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PRAYERFUL PORTRAITS
from page 69
motion picture fame.
Not every synagogue Regos photo-
graphs is still being used as a Jewish
house of worship. "I've photographed
a few which have become a charter
school, a church, or, in Houston, a
performing arts center," he said.
One that is still fulfilling its original
purpose is Congregation Rodef
Shalom of Pittsburgh, said Regos. It
was built in 1906 by the architectural
firm of Palmer & Hornbostel, whose
other noteworthy structures include
New York's 59th Street Bridge.
Like the Wilshire Boulevard Temple,
Rodef Shalom is also listed on the
Registry of National Historic Buildings.
.
BY KITTY DUBIN
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The Artist's Life
Hungarian-born Regos is completely
self-taught as a photographer.
"I wanted to be a photographer," he
said, "but I was an only child and my
parents said they would disown me if I
did not go to university. My father
wanted me to get a master's degree. He
said it was easy to pack and carry if you
had to leave the country in a hurry"
After spending his mandatory year
between high school and university in
the Hungarian military, Regos gradu-
ated from the Technical University of
Budapest six years later with a master's
degree in chemistry.
At the age of 26, he was hired by the
large Forte Photochemical Co. Ltd. as
plant manager of their Eastern
European color-processing lab in
Budapest, a job he kept until his defec-
tion to the United States in 1979.
He said he did not leave Eastern
Europe for political reasons, but
because he felt his career was stagnat-
ing in Hungary.
Today, Regos lives in Farmington
Hills with his wife, Alice, and their 5-
year-old daughter, Andrea. His techni-
cal background has made it possible
for him to operate Spectrum Photo
Lab, which he opened in Berkley 15
years ago. The photo lab supports his
own photographic work, 95 percent of
which is architectural.
For his book on historic synagogues,
he has photographed five Detroit-area
synagogues so far. The faMily attends
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills,
and Regos is particularly looking for-
ward to photographing the synagogue's
two former sanctuaries, both located
on Woodward Avenue in Detroit.
Back To His Roots
Regos' camera also has been focused
upon historic synagogues in his
5/31
2002
70
native Hungary. On a visit to
Hungary in 2000, he realized that
Budapest's city architecture is "a pho-
tographer's paradise."
"I was struck by how gorgeous the
said. "I went back that
city is,"
time as a Jewish architectural photog-
rapher. And that combination predes-
tined me to do something."
That "something" was to photo-
graph the beautifully restored world-
renowned Dohany Street Synagogue,
pictured on this week's Jewish News
cover. The second-largest Reform syn-
agogue in the world, it was the syna-
gogue Regos and his parents had
attended before his defection. (New
York's Central Synagogue, the struc-
ture Regos plans to photograph next
month, was built as a replica of the
Dohany.)
Built in 1859, the Dohany Street
Synagogue, is named after the street on
which it stands — dohany is the
Hungarian word for tobacco. The
building's magnificent mosaic and glass
ceiling and stained glass windows have
been lovingly photographed by Regos.
He has also photographed the his-
toric synagogue in Szeged, the second
largest synagogue in Hungary. It was
built in 1903 by Baumhorn Lipot,
architect of more than 20 other syna-
gogues in what was then the Austro-
Hungarian Empire.
During that visit, Regos also. trained his
camera upon the magnificent Budapest
Opera House. At first denied permission
to photograph the ornate structure, he
asked to see the director. 'As soon as he
asked me my name, he remembered that
we both used to sing together there in the
children's choir, and he gave me permis-
sion to shoot," said Regos.
Those photographs reflect yet
another interest of Regos'— photo-
graphing historic theaters. Locally, he
has done the Fox, Fisher and Music
Hall theaters as well as Orchestra Hall
and the MOT Detroit Opera House.
And his interest in Detroit architec-
ture is not restricted to performing
arts showcases. He has also pho-
tographed some of Detroit's art deco
architectural classics, such as the Fisher
and Guardian buildings, as well as the
older Penobscot, Ford and Dime
buildings in downtown Detroit.
Will those also one day become fod-
der for a book? Perhaps, but Regos
said he also aspires to exhibit his pho-
tographs in the Janice Charach Epstein
Gallery at the West Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center.
Until that happens, see Regos' Web
site, vvvvw.laszlofoto.com , for more
samples of his work. 111
.