Peter Pickering APSS HonFPSA PSAPP
Peter Pickering, now 64, is a well-known and respected portrait and glamour photographer sharing his time equally between his homes in Western Australia and Northeast Thailand.
His first foray into photography was as the official school photographer for his high school in South Arabia at age 12, and from there, he never looked back.
After opening his first studio, Studio 5, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in 1969, he relocated to Australia in 1972. Citing an undeniable force that compels him to do what he does, he finds that even those rare occasions when he doesn’t have a camera in his hands, he is always composing and capturing moments in his mind's eye: moments that can happen in the blink of an eye, fleeting moments to be captured for posterity.
Influenced by iconic portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh, street photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, master of the composite Jerry Uelsmann and British glamour/fashion photographers, Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Brian Duffy, David Bailey & Peter Barry, Peter's livlihood has been with portraiture and glamour photography.
Peter is a founding member and former president of The Rockingham Photography Club, The Perth Camera Club, The Yashica Camera Club, Vice President of the West Australian Photographic Federation (WAPF) and is an Associate of The Photographic Society of Singapore (APSS), equivalent to APSA. His lifetime experience, achievements and contributions to photography have earned him an HonFPSA.
His position with The Photographic Society of Australia is that of Founder and President.
Peter once employed twelve photographic teams operating throughout WA and Tasmania whilst managing a large studio specialising in glamour and model portfolios. The studio by-line, "We'll make you the star you really are".
His early experience in the mid 60's was with medium format twin lens reflex cameras and large format (5x4), logging thousands of darkroom hours, developing and printing. These days, of course, the medium is digital, and his post-production expertise is with computer editing and image manipulation, an enterprise that he finds both creative and rewarding.
Still actively teaching, he seeks to spark the same kind of passion and commitment in his students that has given him a lifetime of creative inspiration.
With an extensive collection of vintage medium-format cameras Peter is recognised as an expert on Yashica and Mamiya medium format cameras. He spends his spare time chasing a passionate niche: shooting black and white in urban and street settings. After fifty years of photography, one would think he’d learned it all, but for a perfectionist such as he, Peter is always driven to do better, each new day a potential learning experience.
~Astrid Young