Camera Ottomana Photographt and Modernity in the Ottoman Empire 1840 1914

From İts Birth İn 1839, Photography Has Participated İn Modernity As Much As İt Has Symbolized İt. İts Capacity To Record And Display And İts Claim To Accuracy And Truth İntricately Linked The New Technology To The Dynamism Of The Modern World. The Ottoman Empire Embraced Photography With Great Enthusiasm. İn Fact, The İmpact And Meaning Of Photography Were Compounded With The Thrust Of Modernization And Westernization Of The Tanzimat Movement. By The Turn Of The Century, Photography İn The Ottoman Lands Had Become A Standard Feature Of Everyday Life, Of Public Media, And Of The State Apparatus. This Volume Explores Some Of The Most Striking Aspects Of The Close Connection Between Photography And Modernity With A Particular Focus On The Ottoman Empire. Much Of The Material Concerns The Display Of Modernity Through Photography, As Was So Often The Case İn The Photographs And Albums Commissioned By The Sultan To Showcase His Empire For Western Audiences. Nevertheless, Modernity Was Often Embedded İn The Photographic Act, Transforming İt İnto A Common And Mundane Practice. Be İt İn The Form Of İmages Disseminated Through The İllustrated Press, Postcards Sent Out To Family Members Or Anonymous Collectors, Portraits Presented To Friends And Acquaintances, Or Pictures Taken Of Employees And Convicts, Photography Had Started To İnvade Practically Every Sphere Of Public And Private Life. The Visual World We Live İn Today Was Born Some 150 Years Ago. Camera Ottomana İs Both A Homage To, And A Critical Assessment Of, The Local Dimension Of One Of The Most Potent And Transformative Technological İnventions Of The Recent Past.