First of all, thank you very much for accepting the interview with us.

- I am familiar with the effort and the time spent for these kinds of work because I also have an attempt to publish an online magazine. I am also honored to have a place in your new issue, because I came across a very attentive and a pleasurable formation when I looked at the first issue of your magazine.

How did you become involved with photography? Do you remember your first camera?

- Visual art was actually a field that I have always been interested in since my childhood. I used to watch the movies that I liked a few more times and observe every scene. In addition to that, ‘people watching’ is a hobby for me that I enjoy a lot. When I go somewhere, if I have the time, I like to sit and watch people. Maybe this is why I don’t like to take pictures of landscapes or still life. My composition conception had found itself in time because I have also worked as a cameraman in TV channels; I started to create different fictions when I combine this conception with my own ideas/influences. And I started to take more and more amateur photographs as the visuals that I create begin to look better to me.

As the time passed by, I realized that photography is a secret passion in me, and I started to focus solely on photography by quitting television/film business altogether. Now, everyday with a growing pleasure, I think of photography, I take pictures, I work on them, and I do not feel even a little BORED with this situation. I reached the state of mind that I found the one thing that I have to do. You must never lose your enthusiasm in photography, of course this enthusiasm cannot be compulsory; it has to be inherent. To take successful photographs, you have to work constantly, examine other works, adopt photography with a big desire and follow the trends. The first camera that I consciously took photographs with was a Canon EOS Rebel film camera.

Some art critics, even some important photographers defend the idea that photography is not art. What is your idea on this issue?

- I will have a different approach. I say that some branches of photography are art while some are not. But when I say this, I do not have the concern that what I am doing is art. If I have to talk more accurately, according to me landscape, memoirs or animal world photographs are not art. Because you just photograph that moment or a natural scene but you do not add something from yourself to the photograph. However, a landscape photograph not being art does not mean that it is not successful. There are very beautiful landscape photographs. Fiction photography, on the other hand, is art according to me; because then the ideas of the photographer count and he creates something new just like a painter. I do not think there is a big difference. But the idea that a photograph is an art work does not also mean it is successful because the success of a photograph is a very relative issue.

How often do you use the digital photography technology?

- I work by digital quite often but lately my curiosity for old cameras and lenses arose again and I bought myself a very old Yashica Electro 35GT rangefinder camera. In addition to that, I want to buy a medium format camera as well. I love 6x6 photographs. But I don’t use films for my job anymore because there is no such demand anyway. When you take the picture RAW, you cannot realize a big difference in the visual quality.

The famous Canadian photographer Ted Grant says, “If you photograph people in color you display their clothes. If you photograph them in black and white you display their souls. In your work, there are intense emotions that step forward even in color. Do you agree that black and white reflects the emotions better?

Of course I do not agree but I cannot take a side against black and white. I, for instance, think that black and white fits documentary photographs, and colored tones fit fiction photographs more. I also think that reflecting the feelings and souls of people depend on the talent, the perspective and the processing of the photographer.

Yet another master Ansel Adams says, “There are two people in every photograph. The first is the one who takes it, and the second is the one who looks at it. What kind of a relationship should there be between these two?Do you try to make the audience feel what you feel, or can the feelings of these two be totally different from each other?

There are two people in photography for me as well. One is the person who is taking it, but the other is the person who is in front of the camera. I believe that the chemistry between these two is very important. Especially in long shootings this chemistry produces very good results. The audience that Adams talks about is a detail that I do not think of when I am working. I take photographs according to my desires and feelings, not due to the taste and demand of the audience. There are some people who like the results, and these are the people who feel like me so I don’t have to put extra effort for them to like my work. I want the audience to take charge from the moment that I present my photographs to them. If everyone interprets my work in a different fashion producing their own stories, this is what makes me happy.

Are there any photographers whose work and exhibitions you follow?

- There are so many photographers that I follow, I cannot count them all. But I do not necessarily like them all because I look at good work to see what I should do, and unsuccessful work to see what I should not do. So I follow all kinds of photography. Following so many photographs helps you decide which ideas and techniques are ordinary; your perspective on photography changes and becomes more refined. My main aim is to explore different and interesting ideas, and creating new visuals by molding them with my own emotions and style.

How do you pick your models? What kind of features should a model have to work with Akif Hakan Çelebi?

- I have to be affected by the model at first sight which gives good results afterwards. Generally I am not interested in models that everyone finds beautiful, I like to explore characteristics in models that nobody else can see or notice. At first, I worked with Asian models a lot but slowly I started to add new faces to my scale. I look for an exotic feature and originality in each of my models. When it comes to picking models, it can be in the most unexpected ways. For example, I saw Kiki Bian during check-out in a big store; I introduced myself and gave her my card. She had never worked before and it had been 3 months since she came to the States from China. Then she called me and we did our first shooting. Those photographs were noticed by Deco Model Agency in Miami Beach; now she is working with that agency. You can see the brand new photographs of Kiki that I took before returning from the US in the new issue of Bak Magazine which are not published in anywhere else.

Imagine there are no limits or obstacles before you. Which model and which environment do you mostly want to work with?

- Scarlett Johansson, Ziyi Zhang, Maggie Cheung, Devon Aoki and Bjork are the first names that come to my mind. There are too many Asians again, I guess:)

In your photographs, one can feel a frightening lonesome. How often do you feel lonely? Do you enjoy loneliness, or do you always want to be around some company?

- I am not a lonely person. I have a lot of friends and I love to make new friends. For example, in the last month that I have been in Turkey, I have made great friends. My friendship ties are strong because I value my friends a lot and I am a sincere person. People are said to be interested in things that they don’t feel or places that they didn’t go. Maybe this is why there are these feelings in my photographs. If I were alone, I would have taken happier photographs, I guess.

What do you think of music? Does the music that you listen to find reflection in your frames? Do you need music during your photo shoots?

- Music is also a great passion for me. Until now, I have been interested in all kinds of music from period to period except for rap,hip hop and country music. Lately, I listen to Electro-pop, electro-clash, progressive house and ethnic music. While processing the photographs, there is always music in the background. The emotions in my photographs can sometimes emerge while listening to a song, songs can give me extra inspiration. Music is a very significant detail for me.

Do you spare time for cinema? Which directors and which country styles do you find closer to yourself in visual terms?

- I can say that cinema is my biggest inspiration. I should not make a distinction when it comes to country cinema, but I can say that Chinese films are the ones that I’m mostly inspired by. In this context, my idols are Wong Kar Wai and Christopher Doyle who has worked as the art director in most of his movies. Quentin Tarantino, Philip Kaufmann, Jean Pierre Jeunet, Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick are the other directors whom I follow enthusiastically.

The theme of our second issue is "white". What are the connotations of this word for you?

- Right now, when you say white, the first thing that comes to my mind is snow because I live in a very hot climate and I have not seen it for 10 years now that I only come to Turkey in the summer. While I am answering these questions Istanbul is covered in white. To leave the joke aside, for me white of course represents purity, simplicity, sentimentality, delicacy but at the same time being powerful as I depicted in my photographs which Emel Ernalbant modeled for.