Our Inspirations - Part 2 - Vincent Peters

I think that when looking at Vincent Peters’ photos it is extremely easy to understand what drew me to them – the LIGHT.

Peters himself often says that light is the main protagonist of his photographs. Yes, he shoots beautiful models and famous stars, but he always thinks about the light first and then puts his subjects in it. His photographs are often described as “cinematic”, but he himself calls them “theatrical” rather than cinematic. His lighting, even though it makes people think of the golden era of Hollywood, is based on the techniques used in the stage lighting. Strong constant lights, no flashes. Many lights on set, starting with 3 light setups but going up in numbers easily to 5 or more.

Next ingredient to his style is the storytelling. The photograph must have more context to it and it needs to be a moment within a bigger story. That is yet another reason why movies immediately come to mind when looking at his work. There is a movie indeed that Vincent brings up when talking about his inspirations and that movie is an old Italian film called “Bicycle Thieves”. Of course after learning that I had to order this movie for myself and watch it, while trying to see what had such an impact on him.

He is not interested in showing the reality. He wants to tell stories and he wants to do it from his point of view. Whenever he shoots somebody, Peters is not really interested in showing them, as much as he is interested in portraying them through his eyes. Mold them and their environment to his vision, not the other way around.

He still shoots on an old-school medium format camera. Vast majority of his personal work is done in black and white.

Vincent Peters' work is the one I find myself drawn back to over and over. I look at it almost daily, trying to dissect what kind of lighting he used in a particular photograph and what kind of story it tells. This level of mastery in lighting is the one I always strive for and he is a constant source of motivation to think about the light every time I click the shutter button.