ISTANBUL , Turkey ( CNN ) -- Sevket Sahintas works the night shift driving his taxi around Istanbul , Turkey , from midnight until dawn . Sevket Sahintas says he did n't know anything about photography when he began snapping photos . His route takes him past symbols of wealth old and new : the ornate carved stone gates of a 19th-century Ottoman sultan 's palace , the gleaming high-rises in the city 's rapidly growing financial district . Periodically , Sahintas stops his yellow cab not for customers , but for photos . Under a roaring overpass , he steps out of his vehicle and walks across the street to two homeless men who sleep huddled on the concrete under a blanket next to a half-finished plastic bottle of water . Sahintas pauses for a moment and presses a button on his small camera . A flash erupts , then he turns and walks slowly back to the car . In addition to being a cabbie , Sahintas is a self-taught photographer . He focuses his lens on the poorest segments of Istanbul 's society . Sahintas , who began driving a taxi when he was 19 , said he started taking photos five years ago when he began working the night shift . Watch Sahintas as he photographs street scenes » . `` I saw people on the street in winter . They were cold at night , '' he said . `` To make their voices heard , I wanted to buy a camera and show that these people are living in difficult conditions . That 's how it started . '' Sahintas takes photos of homeless people , who often sleep barefoot in bus stops next to billboards where smiling models advertise everything from ice cream bars to credit cards . See the streets through Sahintas ' lens » . `` I like to capture those contradictions , '' he said . `` Happy smiling people on the ad boards beside that unhappy person who is trying to sleep . I want the happy people to see that minority and do something about it . '' Sahintas also takes black-and-white portraits of the other characters who roam Istanbul 's streets at night : dirty street children , garbage pickers , transvestite prostitutes . Eventually , Sahintas ' nocturnal perspective on Turkey 's largest city began attracting attention , both at home and overseas . This month , an exhibit of his photos titled `` The Other Side of the Night , '' is on display in an Istanbul gallery . `` Basically , we were amazed by his photos , '' said Anna Heidenhain , one of the directors of Manzara Perspectives , the art program displaying Sahintas ' work . She compares his photographs to the social documentary form of photography that rose to prominence in the 1930s . iReport.com : Share your view of the world . But Sahintas is the first to acknowledge he approached photography as an amateur . `` I did n't know anything about photography , '' he said . `` I did n't know any technical terms , just an on and an off button . '' He keeps an eye out for subjects while driving Istanbul 's winding streets . At 2 a.m. , he spotted a freelance garbage-picker patrolling Istanbul and hauling giant rolling carts through traffic . Sahintas stopped and met with the man , named Yasar , and offered him a cigarette . Yasar told Sahintas he scavenges packing paper and cardboard boxes from garbage bins for resale to private recycling companies . Working until dawn , he can make the equivalent of $ 7 a night to feed his family of six . `` We are struggling to earn enough money to buy bread , '' Yasar said , before trundling off into the night with his cargo of paper , a lit cigarette hanging from his lips . This week Turkey , one of the world 's 20 wealthiest economies , is holding an annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund . The delegates are expected to discuss ways to battle poverty and strategies to prevent a repeat of last year 's global economic crisis . But Sahintas disagrees with experts who rate economies based on gross domestic product . A country 's wealth `` should be related to how that money is distributed , '' he said . `` If all the money is controlled by a few monopolies , I believe it shows a country 's poverty , not its wealth . '' Sahintas ' work highlights the huge income gap in Turkish society . Even though the Turkish economy enjoyed steady growth for much of the past decade , the latest government statistics show that nearly one in five Turks live below the poverty line . During the past year , the economic crisis pummeled Turkey 's export-driven industries , pushing unemployment to record highs . The downturn has hit many Turks -- from Istanbul 's garbage-pickers , who say there is less useful trash to scavenge , to the city 's cabbies , who complain that fewer customers can afford their services . Still , at the station from where Sahintas operates his cab , taxi drivers are quick to heap praise on their colleague . `` We are proud of our friend . We like his pictures , as well , '' Tolga Donmez said between glasses of steaming hot Turkish tea . `` He makes us want to learn new skills , as well . '' Despite the attention , Sahintas does n't make enough money from his photos to earn a living . For that , the photographer has to work the night shift in his yellow cab .
Cabbie 's familiarity with cameras once consisted only of `` an on and an off button '' Sevket Sahintas garnering attention for photos taken on his night shift . The taxi driver was not the first to take advantage of this new technology, but he is one of the few who has been able to make a living from it. Sahintas wants Istanbul 's `` happy people '' to see how cold , poor residents live .