Güner Özlala
Biography
I was born in 1950 in Lurucina, a beautiful village in Cyprus also known as Akıncılar, as the youngest of five siblings. Over the years, my interests expanded greatly, and I acquired various skills during this time. Most of these skills I developed on my own. One of my greatest achievements at a young age was winning first awards in art competition with three different works I created at the age of 12. I began taking photographs at the age of 12 with a camera my brother sent me from England. In 1963, when I was 13 years old, my family and I migrated to England. Not knowing a single word of English, I turned my eyes to a completely different world and was determined to seize every opportunity I could there. At the age of fourteen, I started school. Initially, with my minimal knowledge of English, it was quite difficult to understand people and to make myself understood. Despite the demotivating atmosphere of the classroom (where students would throw chairs at teachers, which was vastly different from the schools in Cyprus), I tried my best. Within a month, many things started to become easier, and I began communicating with my friends by speaking in English.
Photography
Throughout my life, my biggest passion has been painting and my second biggest passion has been photography. One day, while window-shopping in a photographic shop, I noticed that there were special kits for printing photographs. Until then, I had no idea that people could print their own photographs. With my new-found knowledge of English, I went into the shop and inquired about the kit. I found out that it was worth £39,10.06 (39 pounds 10 shillings and 6 pennies). That was quite a high price for me. But that day, I decided to buy the kit. From then on, I started to save every penny I earned, for example by helping my brothers in the kitchens of the hotels they worked in, and my mother also helped me to supplement the money. Once I had my print set, I had no idea how to use it. With the help of the shop assistance and the instruction manual, I started to print my own photos. Needless to say, I had to make several attempts to get good quality prints. Over the years, having my own darkroom allowed me to experiment with various printing techniques, for example, black and white, color, motion, etc.
First Work Experience
My first real work experience was working in a factory at the age of 16, making parts for fire extinguishers. A year later, I changed my job to making brick mold machines to earn a better income. When I was eighteen years old, my cousin Osman (Ossie) Mustafa Ozlala we started to build a Photographic and Painting studio behind his father's cafe. This point was a new turning point in my future. Our new building resembled a garage-like structure. One day, a gentlemen stoped and asked if I could fix his car. Even though I had no experience, I asked what was wrong with his car. Since I always like to be challenged in line with my personality and character, I liked to try anything that I have never done before. My experience with cars until that day consisted of driving! It took me a week to fix the car, and in the meantime, people who saw me passing by were stopping with their cars and asking if I could fix their cars too. When I came across a job I couldn't do, I would sub it to a local garages so I could watch them fix it and learn new skills. This method allowed me to learn new techniques and within a year my car repair skills improved considerably. I started earning more than I expected, this motivated me to work longer hours. I remember once working a total of e three days not sleeping at all after which I slipped for 18 Hours In 1968, my first garage was called “G&O Lala Motors”. I left work for about six months and went to Cyprus with Ossie and we did excavation work to extract water on our own land. I had no experience with digging for water with Drilling rigg before, nor had I ever seen the device that did this. With the information I gained from the machines, with my common sense and determination, and the encouragement of other villagers, we successfully extracted water around the village. Following my return to England, I opened my own repair shop in Bermondsey in 1969, which I named Gunner Motor Repairs (GMR). In 2002, at the age of 52, I earned my retirement from GMR. I married my wife Emel when I was 25, we have a daughter and a son . Both were educated in private schools: a far cry from the limited education in my time.
First Work Experience
My first real work experience was working in a factory at the age of 16, making parts for fire extinguishers. A year later, I changed my job to making brick mold machines to earn a better income. When I was eighteen years old, my nephew Osman (Ossie) Mustafa Ozlalawe started to build a Photography and Painting studio behind his father's cafe. This point was a new turning point in my future. Our new building started to take on a garage-like structure. One day, a gentleman came to the studio and asked if I could fix his car. Even though I had no experience, I asked what was wrong with his car. Since I like to be challenged in line with my personality and character, I would even try anything that I have not done before. My experience with cars until that day consisted of driving! It took me a week to fix the car, and in the meantime, people who saw me passing by were stopping with their cars and asking if I could fix their cars too. When I came across a job I couldn't do, I would sub it to local garages so I could watch them fix it and learn new skills. This method allowed me to learn new techniques and within a year my car repair skills improved considerably. I started earning more money than I expected, this motivated me to work longer hours. I remember once working a total of three days without sleeping after which I sleped for 18 hours. In 1969, my first garage was called “G&O Lala Motors”. I left work for about six months and went to Cyprus with Ossie and we did excavation work to extract water on our own land. I had no experience with digging for water before, nor had I ever seen the machine that did this. With the information I gained from the machines, my common sense and determination, and the encouragement of other villagers, we successfully extracted water around the village. Following my return to England, I opened my own repair shop in Bermondsey in 1969, which I named Gunner Motor Repairs (GMR). In 2002, at the age of 52, I earned my retirement from GMR. I married my wife Emel when I was 25, we have a daughter and a son . Both were educated in private schools: a far cry from the limited education in my time.
