It only took seven months for Belgian portrait photographer Bleg Bayraktar, 24, to reach 1 million followers on Instagram.
How did he manage such a feat? Bayraktar, who posts his content on the Instagram account @itsbleg, has cultivated a reputation for being soft-spoken, polite and incredibly respectful no matter the country he visits or people he encounters.
Japan has been attracting more tourists than ever in recent years, and many come hoping to snap a memorable picture or two of their time here. A few social media personalities, however, have taken things too far to get “content,” blasting quiet train carriages with obnoxious music, performing pull ups on torii gates as if they were exercise equipment and flying drones in no-drone areas. The incidents have drawn a lot of attention and are often featured in the media, stirring up anti-foreign sentiment not only in Japan, but among global audiences.
Bayraktar has received a much more positive response thanks to his mindful approach.
“I always try to learn the language, learn about the culture and try to be respectful of the country,” Bayraktar tells The Japan Times, adding that “being polite is not something I need to think about, it’s natural. I'm asking people for their picture and I feel like that's already a huge request.”
Japan holds a special place in his heart as it’s where he began his portrait photography journey. In 2022, Bayraktar participated in a one-semester study exchange at Tokyo’s Hitotsubashi University, studying economics. At that time, he was already doing photography, but was too shy to approach people.
“I tried once to ask a stranger if I could take their portrait, but it took so much energy and I thought, ‘I’m never doing this again,’” Bayraktar says.
After a short stint working in finance in Belgium, he came back to Japan in November 2024 for a short trip, determined to give portrait photography another shot. This time, he also started documenting the interactions on video.
“I started posting videos, and then one video blew up. Suddenly, all my other videos got more attention. I gained 100,000 followers in 10 days.”
Upon returning to Belgium, Bayraktar promptly handed in his notice at work, deciding to pursue his photography dream full time. Since then, he has traveled to France, Turkey, Morocco, South Korea and Japan, photographing and documenting his journey while building his online following.
“I don't know what's happening to me, to be honest” he says. “Seven months ago, I was still sitting at my desk at my nine-to-five job. It’s unbelievable.”
Last month, Bayraktar returned to Japan to continue capturing the portraits of people on the streets. Despite what many may think about Japanese people being “shy,” he has noticed they’re happy to have their photo taken.
“Roughly 60— to 70% of the people I approach in Japan say yes to allowing me to photograph them. So far I’ve found that in Asia, people tend to say yes more so than other countries,” he says, adding that he found Moroccans to be the most private.
Bayraktar’s own initial shyness has been an asset to his work, enabling him to approach people with humility and ensuring he never imposes himself on others. Unlike so many influencers that treat Japan as if it were their own personal film set, with everyone else simply a background character in their show, Bayraktar puts his subjects' needs above his own.
His advice for anyone thinking of following in his footsteps: “Always try to be the most polite person possible.”
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