The Artist in Her Own Words The Photographic Art of Krisztina Fazekas Written and photographed by Krisztina Fazekas

In the period of my life, long before I started to take photographs, I would capture moments of time and images in my mind. A form of mental photography was part of my life, long before I found the medium, that was able to record what was envisioned in my head.

At the beginning, the most important thing for me was to realize the moment in real life. A few years ago, individual pictures of images I hoped to witness began to appear in my mind. These pictures were manifestations of my feelings and would be hard to find in real life. So I started to create them.

My photographs tell a story about everyday feelings in a human life, about womanhood, motherhood, inner change, connection with life or with somebody we love and also about disillusionment. These things are a natural part of our life. We could find them two thousand years ago just as we could today. These feelings are forever entwined in the life of humanity. It is very important for me to capture these eternal moments in life. I don't have the desire to tell stories about trendy themes, and convert real humanity to temporary success.

I was raised in Hungary, got my MA in media and communication and decided to come to New York because I believe it is a unique city with endless possibilities. But of course at the same time it is a very difficult city. It is hard to find the way to show the work or find the right job. It seems the best way is by making contacts, and that is easy in New York. Not every contact leads to an exhibition or work. I met photographers, who gave me advice, which helped a lot. New York is a very open city. A lot of talent is here, they respect each other. My experience has been that they try to help each other. I made lot of friendships and sooner or later, all of them helped me in a different kind of way.
I showed my work to several people, most of them were very interested. I got my first job here in New York as a photo assistant. Small agencies and web pages were very interested in my work. Of course, it means I couldn’t get too much money or I worked for free to get my work shown. It did help me to do my photography, gave me the opportunity for exposure.

The starving artist is a harsh reality. But New York is that kind of city where you always can find a gig or a job (of course not a dream job), to pay your bills. My experience is that I have to face insecurity every single day, but photography makes me happy and I am willing to give up a lot of things for that, just to have time to take pictures. Maybe I could find the best job on earth, earn a lot, but I couldn’t have time to deal with my art so I wouldn’t be happy.

So far I have had four exhibitions in the United States, the closest to New York City was in Jersey City. I bought the Art Calendar magazine every month and I kept sending out portfolios, and most of the time I got “no, thank you” letters, but I got three “yes, thank you” letters, so my photos were on exhibit. I also found ways to show my work thru craigslist. I made my most helpful contacts on www.newyorkcool.com. This year I want to concentrate on New York galleries. I am not sure how successful it will be but I will let you know next year.

So I hope these few things that I share can help others, but I really believe everybody has to find their own way to success. What worked for me, will not necessarily work for others. How the community can help? The cheapest work is not the best, respect quality, and be willing to pay for it, and create more venues to show work, and let the public judge.

Every photograph in the art section on my website is for sale. The sizes of the gallery quality prints are 16”*20” and 20”*24”.
Contact Krisztina Fazekas at:
Webpage: www.interestingeyes.com
Email: mail@interestingeyes.com