Nihat Odabaşı


Nihat Odabaşı is a Turkish fashion photographer and music video director.
Odabaşı was born in Siverek. He had his elementary, middle, and high school education in Siverek, Diyarbakır and Istanbul respectively. After his graduation from the Faculty of Business Administration at Istanbul University, he worked as an advertising text writer and art director. He started directing music videos and in 1999 began working as a photographer. Throughout his career, he has directed music videos for various singers and worked as a photographer with numerous artists and brands.

Early life and education

He was born as the youngest of eight siblings on 21 May 1968 in Siverek. His mother is Nadire Odabaşı, and his father was Abdurrahman Odabaşı. Although some time after his birth, he moved to Istanbul with his family, he returned to Siverek, where he stated that he was "living under difficult conditions" because his father was trying to take over the lands that he owned in Şanlıurfa and Siverek. Odabaşı, who was interested in painting in his childhood, received awards in various competitions. After completing his primary and secondary education at Devrim Primary School, he started his high school education at Diyarbakır Anatolian High School in Diyarbakır. Then he continued his high school education at Kadıköy Anatolian High School in Istanbul and graduated in 1986 from there. Although he had stated that he wanted to study cinema-television, he graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Business Administration "for the sake of his parents". He completed his compulsory military service in 2000 in Malatya.

Career

During his university years, he took acting lessons from Şahika Tekand for three years, then worked as an actor in Tevfik Gelenbe Theater for a year and appeared in a number of commercials. Subsequently, he worked as a writer for six years at an advertising agency. He worked as an art director alongside several photographers. In 1996, he founded Sanart, a company engaged in advertising and music video production. In the same year, he directed his first music video for Soner Arıca's new song "Yalvarma". He had previously written the scenario for some of Arıca's music videos in the past.
In 1999, he started photography. He had his first professional experience by taking photographs of Seren Serengil for Şamdan magazine's cover as they had not been able to find a suitable photographer at the time. Since then, he began to shoot photographs for albums and singles by various artists. On 16 May 2005, at the 2nd Pantene Beauty Awards which took place at Çırağan Palace, he won the "Fashion Photographer of the Year" award. In the same year, he photographed Elizabeth Hurley for the Magnum advertisements. After this work, he took part in various projects with Hurley and pursued an international career. His works with Hurley appeared on The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Easy Living. In October of the same year, he photographed Linda Evangelsta for the Derimod campaign. On 2 April 2006, he received the "Best Fashion Photographer" award at the 1st Fashion TV Mode Awards which took place at Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar International Convention and Exhibition Center.
He was one of the people who received the Honorary Award at the 1st European Union Quality Awards given by the Consumer Academy on 31 May 2009 at the European Union Quality Summit in Çırağan Palace. The music video for Gülben Ergen's song "Yalnızlık", which was directed by Odabaşı, received the Best Music Video award at the 36th Golden Butterfly Awards on 12 June 2009.
On 13 January 2010, he was selected as one of the Best Photographers of the Year by the Kabataşlılar Association. On 6 March 2012 at the 2nd Pal FM Music Awards, he won the Best Music Video award for the music video he had made for Hadise's song "Superman". On 12 April 2013, at the 1st Turkey Music Awards, his music video for Ziynet Sali's song "Her Şey Güzel Olacak" earned him the Best Music Video award. The same music video was awarded as the Best Music Video on 6 May 2013 at the 3rd Pal FM Music Awards.
He appeared on the music video for Gülben Ergen's song "Dünyaları Versem", which was directed by himself and released in January 2013. On 15 April 2014 at the 3rd Fashion TV Mode Awards and later on 13 May 2015 at the 4th Fashion TV Mode Awards, he received the Best Fashion Photographer of the Year award.
His music video for Metin Arolat's song "Karavan" was nominated for the Best Music Video award at the 42nd Golden Butterfly Awards. On 25 May 2017, he again won the Best Fashion Photographer of the Year award at the 6th Fashion TV Mode Awards. The music videos for Demet Akalın's songs "Ah Ulan Sevda" and "Nazar" and Funda Arar's song "Düşman gibi", all of which were directed by Odabaşı, were nominated for the Best Music Video award at the 44th Golden Butterfly Awards.

Album photographs taken by Odabaşı