The Photographic Journal

When I Live My Dream

Essay 28 • Mar 31st 2016

I have always found people very inspiring. and music has always been part of me and moved me; needless to say but so do its creators, musicians.

It had been few days since David Bowie's passing and I couldn't seem to shake off the turbulence it caused in me. To be honest, I'd have never guessed that I would be this torn apart by it. I felt so sad, so hopeful, so terrified, so happy, so scared, so loving, so tense, so confident, so insecure. felt like I lost all control and kind of floating from one extreme to another. And I really can't explain, trying to put into words makes it worse. As I was struggling to give meaning to the all this chaos happening inside of me, I came across an interview he did years ago. He said, "Age does not bother me, it's the lack of years left that weighs far heavier on me." That was it. He explained it in one simple sentence. The pressure and clarity of wanting to do all the things you wanted to, before you can't any more.

As i was looking through photos, I came across this shoot I did with Meredith Adelaide that had never been edited. I guess it was waiting for this day because it could not have been any more perfect representation of everything I had been feeling. Here is to the man who made us believe we could be heroes...

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Ebru Yildiz was born and raised in Turkey and moved to New York in 1998. While she was pursuing her Masters degree in Communications Design at Pratt Institute, her passion for music led her to seek it out everywhere – large clubs, small bars, back rooms, house parties, and the multitude of DIY venues in Brooklyn. Soon she found herself documenting the thriving New York Music scene.

Only a year after she started photographing, she was invited to be part of a group exhibit at CB’s Gallery called “Back To Bowery” along with acclaimed music photographers such as Godlis, Roberta Bayley, Mick Rock and Billy Name. Since then she has exhibited several times in New York and her photographs have appeared in print and online publications such as The New York Times, Pitchfork, NPR, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine, Spin, NME, New York Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine, Interview Magazine, FADER, and Huffington Post. She got selected as one of “The 50 Greatest Music Photographers Right Now” by Complex Magazine in 2012. She also won the Independent Music Awards Vox Populi award in Concert Photography category in 2009. Ebru currently lives and works in Brooklyn.