About Us

ABOUT PAIA

I am undoubtedly attracted to anything art related. I am highly perceptive of and influenced by the outside world. These characteristics were already present in my childhood.

Not only my having attended music faculty class in elementary school and having possessed affinity towards visual art (mainly drawing), but also my love of nature and animals formed my personality. Music has played a fundamental part in my life up to the present time.

( Periodic choir member and enthusiastic music fan in everyday life)

My susceptibility towards acquiring new languages became obvious during secondary school years. This extra gift inspired me to choose English as a major at University. I attended university (KLTE) in my hometown, Debrecen, and graduated in 1995 as an English teacher with a BA degree.

By that time, I had already fallen in love with several other languages as well: French, German and Russian, the basics of which I have acquired by now. The love of writing poetry and reading books had accompanied me up to university years when it crystallized into a definite and permanent feature of my existence. I consider writing an excellent channel through which my innermost thoughts and feelings may find an outlet.

It might be due to these above-mentioned communicational and artistic qualities that I have always had an inner desire to explore the world, new places and new people, and to absorb extreme amount of new information. It is this desire that may have inspired/inspire my travels.

I lived in the USA, Florida, for seven years (1997-2004). This experience has enabled me to master the English language and has enriched my life through additional adventures. The USA, Florida, was the place where I had the chance to get an insight into the philosophy and to attain the essence of the Montessori methodology by working in a Montessori school with children aged 3-15. It was the same school and philosophy that taught me to realize that children are similar to jewels. Just like diamonds, they also need to be polished in order to fulfill their purpose, to shine with full potential. To accomplish this mission all children need us, grown-ups, to support them wholeheartedly, with love and respect in every aspect of life.

Meeting more and more positive people and being exposed to further positive events made my previous Buddhist beliefs become steadier. My passion for yoga ‘ripened' as well under these ideal conditions. Both Buddhism and yoga have become an essential part of my everyday life.

And finally, Florida was the place where my enthusiasm about photography intensified. The colours and subjects provided by Florida allowed my enthusiasm about taking pictures to become an obsession. Since my first attempts at photography in Florida I have been taking pictures continuously. The devices kept on changing: from my first Minolta Freedom Explorer compact camera, through a Nikon EM manual camera, to my present Fuji Finepix S7000 digital one. Nowadays I use the latter two alternately, though the number of possibilities presented by the digital world is increasing.

At present my interest is engaged by the variety of programs and effects the computer has to offer; by the ability to create new shapes, and colors, by using these effects and manipulating untouched pictures and thus designing totally new visual experiences.

At the beginning I used the following software (ArcSoft Photo Studio 4.0, FinePix Viewer, and Kodak EasyShare, Jasc Paint Shop Pro8); these accompanied my digital cameras. Currently, I prefer using Photoshop 7.0 or CS4 (and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2) while creating my pictures.

The photos in category “Abstract” have been created with the help of the above-mentioned programs.

I believe that to be able to design/produce photos like the ones included in “Abstract” it is not enough to only use the effects the software offers.

First of all, one needs to notice details in the original photo, to choose them according to the need that they are wanted for, and to decide whether or not they can be regarded as a good basis for a new composition. Therefore, I often strive to take pictures of ordinary or insignificant objects, and plants (besides the “pretty” ones)-objects or plants that might be invisible for other people because of their simplicity-by using the skill, which I think, I possess, of noticing the unique and important quality of a part/element. Such uniqueness can be observed in the photos of "Abstract"; here the subjects are irrelevant or unimportant, but the shapes and colours they offer are worth playing with.

It is not only aesthetics that inspire my photos, but also colour, the arrangement of lines and shapes, and the contrast of lights. They are often given emphasis as the main theme in my photos.

One's imagination plays a critical part in deciding about the crucial element and generating a new vision with it. Basically, to select the proper “item/component” is a skill, through which one is allowed to perceive beauty and uniqueness in the tiniest particle or the most trivial (according to most people) creatures/objects in life. I also attempt to apply this skill daily in connection with people. I hope there will be more and more people who want to act similarly, i.e. to look at other people or things of the surrounding world in wonder, by sensing their inner beauty. Everything here on Earth is for a reason. Nobody/nothing can be regarded as redundant, useless or of no value. One can always find new details and small surprises in things/people he/she previously thought to be of no interest any longer.

I believe that my desire to create new compositions out of the ordinary can be explained by my need for change and variety. Both my love for the unfamiliar and my being open-minded are reflected in my photos and my lifestyle.

Let this quote express it all:
“No brushstroke is in vain.” -Isabel Allende