THE INTERVIEW Was photography already a hobby or passion of the young boy Peter Gilbert Balazsy? No. Not at all. In fact, I only picked up a "serious" camera for the first time about 5 or 6 years ago at the age of 50! As a youngster I never had a burning interest in photography. I did, however, think it was fascinating but not particularly "my thing". As A young boy (11 or so) all I thought about were helicopters and parachutes, and radio, ...I was into 'crystal-set' radios and the like. I'd build them for all my friends and even had one on my bike with a car antenna attached. I'd ride around with headphones on listing to all the popular tunes of 1953. I must have looked like a real goofball. I followed this path and became an amateur radio "Ham" operator. ... and later studied electronics in the Army in the early 60's. In fact, I never imagined myself as having much to do with photography at all, because my older brother (2 years ahead of me) was really into it when he was in his mid 20's, and so...for some strange reason... that fact seemed to preclude me from ever even considering it! I guess I figured it was "his thing"..and not mine. (Sibling rivalry or something I guess.) Oh I did all the usual snap-shots and things like that with my family...and once in a while I'd try to compose a nice shot here and there with my average family-type "insta-matic" or box camera ...but no matter what I did ...it seemed to always just end up looking like a "snap-shot," No feeling, no punch. In fact it was just that problem that actually got me into photography. I'd look at all those great "cover-girl" shots on magazines and wonder, what set them apart from snapshots and made them so great and obviously different? It always seemed a puzzle. Sort of a nagging question I could never seem to figure out. Being the very curious, technical type guy that I am, ...I was chatting about this with a couple of friends one night while we were sitting around a local watering hole. We got into "depth of field" and "telephoto" and all the other mysterious terms. But it only led me to further curiosity. ...So both of these guys offered to lend me their 35mm SLR cameras to experiment with. One camera had a nice zoom lens for portraits. I was just starting to try it all out, when a local co-ed I knew asked me if I'd do some shots for her to build a portfolio. I quickly painted a back drop, and got some cheap lights. We shot all day. I was sweating bullets! It was a real "baptism by fire." I also became friends with a Photographer who ran the local camera shop and he'd critique my work after each attempt. I progressed with each step ...to the abandonment of all else, for quite a few months. After 6 months or so I seemed to be able to achieve that "cover-girl" look and began taking on work for model portfolios ...all high-key ...glamour stuff. Then I read a little bit about Polaroid "Image transfer." I went to a little demo on it and decided that this was what I "had to do" next! I ordered all the gear, ...and dove in. I must have wasted tons of Polaroid film. It was, however, immediately apparent to me from the very beginning, that this printing technique was something unusual and quite special... and would require images whose subject matter would be complimented by the technique itself. Images produced (or printed) this way seemed to have an old-fashioned or antique-like feel to them. (a "period" feel) So I realized that I needed to shoot subjects that were "fitting." At first I used this technique to enhance my latest landscape, still-life and animal shots. Initially it was great. I saw how this medium could take me in the direction of ...more "fine-art" related work... I was encouraged by peers to show my work to local art galleries... and they seemed to snap it up. In only 3 months my work was in about 15 local galleries here in the NY, NJ metro area. I was invited to do several one-man shows. ...but as things went along I missed the feeling of shooting people. I had a strong urge to bring the portrait back into scope... I felt I needed to include faces and figures in my work again. So..I tried to print image-transfers of some of my previously shot "glamour" images... but it just didn't seem to work. That's when I stumbled across a young lady (my first serious muse.) ...She was a 16 year old girl who was working in the local one-hour photo lab. She was into that "gothic" style of dress back then and she had a really interesting, timeless quality about her. She agreed to sit for me. ...It was totally new to us both, but a new sort of "artistic" expression seemed to develop from it. It really opened my eyes to the possibilities in that area and I began to derive a great deal of personal satisfaction from the images I was beginning to create. I found that I was no longer simply "capturing" an existing thing or person, but I was now beginning to "create" elements of feeling ...and I could now look at each completed work as an entity in itself. A "work of art." It was a completely new and wonderful feeling for me. This is how I came to discover what my "style" is. It shows up now in every image I shoot. So now I believe, that anyone could sort through a stack of mixed images...and easily recognize my work among them. It seems so funny now when I think back to my start up days. I heard people talk about "developing a style." But I could never imagine exactly how? And then I forgot about that ....and yet, somehow my "style" seemed to develop from within me without a conscious effort. In a review of one of my exhibits the reviewer wrote: "Though thoroughly trained in electronics and computers, the artist is largely self-taught in the arts. Despite this, his work demonstrates a life of careful observation,...." So, ..I guess that "must be" where it all comes from. I have no better explanation of the source of inspiration or foundation for my work.

Did you grow up in a family with artistic likings and interests? Did you get your talents from your mother? It's interesting that you suggest my mother. Not a graphic artist she has musical talent. She used to sing all the time when I was a boy. She could play almost any instrument, it seemed. All her siblings had that gift. I grew up with her singing along with the radio and playing popular tunes on the piano. But I have no musical talent myself. I love it and I try to whistle. ..I'm sort of okay there, but I can't read music or play anything. I did love to listen to my grandfather whistle as he listened to classical pieces on the phonograph. ...and I still feel a wonderful feeling of reverie as I play and whistle to these same pieces. But it's only for self pleasure. I think if I could have done anything else in my life, ...I would have loved to play piano. ...but I can't even entertain the thought of that now that I've lost the fingers of my right hand in a tragic auto accident fire back in 1979 when I was 37. I was burned over 50% of my body and spent a long time (4-6 mos) in a burn center and rehab hospital. In fact, I'm burned on the right half of my body and face. I had 7 reconstruction operations that did a relatively good job of piecing me back together. My face was grafted with skin from my backside. ..so I joke now of this being the reason for my "backward outlook" on life. In all seriousness, I lost my girlfriend in this accident and often wonder, why "her" and not "me?" This, combined with my injuries and all the difficult steps to get back to "life" as usual, was great cause for reflection. But although I do now, take the time to "smell the roses" ..I am still very much the same person now, that I always was. I have a "never say die" attitude and I'm always a very "positive" person. I got myself back to my job in 6 months, though. I had to learn to write left-handed now. ...and found to my astonishment ...that my signature still looks the same. It seems, we make the characters in our mind, not our hands. The hands and fingers are only slaves to our brain's instructions. ..and now I can do almost anything, so I've learned to get along with whatever tools I have left. Looking back at your career path: Did you start as a photographer or did you experience different jobs and fields of activity? All of my early career efforts were directed towards electronics and telecommunications. In the Army I had the unique experience of setting up a 50K watt, helicopter-transportable, A.M. Radio broadcast station in Thailand in 1963. The purpose was to have the Thailand government stay in daily touch with the peoples of the northern provinces. All in an effort to counter the communist radio propaganda from the surrounding countries like China, and Laos etc. It was a really easy duty assignment, and a lot of fun. We lived in a small camp just outside of the northern city of Khon-Kaen, about 350 miles north of Bangkok. When you live in a 3rd world country for a year ...you learn a lot! You learn to understand about cultural differences and appreciate life as we have it in the States. I saw the most abject poverty, daily, ...and meaningless deaths, disease, and fear. There was a weird dichotomy there too. They had a television station in town and several banks and photo studios ...yet just around the corner there were people living in filth in the streets and a few miles up the road, people would run away from a camera, believing that it might "capture" their soul. I was there when President Kennedy, was shot. We only got rumors at first and then only bits and pieces. We thought we might be going to war. We were very isolated there on the other side of the world, ...and we were very homesick and fearful. When I got back to the States ...I "literally" got down on my knees and kissed the ground at the airport! All my jobs after the Army related to electronics and later computers.

Do you earn a living only by means of your photo studio or do you make commissioned works (for companies or stock agencies) as well? Last year I signed with a stock agency in Spain,( they saw my work on the internet and invited me to work with them) ..and my images are just beginning to sell now. My artistic photo/image sales, portrait, and freelance work does not in itself support me, though. Perhaps if I were to begin getting commercial work in advertising, where "my style" is what the art director wants me to impart, ...where I'm given free rein to create and only general guidelines ...(I'd love that.) Then perhaps my photo work could begin to support me. But otherwise I operate my studio from my home and also have an office there to sell computers and do consulting work in computer systems and networking. Another interesting outcropping of my photo work, is that I felt I needed to design and code my own Webpage. This, it seems has started to meet with quite a favorable audience and I have now, recently begun to take commissions for webpage design work as well. The software for editing and processing photos becomes more and more sophisticated with plugins, effects & filters and so on. Is a darkroom nevertheseless still useful or even absolutely essential for a photographer nowadays? And what about the future development? One must remember that these programs are tools. Powerful tools yes, but..tools just the same. The tool does not make the art. The artist makes the art. One of my favorite sayings is: " An electric saw, does not a carpenter make." I often work with Adobe's 'Photoshop' to manipulate many of the images that I might not make Polaroid transfers from. I love the results. ...and all the possibilities. I could create new negatives or transparencies from these manipulated (digital) images, but mostly I'll create inkjet prints or I have to print these as dye-subs, or as an Iris "giclee." I always use the program as a non-obvious tool or as an electronic brush or as a strange new lens. I try never, ( with the exception of ...NEVER) to let the tool itself become evident in the image. After all, I'm producing artistic expressions that come from within me, ...I'm not trying to create an ad for the program itself! And I hate those very obvious looking "surrealistic" style images that so many people have been generating with these tools. It seems that they are just demonstrating all the possibilities that are there, and they jam them into one image of someone with three eyes with multi-colored moons and planets spinning around behind the subject. I absolutely abhor it. Now, as far as a darkroom goes... ( ... Y'know, ..sometimes I feel like such a "fraud." Photographer and darkroom always seemed synonymous to me.) ...But I not only ..don't have a dark room, ..I wouldn't even know my way around in one if you left me there alone! All my artwork image printing is done in total daylight! I use a slide copying device made by "Daylab" to enlarge my slides to Polaroid film. This is a box that contains an exposure lamp and bellows, with a holder to keep a pack of Polaroid film. I have this device and the various adapters to accommodate each of the three Polaroid instant film sizes, 3x4", 4x5" and 8x10." After my images have been "transferred" to artist's paper, or silk, or linen, or whatever receptor material I have chosen, ..I then, may go back into these images with water-colors or pastels, or colored pencil. Sometimes I'll spend many, many hours perfecting the textured and hand colored final image. Truly a labor of love, though.

Photography is a hobby and joyful activity of so many people. Are you so lucky to make a living with something that is a great fun and hobby or would you say, photography is hard work too? Every time I have a "shoot", especially with a new model, I find that I am totally drained and exhausted. I always feel a sense of urgency to not let those special moments of great expression or of waning light slip away and be lost forever, .. so I'm always running my brain at maximum speed to make sure I haven't overlooked any obvious flaws with the scene in frame before exposure. Lighting, expression, props, exposure, make-up, ..etc. It can get a bit much sometimes. And I almost always work without an assistant, since all my work is at my own expense, ...so I have to do all the scene changes and lighting setups as well as everything else. But the exhaustion I feel after every shoot is usually rewarded the next day ( after holding my breath all night waiting ) at the lab, as I look over all the slides from the day before. That's when I begin to get a few good feelings. But of course, ...the rest of the image-transfer work is all still ahead. I think it was Confucius who said: "Find a job you love,... and you'll never work another day in your life" !! I have been very fortunate in this regard. I have always loved my work. Electronics, Computers, Webpage design, ...and Photo/Artist. Are you a keen photographer when you're on vacation? What kind of motifs do you like most then? Not particularly. I try to enjoy my vacation. I don't look at it as a photo opportunity. That might spoil the whole idea of the vacation. Besides I try not to shoot all the trite images that are better found on postcards. No, I can't just go around snapping this and that. Because, ..producing my style of "artistic-work" takes concentration towards that goal. And that would steal my time, that may for that moment, be better spent with people and good times. Y'know, ...enriching my soul? However, if I do any shooting while away, I always seek people or scenes with people. Otherwise I try to make each shot work as I would a portrait, ...sort of a "portrait" of that scene, so to speak. An old worn doorway, a chair, ...or something of character, ...like a cactus plant by an "art-deco" doorway in Miami's South Beach district, or, ..maybe an old train station in the Czech republic, etc. But with or without people, I always seek scenes that are rich with "narrative."

The Internet -- is it more than a gallery for your works open to visitors from all parts of the world? Do you like to surf on the net? Yes to both questions! I don't know who to credit this next line to, but..."A photographer, without a gallery, is like a farmer without a field." ...So true. My website exhibit is my ever evolving gallery. I used to own two horses for pleasure riding. One died last year of old age. The stable, is located across the road from a reservoir area with 16,000 acres of natural undisturbed woodlands and streams. It's only 20 minuets away from my North Jersey home. I'm also only about 15 miles north-west of Manhattan. So I can have the best of all worlds here. I really do enjoy riding on the wooded trails for hours. It gives me time to reflect and simply "drink in" nature. But I seem to ride less and less lately. It's this damned computer; it seems to be an extension of my body now! I seem to spend the majority of my time both leisure and working, ...at my computer. It seems, lately that I'm either, adding a new image to my webpage or enhancing the structure of the page flow. Or else I'm manipulating a new or resurrected image from my archives. When I'm not doing that, ..I'm perusing the work of others, both web-design wise and photo-artistically. I'm usually rewarded by subtle things that I find everywhere in the work of others. And this is always an inspiration. In fact, it wasn't until after I started to publish my own work out here on the net, that I discovered others, whose work seems to parallel my feelings and captivate me. I am carried away by "feeling" in the works of David Hamilton,( I recently discovered him when a friend directed me to his work). And I also was swept-up with a warm feeling from an image by Kirk Clendinning of "Lens Art" in Sweden, ..."Katarine." It is a most wonderful image of a young girl by a window with gentle light filtering in on her. I wrote to him about how much the image of that girl attracted me. As it turns out, he likes her too, in fact, he married her! We appreciate each other's style and visit our respective sites often to see what each is up to. Not suprisingly, we both share a keen respect for David Hamilton's work. Kirk and I have become quite friendly, now, and correspond frequently. I have made many new friends and have met so many admirers of my work on the web; especially all the heart-felt, and inspiring, comments left for me in my guest book. I am also quite touched at times to receive many lovely poems and love letters directed to my muses. Always pure, and sincere. It seems that certain of my images tend to conjure up a warm and tender spot in the hearts of many (men and women alike), ...especially "young men" who wish to express their reaction in the form of gentle, yet impassioned, compliments; always, about or addressed to, the "subjects" in my images. Even noting and recognizing that the subject herself, in real life, may not be anything like the image of her that their inner feelings have reacted to. Yet they feel compelled to put pen to paper. It seems they "must" reach out and express that feeling, both to me and my subjects. I understand this well, because I get these feelings a bit myself, sometimes. In fact, I too, am quite "moved" in this way by Joyce Tenneson's image of "Girl in Chair." It is the opening image on her website. And I now own a signed copy of that image in poster size. It hangs, with great prominence, in my studio where I get to "drink it in" every day. I love it! So, I am quite touched by the letters and poetic offerings that I receive from time to time. These are "poems from the heart" that were "brought to life" as a result of an image that I composed and created. A most rewarding feeling, ..I must admit. One such recent letter, I received from a young college boy, who said, "I would like one day to own that image of "her" to hang in my home, ...So that her paper eyes can watch over me and give me comfort." ...This is all the reward any artist could ever hope for! (...Short of money with which to eat.) ...No?

Do you get new impressions or hints for your work by visiting other sites? What kind of websites do you like most? Yes I do get ideas (or rather inspiration and broader thinking) from the work of others, but only as I feel it can enrich my thinking and show itself in a deeper character in my work. Sort of something that helps me to reach deeper inside myself to bring forth "richer work"; something that will help to shed light on my thinking or give spirit and manifestation, or to release a new feeling in me. Some essence that hopefully will find its way into my own form of expression. We, all, can create ...only from that which we have learned. ..after all, ..we are nothing but the products of our experiences. Aren't we? The thing I learn most, from other websites, while browsing, is usually "what I don't like!" I most often see, that which I have learned to stay away from. Pages that lead you to endless clicks to even more clicks, ..that take you into oblivion. You then forget why you came there. I feel that, after you finally get a visitor, you should guide them carefully around your pages with clear cut ways to get back. It seems so pointless to start "hot-linking" your visitors away from your site before they get to see what they came there for! That's what led me to do my own webpage work. Most pages out there are also ... "graphic-design-nightmares". It reminds me of when Desk-top publishing systems first came to the fore in the mid eighties. Everyone tried to design magazine or newspaper and ad pages without any thought for graphic design principles. Every page seemed to use fourteen different typefaces and nothing related to style etc. These things do tend to slowly level out after the newness wears off, but in the mean time it's utter, .."yuk" to the eye! So when I do surf into a page of clean design, ...it is like an oasis in a desert of cyber-sand. What are the main activities and hobbies in your leisure time? Or is it photography too? I do enjoy my horse for pleasure trail riding, but as I stated above I don't ride nearly as much as I used to. I also love to sail. When I had a Summer home on an island in Maine, I used to love to sail every weekend. Now I only get to sail from time to time while vacationing. But I hope one day to retire near the sea to renew that passion. On occasion, an amateur photographer friend and I will go on a photo day trip and shoot landscapes and what not, but this is very infrequent lately. He too is computer bound it seems, as he's a freelance programmer.

Image Transfer Art and experimental approaches: How long does it take until you have a fully satisfying result? How many errors, how much waste do you normally have to accept? In the beginning, I must have wasted tons of film and paper, but once I got to understand the "nature-of-the-beast" and began to get reliable results, my actual printing time became negligible. Now most of the time is spent in re-working, distressing, or cropping, sizing and or re-composing at enlargement time. I do have to divorce myself from the thought of the cost of the film though. Especially the 8x10" film sheets. They cost about $7 to $8 a sheet. So a mistake can be costly. But if you allow that to be in the back of your mind, you'll be running scared. This is not conducive to a free sense of artistic expression and it can hamper your style. So I have to forget about the cost of materials, and plunge ahead, hopeful that I'll make it up in the sale. (such luck I can only hope for!) Your works of art present a lot of (very beautiful) young women. Could you imagine to take photos of elder people or workers, or in general of situations and scenes that show us the other (ugly) side of life? Perhaps. I do shoot other things than young, beautiful women, but not often. In fact, most of the women in my work are hardly recognized in real life, as the beauty is in the overall image that is created, and this adds to or enhances the beauty of the subject. Not just a picture of a pretty girl, if you know what I mean? My website page has many examples of my other efforts too. Landscapes, still-lifes, children, animals. However, I seem to do images of women well, or at least better than the rest, so I try to stick to what I do best. There is an old man in my neighborhood who I chat with quite often. He has wonderful blue eyes and a very expressive countenance. I've been considering asking him to sit for me, but I keep putting it off. Perhaps I don't see where the audience is or the market value there, or some such selfish thinking. But I think I would like to do it as an exercise in portraiture and for purely personal pleasure, and for whatever happiness it might bring to him. Some of your photos give me a great sense of eroticism and sensuality. Is there such an atmosphere in your studio too when doing your job together with a model? Sometimes, I'm convinced that the images I produce are based in part from the energy that arises from my passions during a shoot. I used to feel that perhaps I couldn't create these works without that deep inner energy. In fact, when I used to shoot one particular woman, ( we were also involved outside of my work ) ...our very private shoots together, seemed as though they were like a period of foreplay to our love making. But that was only one particular girl and we were also personally involved for a long time. However, with few exceptions, ...and for the most part, it is all serious stuff or at least it's a friendly, collaborative, effort of creativeness between the model and I. No real involvement, save a friendly bond between us, and a few occasional fantasies. I do find that as I'm "framing" the image that I see in my view finder, I am, at least for that moment, "in love with" or impassioned with the image. That image at that moment. And it's like a passion of sorts. I actually do get quite verbal and start to speak with a certain excitement. It becomes very noticeable that I'm then shooting in a frenzy of shutter clicks. An excitement over the beauty I'm experiencing in the frame at that moment. When everything is "just right." When it's "all working." My images of women, are mostly as I imagine how beautiful or exciting a woman should or could be in my mind. I usually harken back to those days in the late forties, when as a little boy, I can remember seeing women in the dress of those times (ivory silk blouses, gaberdine skirts, porcelain skin and soft colored lipstick. A look of trust and innocence with a hint toward passion.) A gentler time in my mind. I hope to recreate what I'm feeling as I conjure up those old memories while I'm shooting. Thoughts of what the most gentle beauty or passionate expression could be in my mind's eye. So I try to bring forth this interpretation of an ideal that, ...as it turns out, seems also to appeal to so many others. Very few of my works show the subject looking directly into the camera. This is by choice. I don't want the subject poking her face directly at the camera. Sort of in the face of the observer. No. Rather, than this direct "in-your-face" approach, I want the viewer to feel as though they just stumbled into a very private moment in the subject's life. I hope the observer will try to imagine and wonder just what she may be feeling or thinking. This allows the observer to "create" their own private interpretation of the scene. This is why I rarely title my images. I don't want to narrow the scope or lead the observer into a different feeling than the one they may come to naturally in their own heart and mind. My most interested audience seems to be men between the ages of late 30's to late 50's. With young romantic men (early 20's) and women of almost any age running an equal but close second.

Many photos, especially "Image Transfer Art", look very much impressionistic and nostalgic, remind me of "the good old days". Is Peter G. Balazsy a nostalgic man? Very much so! As the previous answer demonstrates, my images are of women portrayed with a romantic style of earlier times, yet unmistakably contemporary. The images that I create are mostly the by-products generated from a bit of my memories and my romantic ideals used as coaching tools to encourage my muses. Your experimental works overstep the borders of traditional genres like photo, painting, collage. What's the opinion among colleagues about this kind of work? I get mostly positive feed back from my peers. Most commercial photographer friends remark that they are jealous of the time that I seem to have to do this, as their work consumes them and there's no time left for their creative juices to flow anymore. Some have commented that, as far as the commercial market goes, image-transfer may just be a fad to the advertising world. So I have been cautioned to create work that can stand strong alone. Images that transcend the medium. I recognize this, and I work toward these goals. But I try to allow my creative spirit to always come first. Although I'm not really making any great money here now, I am also not fettered with the constraints that usually come along with selling one's self or talents. It tends to eat up one's creativity; until you finally loose touch with why you got into this business in the first place. So, luckily or un-luckily, as the case may be, so far I have been free to work in my own directions. I hope I can continue in this way, but I would also like to have a chance to express my work in that "more lucrative" world of advertising and editorial. Time will tell. ©: Peter G.Balazsy Interview: Gerd Marstedt - The Fine Site