Invitation: 'We, Hungarians Exhibition', Candid Close-Ups By Dr. Peter Mayer

  • 8 Oct 2012 9:00 AM
Invitation: 'We, Hungarians Exhibition', Candid Close-Ups By Dr. Peter Mayer
Discover the endless variety, mystery and beauty of the Hungarian people as portrayed in candid close-ups of their faces and hands.

Location: Országgyűlés Irodaháza
Address: 1055 Bp, Széchenyi rakpart 19
(Next to the Margit Bridge on the Pest side).

General hours:
October 12th, 9 AM - 12 noon.

Admission: Send your name, date and time of your visit to Marina by clicking here for submission to the Parliament Security Office.

Bring your ID and please arrive within half an hour of the time you gave.

“We, Hungarians” Parliament Exhibit Theme & Description

Photography, and more specifically, candid people photography is an art form - an art form which does not have the limitations of other art forms but, by the same token, it has limitations which other art forms do not have.

Candid photography has at its disposal and as its subject people – people as they are to themselves and to their surrounding environment as they live their lives – lives which, for most of us, most of the time is a routine which is punctuated occasionally by unusual and, very rarely, even by extraordinary events, experiences and emotions. In other words, the subjects do not pose, which means that they do not consciously try to take on the image that they would like other people to have of them.

The challenge and the reward of a candid photographer is to be able to capture in a single still image the essence of the multi dimensional reality (including time) of a person in a particular situation and setting in such a way as to be able to transmit to the viewers of that image the aesthetic, mental or intellectual and emotional impression the subject of the photograph made on the photographer in real life.

This, so called, triple impression (aesthetic, mental or intellectual and emotional) is reached (or realized) in stages. There are three stages in this “build” process. The first stage, the aesthetic stage, can be reached almost in an instant. This is when the photograph captures the attention of the viewer through its visual impact. This is what “makes” the viewer stop to look at the photo. This stage is a prerequisite to the next two stages.

The next stage can be best labeled as mental or intellectual and it is reached as the viewer becomes interested to take a closer look at the person portrayed in the photo – interested enough to start to think about it.

If and when the viewer’s thoughts about the subject of the photograph become deeper, they tend to acquire and become enriched by an emotional component. To put it, perhaps, more simply, the viewer the viewer will begin to develop an emotional connection to the subject of the photo. This then is the final or “ultimate”, and in my opinion, the most rewarding stage in this triple staged impression creation process.

The candid close ups are mostly of people’s faces but there are also a significant number of close ups of people’s hands because, as others have noted also, I find a person’s unique character and beauty reflected not only in their faces but also in their hands.

As it regards this exhibit, the theme of which is “We are all Hungarians,” as I mentioned earlier, the challenge and the reward for me has been to capture at least a meaningful part of the broad variety of people who are all Hungarians, who live in Hungary and whose interests, needs and hopes their representatives, the members of the Hungarian Parliament are called on to serve. So as the members of the Parliament go to and from their offices and walk by the exhibit, they can find themselves in the midst of the images of the people they represent and, hopefully, by looking at their images will share the enjoyment on many levels that I experienced observing these Hungarians and taking their photographs.

I think it incumbent on me to express my thanks to all the subjects of my photographs for being who they are, though these being candid photographs, they were not aware that they were being photographed at the time the photographs were taken just as they are not aware now of being thanked.

I hope that as the exhibit visitors meet the images of these Hungarian people, they too will get enjoyment from them.

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