Without Goals, There Is No Success!

Perhaps it all began in 2015 on the oceanfront at Long Beach, New York, when I photographed a memorial wall created by local families and children.

A hurricane had taken almost everything away.

The people who loved living there rebuilt the entire waterfront.

One sentence in the middle of that wall reached me deeply:

“Follow your dreams.”

Perhaps the moment could have sounded inside my head something like this: https://youtu.be/oOXnwuTC-8c

At that moment, I set myself a new goal.

That autumn, I wanted to create a portrait photography exhibition in New York about Hungarians who had emigrated after the 1956 revolution.

Together with others, I wanted to present people of Hungarian origin who had lived extraordinary lives and whose stories could serve as examples to anyone.

Success — The obvious question is:

Why New York?

And why in this form?

My answer is simple, even if the full explanation is long.

I like challenges.

And I like showing people that “impossible” is often only a word.

Creating an exhibition like this is an extremely complex task.

It requires enormous organisation.

And it needs the help and cooperation of many people.

Fortunately, the project could be created through cooperation involving Ildikó Nagy, director of the Hungarian House of New York, and the Consulate General of Hungary in New York.

If we succeed, perhaps I can contribute something useful:

Belief.

And a map.

Something for committed artists who want to show the world they see through their own work.

My second goal is to show New York itself.

Not simply through tourist photographs.

I want to create a more complete account illustrated with images, covering the preparation for the journey, the beauty of living here and also the difficulties.

From these roughly forty-five days, perhaps a small travel guide can emerge.

Something useful for anybody who wants to visit or is simply interested in the city.

I am happy to do this because this will be my fifth trip within two years.

I remember how useful a practical guide like this would have been before my own first journey.

The blog will begin on 11 September.

I start travelling on the 12th.

Until then, I still have many things to organise.

After departure, daily life itself will shape the story because the real project will take form during the following six weeks.

Alongside visiting almost one person every day for the exhibition, I also want to show you the city.

Not only the sights built for tourists.

I want to show New York from the point of view of somebody who actually spends time living here.

Of course, I will not ignore the famous attractions either.

You will also be able to request photographs from particular locations so, in a small way, we can explore the city “together”.

That will make the blog more interactive.

So if you are even slightly interested in what it feels like to live in New York during the final stage of an election campaign, how an exhibition is created, and who the people are whom we will meet personally, come back here from 11 September onward.

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.