Photographer Research Project

Andrew James Peters

Born in 1987 in Sydney, Australia


2. Andrew James Peters is a professional sports photographer, who shoots some of the most beautiful skateboarding photographs.

3. Peters's photos are special because of his use of unique angles, like using trees to get an anterior view and unique perspective.  His signature style is using anterior and posterior angles, which is somewhat uncommon for skateboarding photography. He is also an amazing and revolutionary portfolio photographer, taking portrait photos of friends, as well as being a photographer of cities and city life.  His photos of  downtown Sydney, Australia were featured in the Sydney Observer Magazine, the cities #1 magazine.

4. Peters shoots photos for some of the most prestigious skateboarding companies, as well as Nike SB and National Geographic| Vans, DC Shoes, Nike SB, Converse, Thunder, Spitfire, Anti Hero, Real, Krooked, Alien Workshop, Habitat, Baker, Zero, Royal, Ksubi, Insight, Volcom, Passport, Hurley, Analog, Gravis, Red Bull, Oakley, Monster Children, Thrasher, TWS, Slam, The Skateboarders Journal, Skateboarder, Manual, Oyster, Desillusion, National Geographic

5. One of the main issues in Skateboard photography, is that photographers keep their equipment secret, in order to limit copy cats.  They do this because the camera itself is associated with that photographers style, and name dropping their camera could potentially hurt their originality.  However, I do know Peters uses a very high definition camera, which makes action photos look still, while other times, his camera creates a blur, where parts of the skaters body is in focus, while the board and background are blurry, creating a very dream like and unusual photo.

6. Peters uses natural lighting only for his photos. He usually takes photos in either the morning, where the sun brings a very fresh and bright aspect to the photo, or he takes photos at sunset, or when slight darkness creates a sillhoute of the subject, and brings a mystic feel to the photographs.  Peters also uses black and white a lot, where natural lighting makes bright white all around the subject, which is rarely used in portrait work.

7.  Peter's main influence for his skateboarding and urban photography is Mike O'Meally. O'Meally is one of the original Sydney Skateboarding photographers, who took mainly black and white photos of the 1990's Supreme skateboard team.  Peter's is now good friends with O'Meally and his influence on peter is evident in both the photos and the subjects in his photos.  Peter's now mainly shoots photos in Sydney, New york, and La, like O'meally, and he mainly shoots photos of the 21st century Supreme skate team.  Peters regards O'Meally as the original city skate photographer, and has even stated how if it weren't for O'Meally, Peters would most likely not be taking the style of photos that he takes today.

8.  One story Peters has is shooting a photo of skater Aidan Mackey trying to drop in on off a 10 foot wall into a 20 foot dirt hill.  Peters said it was the funniest session he's been on, because Aidan is a very dirty person, and seeing this red headed young boy being splattered on this giant dirt hill made Peters laugh so hard he couldn't stop to take the photo.

I really like the photos Andrew James Peters takes because it always seems unplanned and spastic, yet every photo he takes is beatiful in his own way.  His style of photography is unique and is evident in any photo he takes, whether it be a skate photo, city photo, or portrait.  I was introduced to him by seeing his work in magazines and was instantly a fan, because no one else has such a profound style in their work, and he takes photos for a small group of skaters that I love and seeing a unique style on photos of skaters I really like formed me into being one of Peters' biggest fans

The reason I chose Andrew James Peters for this project is solely because of the people he shoots photos for, and his way of going out and finding unique angles to give the photo more depth and business.  The main reason however that I chose Peters is because of his contribution to a sect of skaters in New York and La, who are mostly underground and see little coverage.  Once Peters left Sydney for the states, he immediately joined up with this group, and shot so much amazing photos of them that they got in magazines and videos and Peters really propelled these skaters into a full professional career, solely off this style of unique skateboarding photography.  For that, I have huge respect for his craft and him as a person.  Below this paragraph I will show some examples of Peters' portrait photos, landscape photos, and my favorite skate photos he took of my favorite group of skateboarders.