More than 50 photojournalists from Turkey attended a two-day seminar at the FotoTrek Gallery in Istanbul in October, sponsored by the Alexia Foundation. The Foundation’s exhibit “Eyes on the World” was presented in the gallery during the month of October.

The workshop was organized by Jim Dooley, Alexia Foundation executive administrator and retired director of photography at Newsday. Dooley said, “The goal of the seminar was to bring together speakers from the Foundation and from Turkey to discuss the importance and role of documentary photojournalism.”

Speakers at the workshop were Dooley; Ami Vitale, independent photojournalist; Michele Stevenson, retired director of photography for Time Magazine and Alexia Foundation board member; Turkish photographers Murat Yaykin and Ozcan Yurdalan; and David Sutherland, Alexia board member and the Alexia Chair for documentary photography at Syracuse University.

Stevenson spoke about the state of documentary photography at news magazines in the U.S. Dooley discussed ethical issues concerning photojournalists and photojournalism. Vitale showed and discussed her work from around the world. Yaken and Ozcan discussed the state of photojournalism in Turkey today and looked at critical issues that confront those photographers. Sutherland introduced the Alexia Foundation and showed work from its most recent grant recipients. There was also an open discussion session in the afternoon of the first day, and a portfolio critique at the end of the second day.

Dooley termed the workshop a “wonderful success.” If the vigor of discussion during the open discussion session was any indication, Dooley was right in his analysis. The rousing discussion, while covering many topics, was largely about ethical issues and working relationships between photographers and those publishing their photographs. Dooley called the session a “lively two-hour discussion” that obviously could have continued much longer if there had been time. “We found the participants to be very engaging. The participants, many of whom worked for local newspapers, were quick to engage the speakers with questions about things that were said during the presentations.”

Stephenson said, “The students and young professionals who attended seemed enthusiastic and engaged in wide-ranging discussions about the role and responsibility of the photojournalist in today's world. They were quite knowledgeable about their own country but much less so about the wider world of photojournalism beyond their borders.”

At the end of the workshop, Dooley, Vitale, Stephenson and Sutherland reviewed the participants’ portfolios. Stephenson said, “As is typical of these events, no matter where they are, the most popular part of the program is the portfolio review.” Some of the participants stayed on almost two hours after the end of the review session to continue their discussions.

Sutherland said, “The gallery location was wonderful. It’s right on Istiklal Street, the busiest pedestrian street in Istanbul.” Gallery director Cenk Gencdis and gallery coordinator Semiha Feyzioglu were “very enthusiastic” about the seminar and the exhibit, Dooley said. Stephenson said, “It was a wonderful opportunity for us to meet all of these young people and to get to know the people from the gallery who were so very warm and welcoming to us.”