The well-known photographer Ștefan Tóth István AFIAP, ESFIAP, president of the International Association “Euro Foto Art” (AIEFA) was invited by the Hungarian Department of Film and Media of the “Babeș Bolyai” University of Cluj Napoca (DMCMUBB) to give a lecture to the students within the Film and Media Days, a lecture entitled “Where is the photographic art heading”. The event took place in the Studio Hall of the Faculty of Theatre and Film (Ferdinand Street) and was attended by more than 40 students of the Hungarian Department of Film and Media, who had just returned from their holidays. Among the audience was the guest of honour Dr. Mira Marincaș, lecturer at Sapientia University – Faculty of Sciences and Arts in Cluj Napoca. The students were greeted by the host of the event Lect.univ.dr. Csibi László, head of DMCMUBB, who thanked the photographer from Oradea for accepting the invitation to participate in this event and appreciated the special collaboration with AIEFA, which was materialized with a study visit of the students from Cluj Napoca to the Collection of Photographic Art and Technique “Ștefan Tóth István” (the first Museum of Photography in Romania) within the section of the Museum of the City of Oradea and the opening of the exhibition of the photographer Csibi László from Cluj Napoca, at the Gallery “Euro Foto Art”, Exhibition Centre FIAP Oradea – Romania. The photographer from Oradea said that he wanted to talk to the students about some aspects of the evolution of the photographic art and his career of more than half a century. In the first part of his speech he told the audience about his first contact at the age of 7 with a “Pajtás” bakelite camera made in Hungary, then about his first instinctively reazised image with the “Beirette” camera made in Germany. “I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to create in the three stages of the development of the photographic art” the photographer from Oradea emphasized in his 2-hour speech. He went on to present some principles, which should be the basis for artistic photography. “I regret very much that at this time there are no art critics specialized in photographic art, which is why it has become a worldwide problem to define these visual arts, which appeared only a few decades ago. It is regrettable that even the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), recognised by UNESCO, has not succeeded in bringing the criteria for judging artistic photographs to a common denominator, which is why the quality of the judging can often be questionable. It is also regrettable that the number of prizes awarded by the organisers of these fairs organised under the patronage of FIAP is increasing. I was recently surprised to see that at a forthcoming international competition in Italy over 400 prizes will be awarded! said the guest from Oradea in his speech. In conclusion, the photographer answered the questions asked by the students and offered them the jubilee album entitled “Momente suprinse”, produced with the support of Summit Agro Romania. From 16:00 the photographer from Oradea was the guest of the Cluj Studio of the Romanian Television. During the show “Erdélyi figyelő” (Transylvanian Observatory) the photographer talked about some topical aspects of photographic art.
