Ara Güler or the Photographer of Istanbul was born in Istanbul in 16 August 1928.

When he was at high school, while working in the studios in any kind of of movie making operations he also attented to the theater courses held by Muhsin Ertugrul. Because he wanted to be a cinema director or author.

In 1950 when he started to work as a journalist at the Yeni Istanbul newspaper he also attended to the Faculty od Economics in Istanbul University.

In 1958 he was in charge as photo reporter for Time-Life, Paris-Match and Der Stern.

In 1961 he completed his military service and started to work at Hayat Magazine as the chief of photography department.

During the same years after meeting with Henri Cartier Bresson he joined Paris Magnum Agency and  the Photography Annual published  in England  qualified him as one of the best seven photographers of the world.

The same year he was accepted to the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) as the unique Turkish member.

In 1962 he was honored in Germany as Master of Leica, a title which is favored to very few  photographers. A Swiss publication called Camera, devoted one full special edition to his life.

In 1964 his photographs were published in a book called Young Turkey, edited by Mariana Noris and publised in the USA.

In 1967 a series of his photographs were published with those of  Richard Avedon in the antology called Photography of the World published in Japan.

His photos met with the public at the exposition of "Regards to the Worlds of People" in Canada -1967 - at the exposition of "10 Masters of Color Photography" held in Modern Art Gallery of New York  and at the Photokina Fair in Köln (Germany) -1968.

In 1970 his album "Turkei" was published in Germany.  His photographs related to art and history of art  were used in
USA by Time-Life, Horizon and the book department of Newsweek and in the Switzerland by Skira Publications.

In 1971 he shot the photographs of the book Hagia Sofia written by Lord Kinross. He realized a photo-interview with Picasso for the book called "Picasso Methamorphose et Unite" published again by Skira Publications on behalf of Picasso's 90 th birthday. He inaugurated an exposition in 1972 at Paris National Library.

In 1975 he was invited to USA  and after photographing many famous American people he exposed his works titled as "Creative Americans" in different cities of the world. I the same year he shot a documentary film called "End of the Hero" related to the  demolition of the warship "Yavuz".


In 1979 he was awarded by Turkish Journalists Society with the 1st  prize in photo reporters category.

In 1980 some of his photographs were published in the book called "Photographs" edited by Karacan Publications.

In 1986 he shot the photographs of the book "Mimar Sinan" written by Prof. Abdullah Kuran and published by Hürriyet Foundation. The same book was published in 1987 in English by the Institute of  Turkish Studies. In 1989 the book called "The cinematographers of Ara Güler" was published.

In 1991 on behalf of the Ministary of Foreign Affairs he shot the photographs of the book called "The Sixth Continent" written by the "Fisherman of Halicarnassus" (Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı). During this time wandering around the whole world he performed photo-interviews and those works were diffused around the world by Magnum Agency.

He realized photo-interviews with many famous personalities such as İsmet İnönü, Winston Churchill, İndira Gandi, John Berger, Bertrand Russel, Bill Brandt, Alfred Hitchcock, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Salvador Dali and Picasso and also shot their photographs.

The most remembered of those interviews was the one with Picasso well known as not posing for photographers.  His photographs of Sinan's masterpieces upon which he dedicated long years were published in the book called "Sinan, Architect of Suleyman The Magnificient" in 1992 at the same time in France, USA and England. The same year his book called "Living in Turkey" was published in England, USA and Singapour under the title of "Turkish Style" and simultanously in France titled as "Demeures Ottomanes de Turquie".

In 1994 and 1995 his following books were published: "Memories of Old Istanbul",  "So Passed Away a Period", "Lost Colors", "Earth on Their Faces". The books of Ara Güler were exposed in the Paris National Library,  Rochester George Eastman  Museum in USA, University of Nebraska Sheldon Collection. His photograps are also exposed in Museum Ludwing - Köln and   Das Imaginare Photo Museum.

As one of the masters of Turkish photography Ara Güler holds also a very  memorable place in the history of the world photography. The fact of being the master of a documentary style created his reputation.

He still goes on shooting photographs.