The article explores painter and photographer Jules Kanzler’s Istanbul period. Born in Crimea, the artist studied at Odessa Art School. After the Revolution of 1917, he moved to Istanbul, where he decided to dedicate himself to photography and open his own photo studio. Kanzler’s photo studio moved from one building to another two times but was always located on Istiklal Avenue (previously Grand rue de Pera). In the 1920s, he actively communicated with many Russian émigré artists and even placed some of their works in his photo studio to help them to find clients. Furthermore, photographs from Kanzler’s archive were published in the almanac Russians on the Bosphorus, a joint work of Russian émigrés in Istanbul. His talent did not go unnoticed, and soon he was invited to work as a photographer to “document” the process of the Turkish Republic’s formation and the activities of its founders.