Ogun Caglayan Turkay

Living his passion

Ogun Caglayan Turkay is born in 1982 and based in Linköping, Sweden. He is an ethical wildlife photographer and wildlife ecologist and holds a master’s degree in wildlife ecology and management; works as a nature and environmental consultant and considers himself very lucky because he is constantly spending a lot of time in nature due to his profession.

Ogun Caglayan Turkay - Living his passion

We became aware of Ogun Caglayan Turkay through his enormous number of bird photographs. He has been known as a brand ambassador in Sweden for a long time.
As the understanding of environmental protection and the hobby of birdspotting becomes more and more important, we are happy to present Ogun Turkay and his work here.

His own story (to be a wildlife photographer)

My passion for photography dates back to my childhood years. I grew up in a detached house next to a vineyard in a coastal town on the Aegean Sea, a minute's walk from the sea, and my entire childhood was filled with beetles, lizards, frogs, crabs, octopuses, and fish.

As a natural consequence of this, I have always wanted to collect and preserve these creatures somehow. In the following years, I found my new passion as soon as I realized that this could be done in the most harmless way with photography.

Thus began my adventure in (wildlife) photography...

But... His parents were not as happy about it as he was…

As I recall, butterflies and frogs were my favorite subjects in my attempts to take sharp pictures. But... There was a problem, color film development was not that cheap.

In the end, it turned out that my family was not at all happy with my "special interest". I remember very clearly that my father grumbled several times and said, “Please take pictures of us instead of the animals!.”

A deep passion for wildlife photography

As time went on, it became more and more clear that my main area of interest in photography was wildlife photography. (Since it is important for me to use it due to my profession, over the years I have become more specialized.)

And yes… Bird photography makes up a large part of it. Because they are very diverse, very colorful, very active and very attractive… Each one is specialized for different habitats and diets, has different characteristics, and each of them has its own unique behavior.

There are many different bird species to be aware of. They have different behavioral patterns, and bird photography is notorious for its difficulty. It's challenging and yet so attractive!

Also, they make visible the awakening of nature with spring and its isolation again with winter. You might have to age another year to meet each species again, and that's a pretty sad and romantic feeling at the same time.

It's like a therapy as well. Whenever I photograph a young bird, I imagine its journey to the old continent; or what happened to their parents the previous year; or whether adult birds are birds from a year ago. It is indeed a very different experience, one that never gets used to or gets old. A true love…

Every passion has its own challenges.

Ethical consciousness. (The most important and inseparable part of this whole process.)
The ability to master the camera, to make the right settings in advance, or to change these settings very quickly when necessary.
Understanding the nature and knowing how to respect it and its hosts.
To "hunt" animals that move faster than expected or snapshots that appear suddenly with the shutter.

Of course, it takes patience the most; often teaches you to go home without taking a single photo. But each trial eventually makes you even more experienced. Also the effort and feeling of achieving the best result in a process that you can never fully control and manage is extremely satisfying.

It is not possible to contract animals for a photo shoot, or you can't tell them how to stand and pose. The entire process; light conditions, meteorological and seasonal changes, biological and ecological demands of animal species, their behavior and habitat use, etc. It is an observation and hunting process based on planning to catch the moment when a number of complex parameters are most suitable.

If I had to summarize my area of interest in its simplest form, I would describe it as follows: A hunt without death as a result.

Why PENTAX?

Although I know the brand from its handsome analog cameras, my passion for PENTAX has strengthened the moment when I met the K10D. I had used different top model digital SLR cameras from other brands before, but the results of the K10D fascinated me.

(I think there is no need to repeat what makes PENTAX special, famous, or good. There is already enough information on our web pages and on the internet.)

OK… "PENTAX and Wildlife" then... These are not actually mentioned together very often! So?

Yeah! Frankly, I was tired of hearing the opinion that the PENTAX brand was inadequate, and I wanted to prove that this thought was wrong.

As a representative of a generation that did not have internet access in childhood, and therefore grew up with encyclopedias, I grew up seeing fascinating animal photos in encyclopedias. This has always been a point of motivation for me.

If some of the talented photographers were able to capture impressive shots with cameras that did not even have autofocus, it must have been a proof of my incompetence that I could not achieve at least comparable results with today's camera systems, which are much more advanced and equipped with various conveniences.

By focusing on this thought, I aimed to turn my camera into a tool that I use well, without focusing on the trend of embarking on current (latest) equipment.

As a result, I believe that I have succeeded in improving myself and my technique and accelerating my harmony with my camera.

Another thing that I consider myself lucky; I do not practice my passion for wildlife photography as a hobby. Because I see it as a skill integrated with my profession and it is part of my lifestyle.

Don't let yourself get caught up in small technological advances and eventually lose your inspiration. Open your senses and focus on the beauty around you. Then try to get the best shot you can, just as others did decades ago.

A selection of his favourit images:

PENTAX K-1 // HD PENTAX-DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW // Focal length: 560mm // Exposure time: 1/1000sec. // Aperture: F5.6 // Exposure: TAv

PENTAX K-3 Mark III // HD PENTAX-DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW // Focal length: 840mm (equiv to 35 mm FF) // Exposure time: 1/2500sec. // Aperture: F7.1 // Exposure: TAv

PENTAX K-1 // HD PENTAX-DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW // Focal length: 560mm // Exposure time: 1/1600sec. // Aperture: F6.3 // Exposure: TAv

PENTAX K-3 Mark III // HD PENTAX-DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW // Focal length: 840mm (equiv. to 35 mm FF) // Exposure time: 1/1600sec. // Aperture: F6.3 // Exposure: TAv

PENTAX K-3 Mark III // HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6 ED DC AW // Focal length: 675mm (equiv. to 35 mm FF) // Exposure time: 1/1250sec // Aperture: F5.6 // Exposure: TAv

PENTAX K-3 Mark III // HD PENTAX-DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW // Focal length: 840mm (equiv. to 35 mm FF) // Exposure time: 1/2000sec. // Aperture: F6.3 // Exposure: TAv

PENTAX K-1 // HD PENTAX-DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW // Focal length: 560mm // Exposure time: 1/1600sec. // Aperture: F6.3 // Exposure: TAv

PENTAX K-3 Mark III // HD PENTAX-DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW // Rear Converter 1.4X AW // Focal length: 840mm (equiv. to 35 mm FF) // Exposure time: 1/2000sec. // Aperture: F6.3 // Exposure: TAv

PENTAX K-3 Mark III // HD PENTAX-DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW // Focal length: 840mm (equiv. to 35 mm FF) // Exposure time: 1/2500sec. // Aperture: F8.0 // Exposure: TAv