An Element of Mystery - A Less Than Perfect Image in Pecs (Rendezvous With An Obscure Destiny #54)

The perfect picture. I have never taken one and probably never will. My problem is with the idea of perfection. I can think of nothing worse. It is an end from which you can never return. Perfection is forever and that is problematic. After it has been achieved there is nowhere else to go but down. How do you motivate yourself when the ultimate goal has been reached? The easy answer would be to replicate perfection once again. That might or might not be possible, but it hardly sounds inspirational. Perfection could be the road to immortality, but it could also be the road to misery. Maybe that is why every perfectionist I have ever known seemed like they were determined to drive themselves crazy. Rarely, if ever, can they live up to their own expectations.

Happily, for non-perfectionists such as myself, there is beauty in flaws and failures. Mistakes are more than learning opportunities. They can also yield astonishing results. I would have never dreamed that in a single failure I would find immense gratification. Yet this is exactly what happened with one flawed photo I took in Pecs, Hungary during my first few hours in the city. Twelve years later, that image is still with me. It is more than a snapshot of a moment in time, it is an act of transcendence, allowing me to access that moment anytime I look at it. A transitory image that paradoxically will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Passionate Excesses - The One-Night Stand

I came to Pecs for a one-night stand that would come to involve historical, rather than carnal passions. While finding the way to my accommodation, I walked straight into the city’s epicenter at Szechenyi Square. Suddenly, I was overcome by sensory overload. The architecture was stunning, and the square buzzed with life. I saw families and friends socializing in cafes that spilled onto the square. Cones of colorful gelato were on offer for the equivalent of a dollar. This was my initial introduction to Hungary. I was entranced by the scene before me. It exceeded my wildest expectations. Then again, I had very few expectations of Pecs other than those that a Lonely Planet guide had given me. The Pecs section was full of commendations, but I found this less than impressive. I had read this all before about other cities. The reality rarely lived up to the writing. Pecs was different.

I had not planned on visiting Pecs or Hungary on this trip, but a chance meeting with a fellow traveler in Bulgaria upended my itinerary. The upshot was side journeys to Romania and Hungary with my prime destination of Sarajevo sandwiched in between. Pecs was supposed to only be a short stopover. I discovered that it deserved several days, maybe more. I would have to make the best of my limited time in the city. This meant a stroll with camera in hand through the center. This eventually brought me to its 15th century walls, part of which were still standing. The most famous part of the walls is the Barbican, a bastion in excellent condition. While walking along the outside of the walls I noticed that a photo of the Barbican could be taken with the four towers of Pecs Cathedral silhouetted in the distance. I stopped and took the photo, hoping it might capture the essence of that scene.

Lasting Images - The Persistence of History

I did not realize at the time that my digital camera lens was smudged, causing a blur effect on one part of the photo. Unlike the now ubiquitous camera phones where it is easy to review and delete less than compelling images, to do so with my digital camera was difficult. It involved staring at a small screen that was hard to see in the sunlight. Instead of checking my photos to make sure they were without flaws, I continued snapping more of them. Only later, while looking through the photo did I notice the blurring effect. I blamed myself for not looking at the photos immediately after taking them. This was my one and only opportunity to photograph the city on this journey. My first visit to Pecs was fleeting. I had no idea when I might return for another visit. I would have to make do with the photos I had taken. This would turn out to be a serendipitous stroke of luck.

I have taken thousands of photos while traveling in Eastern Europe and the one that I cherish the most is of the Barbican and Cathedral in Pecs. This photo captures the essence of a singular moment when the sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon as early evening arrived. I was exhausted and excited. My train journey and the trek around Pecs’ city center left me weary., but I forced myself to keep walking. I wanted to see the entirety of Pecs’ city walls. This would bring the history I would later read about the city to life. Armies had fallen before these walls. At other times they had been breached by the enemy. While they were built to keep the city secure, they were also an expression of Pecs’ insecurity. The Ottoman Empire was surging northward into the heart of Europe when they were built. The Kingdom of Hungary’s existence was threatened. Christendom could fall along with it. The Cathedral was the greatest Christian symbol in Pecs, both then and now. I could see its four towers rising in the distance. The Barbican and Cathedral, mighty symbols of the persistence of temporal and spiritual power in Pecs could be photographed together. And so that is what I did.

Eternal Impression - The Unfinished Photo

The image did not come off as planned. The Barbican is covered in shadow, only a rounded sliver illuminated by the waning sunlight. Above it flies the tricolor of Hungary, stiffened by the wind. In the distance, the Cathedral’s four towers in a strange symmetry loom. Between the Barbican and Cathedral there is a mysterious blur that partly disguises a tree and a smaller square tower. The blur is a flaw that makes the rest of the image seem much sharper, bringing the Barbican and Cathedral into greater focus. They look grand and formidable in the evening light. And yet the most eternal impression is that blur, an element of mystery, that baffles and seduces, a strange, serendipitous phenomenon, impossible to reproduce except in the exact moment in which the image was made. This was not perfection. It was something better.