THE INTIMATE LENS
The Photography of Vincent Peters
“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
This is according to Vincent Peters the celebrated fashion and portrait photographer who just wrapped his solo show at Fotografiska in Stockholm, Sweden. To know Peters is to understand his desire to have an emotional impact on the viewer. In an interview with Fotografiska he reveals, “It’s really more about the emotions you feel when you look at something, emotions which then stay with you, than what the image itself portrays. The emotions which created the associations. The emotions which took you to a place you wouldn’t have found if it wasn’t for the experience of looking at the image.”
His newest book, Selected Works, parallels his Stockholm show with a selection of black and white images that include Charlize Theron, Christian Bale, Emma Watson and David Beckham. They are famous because they are familiar. “I’m using celebrities and I am using portraits because I think they are taking on a certain persona in ourselves. That they are giving faces to different versions of what we are.” Selected Works showcases 50 images and is an overview of the artist who remains true to his principles.
The most powerful aspect of Peters’ work is light or the absence of it. “The way in which he uses light and shadow plays a central role, with Peters able to choose what is revealed and what is concealed,” says Jessica Jarl of Fotografiska International. She adds, “He captures his subjects with a finesse resulting in intimate, beautiful and sensual portraits, the gestures and poses often borrowed from romantic Hollywood films of the 1950s and 60s.”
There is even more to explore and devour on Peters’ Instagram account, @vincentpeters1. The photographer’s cinematic style captures images of the famous and not so famous enhanced by a shadow of sensuality and sexiness. They all receive his exquisite attention to detail. “There is a fascination with photography, it is the moment when time stops, says Peters, and I think it must be the oldest fairy tales and desires of us to stop the process of time.” The artist does just that as he shares intimate portraits, freezing his subjects in a moment of time that will forever stimulate curiosity.
