Light Painting The Still Life Success Stories - Endre Balogh

  I find it incredibly rewarding to witness the success of my students, whether it's through gallery representation, a featured exhibition, a magazine feature, or just the creation of beautiful images.

This is the fourth in that interview series, and it features the work and words of Endre Balogh.

Please take a look, and for the music fans out there, a listen as well!   (links at the bottom of the interview)

All images © Endre Balogh

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"Japanese Teapots"

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Endre, Can you please tell us a bit about yourself… Where do you live, and any other details that you find pertinent?

I am among a relatively rare number of people born and raised in Los Angeles and I now live on the outskirts of LA in a beautiful area called Chatsworth – best known for being the setting for most of the Western movies and TV shows that came out of Hollywood. All my life, I have been a concert violinist. I joke that I played concerts up until two weeks before I was born! My mom was a violinist member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and was one of the first women in any American orchestra.

My uncle was a violin maker and had a shop in LA. My dad, while not a violinist, played the violin, so when he arrived from Hungary and wanted to buy strings, he needed to find a violin shop where the proprietor spoke Hungarian. That’s where he met my mom. I started playing the violin when I was three and a half and performed nine concerts in public when I was only four. The first time I performed as a soloist with an orchestra, I was six.

Since then, I have been the soloist with major orchestras around the world such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Washington National Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic, to name just a few, as well as having performed solo recitals across the US and Europe. For 35 years I was the violinist of the “Pacific Trio” and we also concertized all around the world. While I still do classical music concerts, now I also do a lot of performing with a wonderful group called “Paris Chansons” consisting of three singers, one of whom plays guitar, a keyboardist, a bass player, a drummer, and me. We specialize in French and Russian popular music, such as Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Enrico Macias, etc. and we do sold-out shows in major venues all around the US. It’s terrific fun for me because, not only is the music beautiful, but I get to improvise about 80 percent of the show, so it is always exciting and a little bit different.

I think of you as a bit of a “renaissance man”, as you are a very accomplished violinist as well as an artist working in the Mandala (Sacred Geometry) genre (Links below). When did you begin making photographs, and what motivates you to make photographic images?

My life has always been devoted to bringing joy into the world through beauty. While music is the “universal language” that communicates to the soul across all cultures, visual art also touches the heart and enhances the life of those who encounter it. I think all “creative” people do what they do because something in them compels it. I fell into serious photography about 25 years ago when I decided to stay closer to home and family, rather than be out on the road all the time.

Digital photography was in its infancy and I started by taking snapshots of my family. Friends started telling me that they were impressed by my photos, so I took an online “Photography 101” course with the wonderful photographer Jim Zuckerman and then a “Photoshop 101” course he also taught. After that, until taking your Light Painting course, I have been entirely self-taught. My photos began winning awards in online competitions and then, at the urging of some professional photographers I met, I joined the Professional Photographer’s Association. Since then, my photos have consistently won awards in their local, State, and international competitions. I have also had two solo exhibitions of different aspects of my work at the Karpeles Museum in Santa Barbara, California.

The Sacred Geometry art is an entirely different artwork stream. I have always had a strong spiritual inclination with a keen interest in mysticism and symbolism. After our precious son, Antal, suddenly passed a few days before his 12th birthday, I started using Photoshop to create digital art from scratch, which led me to make the Sacred Geometry mandalas as a sort of self-therapy. I have no doubt that Antal has been instrumental in helping me to create them from his vantage on the “other side”. To date, I have made 993 of them and people have told me that they are among the finest of the genre. I have designed the covers for a number of published books that use my Sacred Geometries and there is a website called SacredGeometryArt.com that aggregates about 50 of the “best of the best” Sacred Geometry artists from around the world. I am honored to be the current “Featured Artist” on their Home page.

"Sacred Geometry 233"

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What drew you to Light Painting?

I have always had a great love of masterwork paintings. My dad was an amateur painter and we had lots of art books at home, and in my travels, I have been blessed to have been able to visit museums all around the world to absorb all the collected beauty. I particularly resonate with the chiaroscuro lighting that Rembrandt used along with all the other Dutch Master still-life painters. Obviously, I am very much influenced by “classical” art and I believe that strongly impacts how I approach my photography. I have also always been fascinated by light and its interplay with the world. As a child, one of my hobbies was making stained glass windows which, obviously, depend entirely on light and color.

When I first stumbled across your Light Paintings on the internet, I was immediately awed by their drama and the way even the most mundane objects could be made to look extraordinarily beautiful. I knew immediately that I had to learn the process. The first thing I did was purchase all your recommended flashlight gear even though I didn’t have the slightest clue how to use any of it properly. Fortunately, not long after that, you announced your online course, or I would have been driven mad trying to figure it all out on my own and I imagine I must have been among the first to sign up for it.

"Tibetan Religious Objects"

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How has Light Painting changed your creative approach to photography?

In years past, I have often done still-life photographs, but the process of Light Painting has, as I anticipated, opened up an entirely new world of creative possibilities for me. Your techniques facilitate the creation of an artwork that is so much more than a mere “photograph”. Light Painted images have a uniquely exquisite drama, light, color, and sharpness to them and the maker has total control over every detail of the final result. So, your methods combine the best of both the painting and photographic worlds. There really is nothing else like it. Also, as I suspected, I have been able to apply the masking techniques you teach to enhance my regular photographs, particularly in creating backgrounds to some of my single-capture flower photos.

"Two Calla Lilies"

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Can you briefly describe the process that you go through when creating a composition? Do you use sketching or drawing to work up your concepts, or do you gather subjects and “play around”? Or, is there another approach that you use?

For the most part, I just decide what objects I want to photograph and then, as you put it, I “play around” until I arrive at what looks good to me. I’m not looking to convey any particular “meaning” since I think that beauty, by itself, is meaningful enough. Something important that I learned from you, but which I want to emphasize for the reader, is taking a number of “setup” photos to review in Capture One before beginning to do the skimmed light captures. More often than not, when I am looking at those still captures, I notice aspects of the composition that need improving that I hadn’t noticed when just looking at the setup on the stage. It can be very time-consuming getting everything just right, but the ultimate reward is well worth it.

"Tarot"

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I have noticed that you love to shoot botanical images. Can you talk a bit about that?

Yes. Flowers have been an endless source of inspiration for me. In many ways, they tie together my love of Sacred Geometry and photography. To me, flowers exemplify God’s most virtuosic handiwork and, as such, exist to bring joy and beauty into the world. I have been shooting flower “portraits” for years and there is a published coffee table book available on Amazon titled. “Black And White In Bloom”, consisting of a number of my Black and White floral photos. I found it interesting that by removing the distraction of color, flowers show off their amazing geometrical structures more easily.

In 2010 I was honored to provide the cover article about my Black and White flower photos for Shutterbug Magazine’s annual “Expert Photo Techniques Guide”. When everything got locked down, I started doing a lot of macro focus-stacked photography. Besides tiny insects, flowers lend themselves very well to that process and I now have a number of very detailed photos of even fairly large flowers that I shot with focus stacking.

"Dahlias"

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Botanical subjects can certainly be a challenge for a multi-capture workflow since they are constantly moving. I have a "set" of techniques that I teach to deal with this, but, as somone who has been photographing flowers for a long time, how do you deal with this issue?

One of the other reasons I love Light Painting is that it presents lots of creative challenges that require forethought and deliberation. So far, I’ve not had too much difficulty with flowers moving. Roses, sunflowers, and other stiffer flowers are fairly stable so long as I am extremely careful to move slowly whenever I am near them, especially when applying light. Capturing the flowers as quickly as possible so that they don’t have too much time to move between certain captures helps a lot. I’m sort of used to that problem from doing my focus-stack flower photos.

Tiny flowers in particular have an annoying tendency to droop very quickly and I have been frustrated on occasion when doing a focus stack that is ruined by the flower imperceptibly wilting between shots. It’s impossible to line up a focus stack when each shot is slightly off from the previous one and when that happens, the entire shoot is wasted. With Light Painting, it’s not likely to be as much of a problem and if all else fails - meaning the flower captures don’t line up perfectly - there is always a way to problem-solve with Photoshop. As you have taught, the clone stamp tool is great, and in those cases, it just comes down to patience and a commitment to fixing the tiniest details that ultimately solve a misalignment problem.

"Sunflowers"

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Do you ever have periods during which you struggle with inspiration or energy to make images? Judging by the number of images you've created since I've known you, my guess is that your answer is "no". Could I be mistaken?

You are certainly right about that. My biggest frustration is a shortage of time to do everything that I want. I have always resented the time I am forced to waste sleeping in bed at night! Unfortunately, I have a lot more ideas than I have objects lying around at home. For instance, I don’t feel that I have particularly good bases for my sets so I have occasionally resorted to using Photoshop to create a tabletop and front out of a skimmed light photo I did of a dresser drawer.

Now, I’m constantly on the hunt for interesting things that will make good subjects and good bases. Generally, I have aspired to do one Light Painting every week but that is often difficult because of my performing schedule and the fact that I have to wait until after dark to shoot the captures since my “studio” is a room with huge sliding glass doors. I am also very fortunate to have some friends whose house is, quite literally, a museum of rare Asian art. They are delighted to have me come over to photograph whatever I want, so I have a virtually unlimited trove of fascinating subjects available to me over there.

 "Stone Vase and Dry Flowers"

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Can you tell us a bit about your long-term goals for your photography?

So much of what is considered to be “profound” or “sophisticated” contemporary art - music, painting, photography, sculpture, etc. - is dark, chaotic, politicized, and “provocative”. That is, more often than not, a way of hiding the fact that the “art” is simply amateurish. To me, that represents the antithesis of real art. To be true and beautiful, real art must include elements of melody, harmony, counterpoint, order, structure, dynamics, and balance. While these are largely musical terms, they apply to characterize all forms of art. I have always had only one goal with both my music and my photographic art, which is to capture/create/channel as much beauty into the world as possible for as long as I can. To do that requires me to always be open to learning new skills and refining old ones.

Like music, photography and particularly Light Painting present endless opportunities to refine and expand upon one’s skills. Even now, I learn new things all the time to improve my violin playing and the same is true for Light Painting. And, it’s exciting to realize that I have only just begun my Light Painting exploration. Of course, it is always gratifying when one of my photos is sold, published, wins a contest, or is part of a show, but that is just icing on the cake for me.

"Passover Table"

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If you were forced to choose one of your images to represent your work and photography, what image would that be?

That’s exceedingly difficult - sort of like asking which of your children you like the best. If forced to choose from among my Light Paintings, I think the one of my violin lying on one of the books it is pictured in would best exemplify what I do, since that encompasses both my music and art in one photo.

"Stradivarius"

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What advice would you give to a beginning photographer/artist?

That’s a very big question. There are so many varied genres of photography. If you visit my website, you will see that I am very eclectic in what I choose to photograph. I have been successful with architectural, landscape, portrait, wedding, wildlife, macro, digital art, fine art, and now, Light Painting photography. Each of those areas requires specific skills, but working on mastering those skills helps one to become a well-rounded artist. For instance, I learned so much about using Photoshop by creating my Sacred Geometries out of “whole cloth”, which I have applied to processing all my other photography. After becoming a well-rounded photographer, if one gravitates to specialize in one type of photography over another and that preference emerges organically from their own personality, then pursuing mastery in that genre is certainly something to be encouraged, as well.

For anyone interested in fine art photography, I can think of nothing better than your course on Light Painting. You teach in such a clear and comprehensive way that if one simply follows all your instructions to the letter, the results will consistently be amazing. Sometimes, as you well know, I have gotten into trouble by thinking that I can do something my own way, but usually that doesn’t work out too well. It’s much better to stick to your detailed instructions. Beyond that, you are such a kind and generous mentor. It’s obvious that you are passionate about sharing your extensive knowledge and care deeply about helping all your students get the very best out of each image. I am always extremely grateful for your comments and suggestions on improving my Light Paintings. Thank you for your guidance and friendship, which I look forward to deepening in the coming years.

"Tibetan Teapot"

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A link to Endre's photography website:
http://www.EndresArt.com

 For the music fans out there:

A link to a short documentary that was made about Endre and his musical career:
https://vimeo.com/105725646