5 ms·

Ottoman-Era Photographs Take on New Meaning in Their Digital Life (2018)

95 points by prismatic 8y ago

Upvoter33 8y ago
To whomever posted this, thank you. My father was from Turkey, and he often spoke longingly of his homeland. The images included here were transporting. I only wish he were still around so that I could sit there and thumb through them with him.
- ChuvoniRobisi 8y ago
  If you haven't gone before, you must visit!
mnw21cam 8y ago
Could someone who has actually bothered to read the article (unlike me) elucidate in what way the photographs have changed in meaning? Thanks.
- simonh 8y ago
  One way is through changes in context, by organizing them by origin and theme so that they contribute to a larger narrative. Another is through enriching them with metadata that would not be obvious from simply looking at the image.
m00dy 8y ago
Latin labels on the buildings are very interesting. Because, we switched to latin in 1928.
- thewarpaint 8y ago
  You mean to the Latin alphabet from the Arabic one, right?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
billfruit 8y ago
Is the full set of images available for viewing online by the general public or only for "Experts"?
- rz2k 8y ago
  From the comments to the article: > Annelisa Stephan on December 18, 2018 at 12:07 pm > You can browse all the photos at the following link: http://primo.getty.edu/GRI:GETTY_ALMA21118428440001551 http://primo.getty.edu/GRI:GETTY_ALMA21118428440001551 > Click the links to the right of the screen reading “Connect to digitized images of…” to browse the various series. From there, select an item by clicking the blue title link. Once you are in a record for an individual image or album, click the thumbnail image to the right of the screen to see it larger and, in the case of albums, page through the contents.
  - billfruit 8y ago
    Very easy to miss seeing the image thumbnail, it appears on the extreme right, and if you don't scroll horizontally, not visible.
    - soperj 8y ago
      Even with that description, I can't find it.
onetimemanytime 8y ago
For those that don't know, Turkey (Ottoman Empire) ruled for over 600 years over a very large empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire Quite a few times they tried taking over proper Europe, like Italy (Pope was there) and Austria. They ruled the Balkans, Northern Africa, Saudi Arabia, Caucasus etc etc. They didn't invest anything in occupied areas but didn't directly force conversions to Islam. Conversions had a lot of benefits of course so quite a few people did over the centuries. Eventually Russia and European powers did them in, empire was rotting for centuries... (Turkey's Erdogan is now trying to be the Sunni leader, only to be opposed by Saudi Arabia, which was pwnd by the Turks for centuries.)
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  >Eventually Russia and European powers did them in, empire was rotting for centuries... The Russian winter is the only major European power that has never lost a war.
  - onetimemanytime 8y ago
    True, but they actually they fought mostly around the Black Sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Russo-Turkish_wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Russo-Turkish_w... Several times both sides had allies...and eventually Russia helped the Balkan Orthodox states claim independence from the Ottomans. Death by a thousand cuts, but 600+ years is impressive.
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      Yeah, it was definitely a long slow decline. I prefer not to let facts get in the way of my jokes though. IIRC they got pwned pretty good by the Russian winter (well, the post-winter mud season) at some point in the 1500s(?) though.
- theboywho 8y ago
  The Ottoman Empire did not rule North Africa since they were never capable of conquering Morocco, they only got Algeria to join the empire since algeria was looking for protection from Spain.
twic 8y ago
I was surprised to see an enormous sign saying YORKSHIRE, although i suppose if a Yorkshireman put up a sign it would hardly be a small one. Having squinted at the pixels, i think it was probably an advert, or an office sign, for an insurance company: https://heritage.aviva.com/our-history/companies/y/yorkshire-insurance-company-ltd/ https://heritage.aviva.com/our-history/companies/y/yorkshire... There's another sign for an insurance company, Aachen & Munich, below it.

95 points by prismatic 8y ago

To whomever posted this, thank you. My father was from Turkey, and he often spoke longingly of his homeland. The images included here were transporting. I only wish he were still around so that I could sit there and thumb through them with him.

ChuvoniRobisi 8y ago
If you haven't gone before, you must visit!

mnw21cam 8y ago

Could someone who has actually bothered to read the article (unlike me) elucidate in what way the photographs have changed in meaning? Thanks.

simonh 8y ago
One way is through changes in context, by organizing them by origin and theme so that they contribute to a larger narrative. Another is through enriching them with metadata that would not be obvious from simply looking at the image.

m00dy 8y ago

Latin labels on the buildings are very interesting. Because, we switched to latin in 1928.

thewarpaint 8y ago
You mean to the Latin alphabet from the Arabic one, right?
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

billfruit 8y ago

Is the full set of images available for viewing online by the general public or only for "Experts"?

rz2k 8y ago
From the comments to the article: > Annelisa Stephan on December 18, 2018 at 12:07 pm > You can browse all the photos at the following link: http://primo.getty.edu/GRI:GETTY_ALMA21118428440001551 http://primo.getty.edu/GRI:GETTY_ALMA21118428440001551 > Click the links to the right of the screen reading “Connect to digitized images of…” to browse the various series. From there, select an item by clicking the blue title link. Once you are in a record for an individual image or album, click the thumbnail image to the right of the screen to see it larger and, in the case of albums, page through the contents.
- billfruit 8y ago
  Very easy to miss seeing the image thumbnail, it appears on the extreme right, and if you don't scroll horizontally, not visible.
  - soperj 8y ago
    Even with that description, I can't find it.

onetimemanytime 8y ago

For those that don't know, Turkey (Ottoman Empire) ruled for over 600 years over a very large empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire Quite a few times they tried taking over proper Europe, like Italy (Pope was there) and Austria. They ruled the Balkans, Northern Africa, Saudi Arabia, Caucasus etc etc. They didn't invest anything in occupied areas but didn't directly force conversions to Islam. Conversions had a lot of benefits of course so quite a few people did over the centuries. Eventually Russia and European powers did them in, empire was rotting for centuries... (Turkey's Erdogan is now trying to be the Sunni leader, only to be opposed by Saudi Arabia, which was pwnd by the Turks for centuries.)

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
>Eventually Russia and European powers did them in, empire was rotting for centuries... The Russian winter is the only major European power that has never lost a war.
- onetimemanytime 8y ago
  True, but they actually they fought mostly around the Black Sea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Russo-Turkish_wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Russo-Turkish_w... Several times both sides had allies...and eventually Russia helped the Balkan Orthodox states claim independence from the Ottomans. Death by a thousand cuts, but 600+ years is impressive.
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    Yeah, it was definitely a long slow decline. I prefer not to let facts get in the way of my jokes though. IIRC they got pwned pretty good by the Russian winter (well, the post-winter mud season) at some point in the 1500s(?) though.
theboywho 8y ago
The Ottoman Empire did not rule North Africa since they were never capable of conquering Morocco, they only got Algeria to join the empire since algeria was looking for protection from Spain.

twic 8y ago

I was surprised to see an enormous sign saying YORKSHIRE, although i suppose if a Yorkshireman put up a sign it would hardly be a small one. Having squinted at the pixels, i think it was probably an advert, or an office sign, for an insurance company: https://heritage.aviva.com/our-history/companies/y/yorkshire-insurance-company-ltd/ https://heritage.aviva.com/our-history/companies/y/yorkshire... There's another sign for an insurance company, Aachen & Munich, below it.