A year passed again, and this happened unbelievable fast. When I am reorganizing the remnants of things to-dos from the past year and resetting old unfinished projects and setting up my new goals for the New Year, I had to conclude if 2016 will be just similar to 2015 we could be very happy. First of all, I am almost 63 years old and I was never in the hospital as a patient in my life and I feel strong and healthy. My lovely wife Lexi and our two grown-up kids Daniel and Gergo are healthy too, so I cannot have a better wish about it.
As you all know, we have a very busy dual life. During the workdays, Lexi is a fantastic Mohs surgery histotech who makes the best diagnostic slides during surgery. I am a Baylor College of Medicine faculty and Scientific Director of Research and Tissue Support Services Core, work closely with the Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center’s research scientists and teach my Medical students in 5 terms during the year. However, on the weekends and after work, both of us are photographic artists and we fulfill both professions at the highest level.
I have renewed my Naturalperl Fine Art Photography small business for 10 more years and I try my best to make it profitable. Now, I am a known photography instructor, I thought 18 workshops at the Houston Center for Photography, led 5 discussion/critique meetings at the Houston Photography Study Group and I was an invited speaker at Houston Audubon Nature Photography Association and at The Woodlands Camera Club in 2015. Additional to these, as a volunteer emeritus, donated 9 Photo-walks to Brazos Bend State Park last year on the first Saturdays of the month. We actively participated with our photographic arts, in the contests and exhibitions of different photographic organizations like Houston Photographic Society (HPS), New England Large Format Photography Collective (NELFPC), Pixel Silver Group, and Visual Arts Alliance (VAA). Last year we submitted our works for jurying to 23 Gallery exhibition contests and we were accepted for 14 Group exhibitions, which is a very good success. Sally Sprout, Art Director of the West Tower Gallery in Uptown Houston, curated our “Two in the Bush” two-person show for Lexi and me, which generated a lot of good feedback. My large format black and white photography applications for the Bayou City Art Festival and for the Houston Fine Art Festival were granted and I made very nice exhibition booths at both places. Unfortunately, the bad weather caused some trouble during the Houston Fine Art Festival, but all of the bad memories are gone. My large format film-based black and white photographs received two Honorable Mention awards: “Cades Cove magic” at the NVAL 2015 International Juried Photography Show and “Floating Door to the Darkness” at the 10th Black and White Spider Awards world contest.
At Spring, we photographed in the Big Bend NP for my “Big Bend Revisited” and Southern Louisiana swamps for my “Cypress Swamp” portfolios and during the summer, we took our 5th photography trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to photograph more for my “Hair of the Cherokee Woman” portfolio. During that trip, we got a lot of challenges from the daily heavy rain, flash flood, and muddy road conditions, but we collected great memories and got a few nice images. During our recent winter photography trip to Santa Fe, Bosque del Apache, and White Sand, between Christmas and New Year, the real challenge caused by “Winter Storm Goliath”… we had to escape from the cold, ice, and snow-covered roads, return home earlier but safely. However, celebrating Christmas at Gergo and his wife’s house in Austin and spending a whole day with our older son Daniel in different art galleries, cafes in Santa Fe on the 2nd day of Christmas, made nice memories and shined a light to the darkness. All roads were closed East from Albuquerque, 7 inches of snow covered Bosque del Apache, 3 feet of snow in Roswell, and 4 inches of ice-covered I-10 between I-20 junction and Balmorhea… but who remembers for that? But, we all remember the quality time, when we looked and discussed together the original photographs taken out from the flat files at Andrew Smith Gallery.
Well, many things remained on my 2015 things-to-do list, but I already re-evaluated and transferred a few to the 2016 things-to-do list. I really hope we will be able to make most of them because we really would like to do those. Would you like to know more about it? Unfortunately, you need to wait for my 2016 remembrance.
Wishing you a happy, successful New Year! Laszlo and Lexi
Comments from e-mails and Facebook:
- Thanks for the update. Happy New Year to the both of you. Lou (Louis and Emilce Vest)
- Happy New Year Lazlo and Lexi! I felt your disappointment not being able to go to Bosque. I was there many years ago when it started to snow. Thankfully it melted by noon, as I thought I would get snowed into the park! (Diane Swinford)
- Thought of you today as I read. “I closed my eyes so I could see” Paul Gauguin (Diane Swinford)
- Hi Dad, thanks for sharing that beautiful memories of the year and I’m really happy for you and mom. You have a great gift for remembering the good things and the adventures and I’m happy to share some of it with you. 2015 for me was one of the best year’s ever and I’m even more excited about this year, which has already started perfectly. Lots of love, Daniel (Daniel Perlaky)
- Thanks for all your news, Laszlo! You and Lexi have very demanding and fulfilling careers and still manage to produce beautiful art. I look forward to seeing more of your work in 2016. Wishing you all the best in the New Year! Cheers, Charlotte (North Valley Art League)
- Thanks for sharing Laszlo. I am almost inspired to return to my diary and poetry writing. Regards, Sherylee (Sherylee Thompson)
- Thanks, Dr. Perlaky, It was an excellent narrative. I look forward to hear more from you. Happy new year to you and your family too! Binoy (Binoy Shivanna)
- Wow, Laci, So nicely written! Thank you so much for sharing such good memories. Xiao-Nan
- Dear Laszlo, Thank you for sharing this amazing document to me! I am thrilled to know you are such a genius in the medical field! I knew you were involved in medicine but I wasn’t aware in what capacity you work in the field. It is wonderful to see your beautiful photographs and know you have such a successful career in medicine. Way to go!! Wishing you more success and creativity in 2016 (and beyond!) Juliana (Juliana Forero Director of Education, Houston Center for Photography).