PETER LATHAM

"For me, photography is an all-consuming passionate expression of what I see. For as long as I can remember, I have invested fortunes into camera equipment & I long dreamt of being a landscape photographer. Back in the late 80’s I worked in a camera store in Auckland & read every photo magazine cover to cover, extracting as much inspiration as I could, then snapped away with my Canon T70 (which was quite flash at the time!) Mobile phones were portable bricks & who had heard of Apple, wasn’t that a fruit?

My first tour of the south island was in February 1988. My sister had returned home on holiday & we did a 2 week “tiki tour” down south. I was constantly wanting to stop & take photos, Anne (sis) was forever yelling “Peter, hurry up”! Envying scores of cyclists touring the island, I decided that that was the way to do it & so 12 months later I did. I spent 6 months washing dishes at weekends to fund new camera equipment, this time a brand new Bronica ETRS 645 (read my article in "NZ Adventure", Jan 1990.)

I went on to spend many years travelling the world as a photographer aboard cruise ships, returning home to Auckland in 2003, when I began experimenting with a large format printer & printing onto canvas. After much trial & error, I focused my attention towards iconic images of NZ & began to establish relationships with prominent art galleries. 10 years ago, many people were reluctant to appreciate photography as "art", so I experimented with different digital techniques to try & overcome this. Times have changed & we are now catching up with the rest of the world, where fine art photography is coveted & collectors regularly invest six-figure sums for prized works.

From the outset, I developed my signature box frames for mounting my stretched canvases & these proved enormously popular with my range of triptychs. Ever wishing to innovate, I created an acrylic "ice cube" to house my work "Ice Arch" & then diversified to offer my prints on 100% cotton rag, fine art paper. I recently developed my oval frames for both paper & canvas prints & am now pioneering high-resolution "Art On Glass" - a very difficult medium to master, but the results are astounding & the potential is very exciting. Trust me, photography is a very demanding profession. The illusion is that I spend a lot of my time in the field, but in reality, 95% of my time is spent keeping up with print production, gallery & client visits plus general administration. I'm forever pushing myself to deliver the best possible results & service I can. I love the challenge, but the time & investment is massive - to earn a living as an artist in NZ is far from easy!

Today, many of Air New Zealand’s business class Koru lounges feature my work & I ship my work to clients around the world, with collectors including the family of the famous Swedish camera manufacturer, Hasselblad. Corporate clients include household names such as TVNZ, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Ministry of Primary Industries, Auckland Airport, Frucor, Glaxo Smith Kline, Southern Cross, Starship & Ascot Hospitals, Rydges Hotel, NZ Steel, Icebreaker, Metlife Care, Vector Arena & many more."

"There is no doubt that we kiwis live in the finest little country in the world. NZ may look small on a map but we punch way above our weight in everything we do & our landscape packs more variety & grandeur into every corner than anywhere else. Not that it makes my job easy, one is never far from the ocean & that means one thing - every changing weather & plenty of the wet variety!

Those moments when you happen to be in the right place at the right time are really rare, timing is critical & the light may only last for seconds. Whether it's wading through muddy mangroves or dangling from a tree for a better view, a degree of madness helps a lot! I strive hard to be original & capture iconic images that portray a unique moment in time."

Fine art prints start at $375.00 and come rolled in a tube

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