Glimpses : Street Photography, Mugla, Turkiye

Glimpse: a short experience of something that helps you begin to understand it.

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Just an hour inland from the coastal buzz of Marmaris, where I’ve had a home for over twenty years, Muğla offers a quieter rhythm — slower, more grounded, and deeply local.

Each time I visit, I find myself drawn to the Thursday market, where life gathers under striped tarps and makeshift stalls. There, shopping is more than a task — it’s a social ritual. The air is thick with the scent of fresh herbs, ripe fruit, olives, and spices. People take their time, chatting with traders they’ve known for years, choosing produce with care and familiarity. It’s seasonal living at its best — simple, sensory, and rooted in tradition.

As I walked the narrow streets and market alleys, camera in hand, I tried to be unobtrusive — capturing moments as they happened. But sometimes, that wasn’t possible. Occassionally a camera can draw hostility, sometimes suspicion arises. Today a few traders noticed me, smiled, and asked for a photo. They stood proudly beside their stalls, adjusting their jackets or brushing back their hair, clearly enjoying the small performance of it. There was warmth in those moments — a kind of mutual curiosity — and I’m grateful for them.

These black and white images are small glimpses of a mornings in Muğla: the faces, the gestures, the ordinary beauty of daily life. They’re not posed in the formal sense, but some are offered — and that makes them even more personal.