Hi, I’m Oz John Tekson, a Berlin-based advertising photographer, graphic designer and art director with over 14 years of experience creating visual campaigns for brands across Europe, Canada and the United States. I bring hands-on photography, strong lighting and creative direction to every project, from preproduction through postproduction. I've taught design and photography at several institutions, led an internal Coca-Cola Eurasia communications agency, and collaborated with global agencies like McCann-Erickson, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Publicis and FCB. My work has been published in Canada, the US and Europe, and I have received multiple awards for my photography and design. I am fluent in English, German, Turkish and French and enjoy coordinating with vendors and teams worldwide.

Oz John Tekson

Hi, I’m Oz John Tekson, a Berlin-based advertising photographer, graphic designer and art director with over 14 years of experience creating visual campaigns for brands across Europe, Canada and the United States. I bring hands-on photography, strong lighting and creative direction to every project, from preproduction through postproduction. I've taught design and photography at several institutions, led an internal Coca-Cola Eurasia communications agency, and collaborated with global agencies like McCann-Erickson, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Publicis and FCB. My work has been published in Canada, the US and Europe, and I have received multiple awards for my photography and design. I am fluent in English, German, Turkish and French and enjoy coordinating with vendors and teams worldwide.

Available to hire

Hi, I’m Oz John Tekson, a Berlin-based advertising photographer, graphic designer and art director with over 14 years of experience creating visual campaigns for brands across Europe, Canada and the United States. I bring hands-on photography, strong lighting and creative direction to every project, from preproduction through postproduction.

I’ve taught design and photography at several institutions, led an internal Coca-Cola Eurasia communications agency, and collaborated with global agencies like McCann-Erickson, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Publicis and FCB. My work has been published in Canada, the US and Europe, and I have received multiple awards for my photography and design. I am fluent in English, German, Turkish and French and enjoy coordinating with vendors and teams worldwide.

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Language

English
Fluent
German
Fluent
French
Advanced
Turkish
Intermediate
Italian
Beginner

Work Experience

Freelance Photographer and Art Director at OZ JOHN Photography and Creative Services
January 1, 2020 - November 28, 2025
Freelance photographer and art director providing creative photography services and art direction for clients in Europe and beyond, with a focus on advertising and brand storytelling.
Freelance Photographer and Art Director at OZ JOHN Photography and Creative Services
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2020
Led photography and art direction projects for print and digital campaigns, collaborating with clients across Canada, the USA, and Europe.
Professor at OCAD University
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2020
Teaching Advertising in the Faculty of Design, developing curricula and mentoring design students.
Instructor at Sheridan College
January 1, 2018 - January 1, 2018
Teaching Photography in the Continuing Education Program, delivering hands-on and theoretical instruction.
Full-time Professor at Humber College
January 1, 2013 - January 1, 2013
Teaching Typography, Promotion and Event Marketing, Creative Concepts, Digital Production, Interactive Media, and Packaging; contributed to curriculum and student projects.
Creative Studio Manager at The Coca-Cola Company /in-house agency
January 1, 2004 - January 1, 2004
Managed creative studio operations within Marketing Communications Group, coordinating design and production for campaigns.
Senior Art Director at Publicis
January 1, 1998 - January 1, 1998
Senior art direction for advertising campaigns, brand storytelling, and creative concept development.
Photographer and Art Director at OZ JOHN Photography and Creative Services
January 1, 2020 - November 28, 2025
Photographer and Art Director responsible for concept development, photography direction, and creative leadership in advertising; manages production, preproduction, and postproduction workflows; coordinates with suppliers and third-party professionals to deliver integrated campaigns.
Photographer and Art Director at OZ JOHN Photography and Creative Services
January 1, 2020 - January 1, 2020
Photographer and Art Director for the Toronto-based period (2013–2020); led photography and art direction for campaigns, overseeing production and collaborating with international teams and brands.

Education

PhD in Visual Communication at Marmara University
January 11, 2030 - November 28, 2025
Master’s Degree in Advertising at Marmara University
January 11, 2030 - November 28, 2025
Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design at Marmara University
January 11, 2030 - November 28, 2025
Doktorat (PhD) in Visueller Kommunikation (Visuelle Semiotik) at Marmara University
January 11, 2030 - November 28, 2025
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Werbung at Marmara University
January 11, 2030 - November 28, 2025
Bachelor-Abschluss in Grafikdesign at Marmara University
January 11, 2030 - November 28, 2025

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Media & Entertainment, Education, Professional Services, Other
    paper https://www.behance.net/gallery/225429315/The-Car-Crash

    Work for the fashion Brand SLVA by the designer Selva, who designs outfits using car pieces.

    paper https://www.behance.net/gallery/64872051/Pastoral-Fantasies-(for-ASPCA)

    We live in an era of a swinging pendulum between the technology and the lost naturalism.
    Our lives are organized and control by atomic clocks, rigid rules and schedules, and power.
    We are emerged into the network of artificial production and easy and fast consumption.
    A regular tomato of 50 years ago become today a rare and relatively expensive product sold
    under the label of “organic”. We apparently miss the pace and the products of the natural.
    This desire created a new market and discourse. On packagings of goods produced
    in industrial fabrics contain pictures of farms, meadows and rivers that do not exist.
    We fake the natural, even in social context. For we miss deep inside what we’ve lost.

    To compensate our loss, our sense of guilt and to make us feel better. We go camping
    in an isolation of specifically produced expensive camping tents and gear of luxury.
    We go rafting for video-recording our adventure by drones.

    All these are the extension of our pastoral fantasies.

    paper https://www.behance.net/gallery/182382521/The-Edge-of-Biformity

    The Concept:
    One of the keywords that describes best our time (Zeitgeist) arguably is the polarization that fakes a shameless juxtaposition. From cultural or technological to the fluidity of identity we experience the swoosh of the pendulum that relentlessly moves our perception from one end to the other.

    The post-modern discourse works on obscuring everything we recognize and know by emptying out the content, tearing apart the context, altering the presentation and appearance of things that create a consistent inconsistency, a patchwork or a collage detached from any intrinsic source. It is no longer possible to think; but you can choose, mix and match… You can be a repetition or a meme—of a repetition or of a meme, of which no one can find the tip of the thread. The skewed reflections of the none-identifiable things on a non-binary spectrum cry out for recognition that churn out echos of themselves. What remains to say, as the refrain of a popular pop song from 70’s revolving inside my head: “That’s the way, aha, aha, I like it, aha, aha !”

    We like it. We do it. We play with creating visibility as things appear starting from a point of duality towards a horizon of whatever. To be coherent with the theme, all backgrounds were created in an AI engine to be by the edge of the perception and the noticeability to make the visuals fit the concept.

    ✻ All backgrounds are created in Midjourney.