Louder Than Bombs: Teenage photographer powerfully documents the war in Syria

When Turkish photographer Furkan Temir was just a teenager, he saw a huge influx of Kurdish people, fleeing civil war in neighbouring Syria. Instead of going to school one day, his curiosity forced him to pick up his camera and sleeping bag, and travel to the northern Syrian border town of Kobani where the American-led coalition had joined forces with Kurdish fighters to battle Islamic State.

The haunting things that he witnessed during that forbidden trip over many months form the series, Louder Than Bombs – his photo-journalism account of the impact of ISIS's unexpected siege of Kobani and the ensuing effort to retake the city.

Now aged 21, Furkan told the New York Times: "Millions of refugees were coming to my country and leaving their homes and escaping. As an instinct I couldn’t stay or sit down at home to wait for something to happen. I just really felt the urge to be there."

Born in a small town in eastern Turkey in 1995, Furkan spent his childhood in Sivas and Bursa, and later earned a scholarship at Sehir University in Istanbul. But instead of attending school, he found himself photographing in Iraq and along the Syrian border. He later transferred to another learning facility and continued his photo-journalism while studying part-time. Discover more of his work at www.furkantemir.com.

Via direct submission | All images courtesy of Furkan Temir

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