GÜLBİN ÖZDAMAR AKARÇAY

After graduating from the Department of Journalism, She worked as a photojournalist for a while and then turned to academia. She completed her doctorate in the fields of ethnography and photography. In 2006, she studied at The Academy of Performing Arts, Film and TV School (FAMU), Department of Still Photography in Prague. The "Intimate Revolt" exhibition, which she curated, received support from FAMU and the Ministries of Culture of Lithuania and the Czech Republic. This exhibition, consisting of self-portraits by ten women photographers from ten countries, was displayed in several places, including the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Turkey. She held solo exhibitions titled "My Self-reflexive Diary: The Balkans (Toronto-2017)", "The Faces of the Prisoner (2002)", "Children of Maticni (2008)", and "Narodni DIvadlo (2008)". Between 2018 and 2022, she participated in numerous national and international exhibitions. She was selected for workshops organized by World Press Photo in Turkey between 2002 and 2004. Her photo-story “Children of Maticni” was published in WPPH Magazine and at the book titled Photojournale Connections Across a Human Planet. In 2011, she founded the Living Women Photography Group, which produced photo and video projects addressing violence against women and children. She has written articles for various magazines and compilation books. Between 2016 and 2017, with the support of TUBİTAK, she conducted research at the Ethnography Center of the University of Toronto, focusing on families originating from various ethnic and religious backgrounds that migrated from Turkey to Toronto and engaged in intermarriage. In 2023, she published the book "Visual Sociology." Özdamar Akarçay continues to conduct academic studies and field research in the areas of visual sociology, ethnography, photography, identity, and gender, as well as engaging in photographic projects and curatorial activities. She serves as a professor in the Department of Visual Communication Design at ESOGU in Turkey.

ÖZDAN YURDALAN

He was born in 1955.He was among the founders of AFSAD in 1977.He left Ankara Faculty of Law. He worked as a reporter in many newspapers and magazines.
In 1999, he was part of the team that initiated photography with children in Turkey and developed its methodology. He was among the founders of the Photography Foundation in 2000.
He covered the US and its allies' attack on Afghanistan in October 2001 as a photographer in Peshawar, Pakistan, for an extended period.
In 2003, he photographed life before the US attack in Iraq.
In 2003, he was among the founders of Nar Photos.
Between 2002 and 2004, he participated as a "creative director" in the WPPh (World Press Photography) Turkey seminars.
He is an honorary member of AFSAD (Ankara Photographic Artists Association)He is an honorary member of IFSAK (Istanbul Photography and Cinema Amateurs Association) He received the 22nd Troy Culture and Arts Award in Photography in 2016.He received the TFSF (Turkish Federation of Photographic Arts) Documentary Award in 2020.
Since 2018, he has been organizing editorial photo stories with broad participation.
He gave many seminars on news photography for the Anatolian press. He has published ten books, all of which are currently in print. He has also prepared a book titled "Documentary Photography and Photo-Report," a collection of interviews titled "Photographing a Rebellion," and a "Photography with Children Handbook." He has written two units on documentary photography for the Eskişehir University Open Education program's Photography and Videography department textbooks.
His photographs and articles have been featured in numerous collaborative books, magazines, exhibitions, and shows.
He gives seminars on documentary photography and photo-interviews, conducts photography guide seminars for children, and organizes workshops on travel literature. He often takes long trips.