Caro Elio,
They say that a camera obscura turns the world upside down in order to reveal its truth. When I met you on that early March morning in 2006 on Istiklal Street, my own world was turned upside down. I was a seventeen-year-old boy with a 1976 Canon and a heart full of unformed dreams; you were a man with a “strange apparatus” and the steady hand of a true observer.
You called me to you with a simple gesture, and in that instant the master-apprentice bond was born. We stood before Casa Botter, unaware then of the beautiful circular destiny that connected us—the architect D’Aronco from Udine, and a future film student who would one day follow your footsteps back to that very same soil.
Elio, you taught me that photography is not only about the frame, but about the patience of the soul. You showed me how to measure light, how to wait for the world to reveal itself, and how to understand the importance of the historic center. From the tea houses of Tunel to the ancient walls of Istanbul, and into the dust of Southeastern Anatolia, you didn’t just teach me how to take photographs—you taught me how to live inside the image.
Having you live with me in Sarajevo for those six months was a gift I will carry forever—a final seminar in friendship and art. Even when the road led you back to Italy for surgery, your heart never left the East. You returned to your beloved Istanbul, my patria, and as you always wished, you took your leave from this world in the city that held your soul.
You leave behind more than an archive of a million images; you leave a legacy of sight. We will meet every day in the archive, where you were found unconscious. The documentary we planned is no longer just a project—it is a monument to your genius.
You once told me, “With you, we can work well together.”
We are still working, Elio. Every frame I move, every story I tell, carries the grain of your wisdom.
A very strong hug, Maestro.
A hug that spans from this world to wherever you are now—
and into the infinite.
Lèo Yigit Ekiz
23.12.2025 – Sarajevo
Elio Montanari 