www.peterarthur.com
“Nothing inspires me more than the natural world and I aspire to record the awe of what Nature offers us. I love working in classic black and white. Taking the impact of color away from an image breaks it down to the true tonal range and invokes in me a sense of depth and clarity. I find it intriguing to study a subject to find whether I can remove the color’s emotional impact to achieve that elusive sense of wonder and depth, yet still inspire a profound connection to the viewer by making my prints come alive as much as possible. Often, I trek to a location many times to find that inspiring balance of light and tonal range that is paramount to photography. I was greatly influenced by Helmut Newton and Herb Ritts throughout my commercial career. Even though their work was primarily portrait or still life, the depth and contrast of their black and white images incline me to push the visual envelope further in terms of classic landscape photography. I definitely admire such greats as Ansel Adams, but I strive to create a different feel to classic landscape photography. I create art inside the camera on one frame. What you see is real, not an illusion and I don’t manipulate my photos on a computer.”
For 25 years, Peter worked throughout the US and Europe as a commercial still photographer with numerous clients and was published throughout the world. He followed with an exploration of cinematography, and became a respected director of photography. Over the past six years, Peter has returned to his roots and his love of the natural world, concentrating on fine art BW work by often trekking far or hiking to altitudes of 10,000 feet or more. He has a great love of trees that often figures prominently in his images. Some of his influences include Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, and Weston.
Peter proudly calls central Vermont his home where he lives with his wife, Jacqueline, on 36 forested acres and is always accompanied by his favorite assistant, his dog Snowball. He is an avid naturalist and environmentalist, and also teaches classic photographic technique on a selective basis.
Predominately working in medium format film, his large format prints are custom archival prints signed and numbered in limited edition runs. Black and white prints are silver printed directly in the darkroom and occasionally printed digitally in archival methods. All prints are signed and numbered.
“Peter’s work has a wonderful way of reminding people who have the pleasure of repeated exposure to it that there is a huge, varied, complex world beyond the four walls of our daily existence. I loved coming to work every day and imagining what exactly was happening at that very moment at those places where he took those photos. We get so accustomed to our softer, more mature Vermont landscape. Peter’s stark, sere images, whether of the high desert, the high Sierra, or of a thousand-year-old lodge pine (or was it a Joshua Tree?), effortlessly take one on a journey through space and time. It’s not just the subject matter that calls to mind Ansel Adams’s work. It’s the timeless, limitless clarity of the images themselves that create that sense of awe and humility about the planet we live on. I’m not a reviewer, but it’s what I feel… “
Alexander L. Aldrich, Executive Director, Vermont Arts Council
