08.12. | Love Story Stole the Show in Budapest

“Fotózz Haver!” was a hit in Budapest once again—and the funny moments were very much part of the package.

This was our second time shaking up the HaverVagy community in Budapest. About a month earlier, more than forty of us had met above the tunnel by the Buda end of Chain Bridge. This time Fisherman's Bastion became our playground. Nearly fifty brave photo hunters turned up: eleven “old hands” (our Firsts) and thirty-six newcomers who still had no idea what they were getting themselves into.

I won't pretend balancing the needs of the two groups was effortless, but according to the feedback, we made it work.

We began with a more serious crash course in the psychology of photography—yes, that is a thing—and then the games could begin.

Masters of “The Robbery” and Ambassadors of “Love”

The experienced group, our “Firsts”, received a special assignment: switch their phones to black-and-white and tell a story titled “The Robbery”. It sounds odd, I know, but the results were brilliant.

In groups of four, each team had two models, one photographer and one stylist/helper. Everyone rotated through the roles. Best of all, each person had to photograph the same robbery story from a different point of view.

It felt like the set of an action movie—just with fewer explosions and considerably more laughter. The Firsts handled it like photographic Rambos.

Meanwhile, the newcomers weren't allowed to get bored. Working in pairs, they had to make a single-click portrait of each other that made the other person look beautiful.

The catch? They weren't allowed to show each other the pictures.

Only the images judged “perfect” could be uploaded into our strictly closed WhatsApp group. It was a bit like posting for a dating app, except the people in the photographs were our new friends.

To shake everyone out of everyday autopilot, I also gave them a theme to embody while photographing. You should have seen the startled faces. Then came the laughter, the tension disappeared, and people started playing.

Love Story: When Humour Saves Everything

Then came the big reshuffle. New teams of four and five were formed. The Firsts chose teammates and became group leaders.

The theme: “Love Story”.

At first, quite a few people discovered that “Love Story” wasn't nearly as easy as it sounded. Then humour and team spirit solved the problem. I don't think I've ever seen so many funny and genuinely heart-warming love stories created in a single afternoon.

The high point of the day belonged to the women. Each could choose a man she hadn't yet worked with that day, and the two had to make the portrait of a lifetime of each other.

Technically, we worked on setting the light and understanding depth of field. Who said photography can't be romantic?

Meanwhile, increasingly imaginative pictures kept pouring into the WhatsApp group.

Retouching Techniques—and Next Stop, Spain

As a bonus, I demonstrated a special photo-retouching app and the team also received a short tutorial video so everyone could get the best from their images. Secretly, of course, I hope plenty of photographs were made that are already perfect exactly as they are.

The “Fotózz Haver!” adventure continues in Budapest in September. In October, fourteen brave people can travel with us to Málaga, Spain, for five days, where everyone will be both model and photographer.

I suspect some of the best photographs of their lives will be made there—not only because of the location, but because of the community.

Two photography students also joined us from Lithuania, Emilija and Agne, and they received their own assignment: make fifteen images each and capture the atmosphere of the event entirely in-camera, without post-production.

Yes, without post-production.

Two Lithuanian “spies”, documenting chaos and creativity in real time.

Emilija's images: Agne's images:

The Biggest Party Yet

I'm incredibly proud of everyone. I hadn't imagined we could create something meaningful for so many people at once. In terms of attendance, this was our largest photography-and-meet-people event so far.

At the very end someone asked whether we might develop the format into a corporate team-building programme as well. I have to admit, that question made me start seriously thinking about how we could build it with the team.

We continue in Vienna on Tuesday, 19 August. Details here.

And now, finally, let's look at the work.

Part of the BANHALMI ecosystem

For the professional context and practical side of portrait photography, visit the BANHALMI professional website. Related art series, books and exhibitions are preserved in the BANHALMI ART archive.