ABOUT ME

My ancestry is Turkish, however, I was born in Svishtov, Bulgaria, a small town on the Danube river. During the 1980s, my parents and I lived in Tripoli, Libya, where I attended an international school for the children of ex-pats. There, I was introduced to photography by one of my all-time best and favourite teachers. I have been an avid photographer ever since. I currently live in Toronto, Canada, with my wife and two young children. I am formerly a practicing lawyer, however, I recently returned to school to pursue a Ph.D. degree in philosophy, with my focus being on environmental philosophy and legal and political theory. My current passion for photography, and the series of photos I have been working on more recently, are partly informed by my scholarly work on environmental issues.

For instance, my series titled “Landscapes of Modernity” is an attempt to translate some of my philosophical ideas - especially as it pertains to the concept of the "Anthropocene" - into a visual-photographic format. I aim to reflect on the phenomenology and experience of our dwelling in contemporary urban landscapes, i.e., spaces that are pervaded entirely by artificial human constructs, where our visual field is colonized by an ever-present and ever-expanding array of massive, monolithic, cuboid structures. In essence, rather than focus on scholarship alone, I am attempting to express some of my philosophical ideas in the language of photographic art. And my hope is that my photographs manage to capture the dual and conflicted nature of this modern moment, i.e., this period of modernity wherein we are confronted by staggering beauty combined with a certain severity and oppressiveness.

In addition to my architectural photography, I have recently started exploring portraiture.

https://attilaataner.com/