Altug Sami Icilensu considers himself a constant immigrant. Born into a Turkish family of guest laborers in Germany, he and his family were compelled to move back to Istanbul in 1983, at the age of six. He mastered the details of Turkish language, explored his culture and finished his high school earlier than his peers which resulted in his teacher naming him “Professor”. Altug landed his first professional media job at the age of eighteen. Completing his mandatory term as a military officer he also attended an MBA and a Journalism master programs.

Altug finally immigrated to the United States with great expectations and after working several odd jobs he resolved to return back to his homeland when he met his mentor Tracy Barnett- San Antonio Express-News travel editor. Two journalists started to work togather when he held the camera for the first time proffessionally during one of the trips. Recently Altug was recognized and awarded First Prize by the North American Travel Journalist’s Association for "The Other Gulf Coast,”- a series about journey down the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Altug still considers himself a writer accompanied by multimedia skills and occasionally writes for several publications and takes photos for them. He recently volunteers for Inner City Development, a social work organization in West San Antonio.

Altug can be contacted via phone or email.

a_icilensu@yahoo.com

tel.: 210.724.8012 

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Where does photography stand for me? I would say at the edge of the divine. And when I say this I am not putting any extra weight on photography more than any other discipline. One could be merely a raft man on the river or a carpenter and still have the wisdom.
Being human we are in search of harmony, and our innate nature inclines us to aesthetics and beauty. However to taste that, one must dedicate a lot of time to acquiring and perfecting the techniques, one needs to take time to learn, listen and to look. And once you know all of the rules you can actually bend them, even break them.
In the rushed and hyped-up society of the United States, photography can be a really good cure for the nation of “fast food” notion. It gives you discipline to see things from different angles, and most important of all, how everything is really only one. 

I am a writer, photographer and Expressive Arts Facilitator. My favorite place to live and work is on the edge, in those places where seemingly separate entities join, blend, bump into each other and sometimes collide, because that is the absolutely best place to create something new. My photography explores the connection of inner and outer worlds, of reality and imagination. My travels along the intersection of inner and outer worlds brought me to the field of Expressive Art, which uses art and inner-imagery for healing, self-discovery and transformation. My work often links Expressive Art with Deep Ecology, using inner imagery to explore our relationship with the natural world and its wisdom. I share what I have learned through workshops, consulting and in other ways. I have worked with both children and adults in varied situations, presented at conferences, and trained teachers, counselors and therapists in ways to integrate the arts into their work..

For more information, visit www.diannemonroe.com or email dianne@diannemonroe.com

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My photography explores the connection between inner and outer worlds, that magic place where reality and imagination meet and transform themselves into each other. I am drawn to reflections in water and window glass, which offer us a glimpse into the complexity and multi-layered reality of the things we see, and do not see, in our daily lives. Our intersecting worlds are not linear and fixed, but places of imagination-stretching depth and fluidity. It is in those unseen corners of our everyday lives, when we stop to really look, that the ordinary becomes the extraordinary; where inner and outer worlds, imagination and reality converge to create something that is larger and more true than our surface vision is accustomed to seeing. To pause and follow the depth of all that is reflected back at us, to experience our reality in a different and deeper way, may be to genuinely see the richness and complexity of all that surrounds us. My images extend an invitation to reclaim a sense of wonder about our  world.