A HIDDEN MUSEUM IN ISTANBUL

As the Camera Museum, we would like to thank the Posta newspaper for the news about the Hilmi Nakipoğlu Photography Museum and the news about it using photographs representing our museum.

Did you know that there is a camera museum in Istanbul? Businessman Hilmi Nakipoğlu's camera collection is Turkey's first and only museum in its field. 900 cameras that Nakipoğlu has collected since the 1960s are exhibited in the museum on the upper floor of the Nefus Nakipoğlu School for the Mentally Handicapped in Bakırköy. The oldest camera in the museum is dated 1896.

Hilmi Nakipoğlu is a contractor. But he has always had an interest in the visual arts. That's why he took an interest in photography while working as a contractor. He started his career in this field by printing 6x6 and 6x9 films and black and white photographs.

Then he collected old photographs and cameras. Over the years, he has enriched his collection. Nakipoğlu has the largest camera and equipment collection in Turkey today.

Hilmi Bey exhibits his collection, which he has collected for more than half a century, in the Camera Museum, which he opened on the top floor of Nefus Nakipoğlu School for the Mentally Handicapped, which he built in Bakırköy on behalf of his mother.

In the museum, you can see the historical and technological changes of cameras with examples. This awesome museum; It is visited by communication high schools, communication faculties and photography enthusiasts. Nakipoğlu's passion for photography started at a very young age. He used his mother's wooden dowry chest as a dark room before. This is how he carried out his first contact printing photobath experiment.

During the middle and high school years, he was asked to photograph all the cultural and artistic activities of the school. He even started a photography club. He took his first photo shoots with the 6x6 plastic Ferrania brand camera he bought by saving his allowance.

Then, in his own words, he “promoted” to the Russian made Zorki brand machine. As he got older, he ran after old cameras. He always wandered around flea markets and vintage shops. After all, this photography museum was born.

WAR-WATCHED MACHINES

Hilmi Bey thinks that cameras do not consist of metal, wood or leather. “I believe that every machine witnesses bitter and sweet events and carries emotions. I have machines that have seen wars. They witnessed happiness, competitions and marriages.”

In the museum founded by Nakipoğlu, approximately 900 cameras are exhibited with their history and brands. Accessories such as flash, exposure meter, film, stand, enlarger and bag for photography are also placed with the same understanding.

The objects exhibited in the museum are actually only a part of Hilmi Bey's collection. The pieces that make up this valuable collection are close to 1000. These, too, will be classified over time and take their place in the museum.

THE OLDEST IS 119 YEARS OLD

The oldest item in the exhibited collection is a 102x52x54 camera with the date of 1896. In Nakipoğlu's words, it is a "2 rooms, 1 living room" machine. The German handmade, wooden and bellows machine was used in a photography studio in Beyazıt at the beginning of the century.

It was found by Nakipoğlu years after he retired and was thrown into a warehouse. Hilmi says that old cameras are more aesthetic and elegant than today's cameras. “They're more like machines. They instill confidence in you. The current ones are plastic, they will break if they fall on the ground, they will not work if the battery is dead. There is no such thing in them.” Hilmi Nakipoğlu says that he experienced interesting things while collecting some cameras; “A 95-year-old machine from 1915 was in an accident and shattered.

Organlarının bir bölümünü Kadıköy tarafında, lens grubunu müzede, body grubunu Topkapı surlarının dibinde buldum.” Müzede, Kodak Eastman’ın kutu şeklinde yapılmış ilk ahşap modelleri var. 2. Dünya Savaşı sırasında kullanılmış, çakmak cebine sığabilecek büyüklükte casus fotoğraf makineleri çok ilginç.

Metal meşrubat kutusunu andıran fotoğraf makineleri ve daha yüzlercesi de meraklıların akınına uğruyor.