Çiler Gecici

Istanbul based Çiler has been using Instagram for 3 years now and with over 360,000 followers she's got a lot to live up to. She's the musical director of a well known live music venue where she works with famous Turkish musicians - especially rock and jazz bands or singers – and she's also a self confessed travel and music junkie. Photography is her meditation.

“I have been cheating on music with photography”

Your Instagram profile says that "without music, life would be a mistake" but what's your view on photography? Where and how does that fit into life – and do you see a link between photography and music?

Music is my first love. I have been cheating on music with photography for the last couple of years. I am among the minority that does what they love for a living. Especially live music, the stage and the musicians, I find it all very aesthetic. It both pleases the eye and the ear.

You go on quite a few photo walks with fellow Instagramers such as Mustafa Seven, Mehmet Kırali, Sefa Yamak and Emir Kareem. Do you find the social aspect of Instagram as important as the photography itself?

Instagram connects people, socializes them through photography. Even people who are introverts make up their own language because of Instagram. We do our photowalks with our friends.

You seem to post images on a daily basis, and often more than one image per day. How do you find the time to shoot and edit so much content; and where do you get your inspiration?

For the last three years I try and spare time on Sundays for photowalks. I am very happy that my boyfriend who is @civilking on Instagram, also shares the same passion for photography. My camera and my phone are always on me. I spend 2 hours a day on editing, taking pictures and instagraming, it has become a part of my life.

Your images have a very distinct look and feel, which I know our community would love to hear more about. Can you tell us which apps you generally use, how long you spend editing an image and if you have any top tips?

I don’t spend more that 3-4 minutes on editing a photo. I do all my edits with iPhone apps. I don’t use Photoshop, actually I don’t even know how to use it. The apps that I use the most are: Snapseed (iTunes &Android),Vscocam, Picfx.

“People who are introverts make up their own language because of Instagram”

Most Instagramers dream of having an image POP! and you've been lucky enough to have that happen quite a number of times. Do you pay attention to the number of "likes" you get and do you ever get Instagram anxiety when an image looks like it might not be as popular as usual?

I have been able to appear on the POP page because of my follower number for the last 2 years now :). This is how I have been gaining more and more followers everyday. Appearing on the POP page is the only way for gaining followers actually. If some people is getting so much followers in a short time period, I can say it's not normal :).

Earlier this year, Samsung enlisted you to "road test" the Galaxy camera for them. Although you generally shoot with your iPhone, did that experience tempt you to broaden your horizons and start using other camera equipment or do you feel you’re a mobile photographer through and through?

I think that it is much harder to take photos with my iPhone than using a camera. One needs to work on it for better results. This is why you see so many photos that are heavily edited. I still haven't gotten used to the idea of dSLR. I like carrying my camera around with me at all times. I still use Samsung Galaxy camera on a regular basis though.