Cleveland Hungarians

One of my coworkers today mentioned something about her Hungarian heritage so I thought now is a good time to post one of my Hungarian photos. Several years ago I did a photo essay on the Hungarian population in Cleveland which at that time was the 3rd largest in the world, following Budapest and Toronto.

I think my first stop was St. Emeric's church (on the near west side near the West Side Market) where children attended Hungarian school in the evenings, getting grounded in their language, history and culture. I am grateful to the many people who graciously welcomed me into their lives, homes and festivities. I even attended a church service at St. Emeric's all spoken in Hungarian.


This is one of my favorite photos from the project taken at their annual festival. With the stage elevated to about shoulder height I could easily achieve a floor level perspective. Then through all the flurry of dance steps I caught a glimpse of the little girls sitting on the back side of the stage awaiting their turn to dance. I waited for the right moment then clicked and I knew I had it.

This photograph is one of four I had published in a coffee table book entitled Cleveland: Continuing the Renaissance.