Peter Peryer: Portrait of a Photographer

Sometimes I'm able to pre-visualise a photograph exactly. I know exactly in my mind how I want it, and it's a matter of me then setting it up.

– Peter Peryer on his artistic process, in part one

I don't actually take a lot of photographs. It's quite rare for me to photograph in some respects. Some of my best friends have never seen me with a camera. Sometimes I'm only photographing maybe half a dozen photographs a year . . . I'm not the sort of photographer that goes around taking a lot of shots.

– Peter Peryer on his highly intentional photographic practice, in part one

I'm asked often, what are my pictures about? I just don't think the question computes. It's like asking what your breakfast is about, asking what a sunset is about. In many ways, I think it's a left-brain question, whereas art is largely a right-brain activity.

– Peter Peryer explains how he views photography, in part one

I ran into the difficulty of being forced to choose between science and the arts. In those days, teachers believed almost that there were two separate kinds of human beings. You couldn't be interested in both those subjects equally. It's really not surprising that I've become a photographer, because in many ways, photography has a science father and an art mother. It's a combination of the two.

– Peter Peryer on blending science and art with photography in part three

This is the scariest part of being a photographer. I've just got my contact sheets back. I haven't yet looked at them, that's why it's face down like an exam paper. I can really feel the adrenaline now, that's why I'm sitting down, because sometimes, when I look at it, I realise that a lot of work has really ended up for nothing.

– Peter Peryer on revealing his developed film photographs in part three

I'm never really sure what motivates me, however, it was very understandable that I should turn to Erika because she was available, I thought she was beautiful, we had a good relationship, and most important of all… she loves being photographed.

– Peter Peryer on photographing his wife Erika in part two