favourite book is 'Mem û Zîn' written by the Kurdish philosopher Ehmedê Xanî in the 17th century. In the book, a love story is told with great skill. I love this book because Kurdish historical and cultural values are also mentioned.