|
I am standing on top of the mountain waiting for the sun to rise. What is a man doing on the top of a mountain so early in the morning? He must be a photographer. There is no other reasonable explanation. But it doesn’t need to be explained. If a photographer wants an answer for these questions, he won’t go on the top of the mountain at the first place. He wants to see and let others to see. He captures the moment and reveals us those grains from reality’s sand-glass that tell us about the sound of the autumn moorland or the smell of ripe fruit. It explains us a wrinkled face’s sigh and the hope of the sower. To me, photography is a consistent reality, with its vivid beauty and transiency. This is why a good picture can say more than a thousand of words. It reveals us the essence of things in a compressed way. The pictures that dissolve in those who look at them make one get carried away, as if we were embraced. If we agree with Kányádi’s student who said: “a poem is something we have to tell” then “a photograph is something we have to see.” – Have you ever tried to describe a photograph? – It’s impossible. Whenever I take a picture of a person, I try to concentrate on the character as a whole, on the character’s feelings about life. It’s not easy. It requires a lot of attention (most of the time even interference or influence or induction). To capture the right moment on a face that is in constant move, is not easy. It is a tiring job and requires a lot of energy. Nature is different. It fills me up and it is harmonious. In the first case I can form the outcome of an event, while in the second case I am a searcher and a watcher of the phenomena of nature.
The sun is up now. I am on my way home. The camera is still in the bag, it was not used this time. But I am not upset, because I know I will come back tomorrow.
Czire Alpár
|