Turkish photographer wins NATO contest

ANTALYA

Turkish photographer Cem Doğut has won an aerial photography contest on NATO Air Command’s official X account by receiving the most number of votes on his F-16 photo.

NATO Air Command organized a contest for photographing fighter jets on its official X account. It shared a poll titled "What is your favorite aircraft photo of the year?" in which the works of photographers from four countries were voted.

In the contest, which NATO announced that it utilized its own national and freelance photographers to capture and tell its story, aviation photographer and researcher Doğut competed with aerial photographers Christian Schrik, Bartek Bera and Giovanni Colla.

Some 32,259 votes were cast in the contest, which ended on Dec. 15. Doğut's photo of F-16s of the Polish Air Force was the most popular photo with a whopping 56.3 percent of the votes. In second place with 36.6 percent was a close-up aerial photo of French Dassault Rafale fighter jets in the Baltic by Polish freelancer Bera.

Italian Colla's photo of an air show came third with 4.3 percent. Schrik's photo of the Royal Netherlands Air Force's F-35 came last with 2.8 percent of the votes.

Doğut shared the story behind his winning photo, which was taken on Oct. 31, saying, "I took the photo at a press event of NATO Air Command. F-35A aircraft of the Italian Air Force were performing a NATO Air Policing mission in Malbork, Poland. The event was held to promote this mission."

"Turkish Air Force F-16s are currently in Romania on a similar mission. Along with Italian F-35s, the host Polish F-16s were also flying. Photographers took pictures of the planes in flight from the rear ramp of a C295 cargo plane belonging to the Polish Air Force. I took my photo, which was selected as the winner, at this time," he continued.

Doğut has been photographing aviation and warplanes for nearly 13 years. He shared that aviation photography has become popular in Türkiye in recent years but is still in the development stage.

"It is very valuable in terms of showing that Turkish aviation photographers can produce world-class works. I hope this win will increase the awareness of this work and we will be given more opportunities in our country," he added.