COPYRIGHT
'The primary responsibility of the image is to be a celebration for the eye.' (Delacroix)
Just as every little „coincidence” can play an important role in producing a picture, every chapter of my life was undoubtedly necessary from the standpoint of developing myself as a photographer. If I had not grown up near the Brassó Street elementary school in the 13th district of Budapest, quite likely I would have had very little chance to meet Ferenc Varga during my teenage years, an influential teacher who directed my attention to the world of video making in the 8th grade. In fact, at that time during the 80s, only a few elementary schools were lucky enough to have their own video studio. I think it’s safe to say that I was born in the right place at the right time. I learned to handle and respect the PICTURE at a young and tender age. Finding the RIGHT PICTURE and recording it has continued to bring me considerable joy ever since.
In the summer of 1987, I discovered my father’s long forgotten black and white dark room equipment in the basement, along with his old Exa camera. With the help of this modest equipment, I started recording my immediate surroundings with a perseverance that is uncommon even by today’s standards. Needless to say I continue to keep these pictures to myself, although even the very first roll of film reveals why I was intrigued by the idea of transposing „reality” to two-dimension. During my high school years I had to continue my passion as an autodidact in the face of a very strong „headwind”, but at the time photography started to reach equal importance to video making in my life. After graduation I ended up enrolling in the Prater Street vocational school, rather than majoring in film production as a wanna-be cameraman (Where I was not accepted even 15 years later, by the way!). During the two years I spent at Práter Street, my most fundamental realization was the amazing feeling I experienced while having the opportunity to dedicate my days to taking pictures. Slowly I had to admit to myself that the film makers’ way of thinking is very distant from how I see things - as I was always trying to tell whole stories within the frame of a single picture. Perhaps that is the reason why I have never received similar interpretations about any of my pictures – as the real „transcript” of the given picture is only known to me…
I spent 12 years working for the press, where I or my pictures of course, did not have this kind of luxury, which resulted in two types of photographer personalities evolving from within. One is striving to represent reality in the most concrete and comprehendible way possible, while the other is doing the exact opposite, enjoying the improbability of reality and the fact that it can be transmitted with a rather objective tool in the world of photography.
Another passion of mine is music. Parallel to learning photography, I attended an audio engineering course and pursued music composition. Playing the piano is an ever-recurring daily hobby of mine as well. Whenever I spend time away from taking pictures and leave my spiritual-creative room within, I often explore nature, wander around in nearby forests, jog, swim or do yoga.
At the end of 2010, with nearly 40 exhibitions behind me, I launched a webshop, which has been incorporated into my website ever since. As a result, all photos that I consider most significant from the standpoint of my career can be purchased directly. I would prefer that the value of a photographic print would not be determined by the number of copies made from it, but rather by how many people appreciate it, or the emotions it awakens inside them. Similarly to a musician, who does not limit the extent to which he or she wishes to share a song after it is composed and will not say that only 10, 50 or 200 copies of his or her CD should be released; I would also like to make my photos widely available to those who are interested. I never quite understood why with artistic techniques and products that are possible to reproduce in large quantities, such as the case with photography, many artists still insist (especially in the era of digital files) that only a small number of copies be available to people yet for the highest purchase price possible. I hope that the value of an artifact will not be determined by how many people are able to pay for it, but rather by the number of people it touches and triggers to think. My goal is to make my photos available to everybody interested, even those who are only able to take home an average salary, so it will not become the exclusive privilege of wealthy collectors, many of whom see art more as a form of investment and not so much as the object of their personal passion.
Influential people in my life: Ferenc Varga, elementary school art teacher; Tibor Miltényi, photo-esthete; Lenke Szilágyi, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, Milán Füst, Miklós Mészöly, E. M. Cioran, my family and friends.
'Art does not guarantee any kind of salvation. That is beyond its realm of authority. It can only seduce, illuminate. The air becomes clearer after it. Not clear, just clearer.' (Miklós Mészöly)