Born in Turkey's capital Ankara - though he identifies more with his family's ancestral hometown of Gaziantep, Seref Isler's mother is partly English, which he sees as having a bipolar cultural background. 

​He has spent most of my life living outside Turkey: in Canada, Australia, Germany, Singapore and the UK. This nomadic life has influenced all aspects of his life: his journalistic work is on international story-telling, while his photography and videography art is about capturing the sights and sounds of a location.