ALPTEKIN BALOĞLU
Born in Bursa, underwater photographer Alptekin Baloğlu studied architecture and works in the printing industry as a partner of A4 Ofset. Alptekin Baloğlu, who has more than 60 awards in national and international competitions, has been taking pictures underwater since 1994. He won the Gold medal in the fish category among 50 photographers from 25 countries at the World Underwater Photography Championship. Baloğlu's first book, titled "Reflections from Underwater", published in 1999, is the first Turkish book in which underwater life is introduced with photographs. It broke new ground by winning the “World's Best Underwater Book” award at the 30th World Underwater Imaging Festival held in Istanbul. In the same year, it received the “Best Book of the Seas” award at the “CelebratetheSea” Festival held in Malaysia.
Alptekin Baloğlu, who realized his project called “Istanbul's Underwater Life” in 2006, which he has been working on for years, documented the mysterious underwater life of Istanbul, which connects two continents, for the first time and shared it with millions of people in a book, documentary film and an exhibition he opened in Taksim Square. He shared his photographs "Bosphorus from the Sea" for the first time in 2009 and published his book of the same name, which allows us to look at Istanbul from a different perspective, "Through the Eyes of a Fish". With these photographs, he won many awards both in Turkey and in France. These photographs were also used in the promotion of our country in the Turkish pavilion at the EXPO held in South Korea. Now, he travels all over Turkey with the photographs he took in the same concept, working for his project called "Turkey Through the Eyes of a Fish".
He has published 4 books titled "Once Upon a Time: Red Sea, Maldives, RajaAmpat, Thailand", which consists of photographs he took during his diving trips with his sea-loving friends.
In particular, thanks to a social responsibility project called "Secrets of the Sea" in order to introduce children to the sea and to ensure their protection, it provided free books to 23,000 children in Eastern Anatolia and introduced them to the sea.
He represented our country as a jury at the World Underwater Photography Championship held in Bodrum. He is the first Turkish photographer to be invited to the Nikon International Photography competition held in Tokyo. He continues to participate in jury memberships in national and international competitions. At the invitation of the European Union, he opened a 3D exhibition in Belgium. He held exhibitions in France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Belgium and Turkey.
He has photographed underwater in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Sudan, Egypt, Maldives, Belize, Galapagos Islands, Indonesia, Philippines, France, Spain, South Africa and Turkey.
www.alptekinbaloglu.com
www.denizinsirlari.org