Peter Durant Architectual Photography
14:04 - 'Digital photography indulges the photographic mind.'
14:06 - He shows us a slide of his vast array of analogue equipment. Large format plate camera; 4 interchangable plates; 2 light meters; a colour meter; about 30 filters...
14:06 - The next slide he shows us is his equipment today. A small camera bag; a Canon slr; 4 lenses and a couple of filters. He mentions that he was a very late adopter of digital but he adores how it has made his work easier.
14:07- Left Derby university in 1988 after graduating from a heavily theory based 3 year degree. Commisioned by a magaIne for covers almost immediately after university.
14:12 - He is very quaint, humble and polite. He sounds as if he is at one with the environments he photographs, he has a profound understanding of how the building works in the frame of the camera.
14:14 - 'Classic architechtual photography, the kind if images that everyone has got and anyone can get - you almost need them in the portfolio because people expect them to be there' showing images of sky scrapers and more obvious, but none the less stunning, photographs.
14:15 - 'I have the best job. I can indulge myself in photography and people want to buy them from me.' he says. He pauses a moment, looks down and smiles. It is obvious that he is humbled to still be doing a job he loves and people still feel his work is of great value.
14:15 - Talking about what makes a photograph work he says the single most important factor is the fram - 'The frame is so important'
14:17 - When asked about how he might feel if people find his images boring or not consider them to be 'real photography' he looks distressed by the question. He almost cannot comprehend the question, and rightly so, it was poorly worded and ignorant. 'With regard about it not being glamourous - I'm not sure if I can answer your question because I'm not involved in that line of work.'
14:20 - 'Visually you have to be in the here and now'. I'm sensing a very budhism approach to his thinking. His work is all about balance, about mindfulness and being aware of everything in the moment. He bares some resemblence to Steve Jobs, and his presetation approach is very much like the Apple Keynotes. Very professional and easy to digest.
14:21- 'Your out there to discover, interpret and represent'
14:24 - More images now. Lots of use of clear, bright white space. Very symetrical. Extremely crisp images. Somebody asks Peter how he always gets the lighting so bright and perfect - 'there's an app called helius [iPhone app store] which is a fantasic app. It gives you the hight of the sun at any place at any time of the year.'
14:26 - 'Nobody would photograph in the studio without lighting, I don't photograph without sunlight'. Talking briefly about his photographic day he says that typically 'a day would produce about 15-20 images'
14:28 - 'I'm really proud at that shot, it's about being in the space and looking and looking' talking about his shot that looks like a piece if art
14:34 - 'I knew I didn't want to be in the studio, it made no sense to me to be in a black space, photography is about light!'
14:38 - 'We are all people, we need to talk, talk, talk! Learning by doing and not by thinking'. However he mentions that there is a time and place for talk. He expects his assistants not to engage in much conversation with him whilst on a shoot so that he can remain in a 'visual state of mind'.
14:47 - 'You go out and your a predator for details. It's those details that get you your portfolio and cover shots. Details details details... You go and you work the space and you work it and work it'
14:47 - 'I've been pre conditioned to pre visualize every shot. I look and frame every single shot and think about it. Digital for me, I'm in heaven!'
14:51 - 'I have a very loose attitude about how magazines use my images.' he states. (It would be hard for me to imagine him with a wound up attitude, he appears very calm and at one with things) 'I have no real control over the abilities of the other designer.'
15:03 - On advice for taking better or more meaningful images he suggests to 'take a small black rectangle around with you and frame images. It's a process and learning curve in itself'. It is this framing that makes you really consider every moment as an image maker.
15:05 - 'The image making is, well it's just pure pleasure!' he exclaims with a glowing grin.
15:26 - It's been a very lively talk, many questions have been asked throughout and Peter has been answering them in a laid back but informative manner. His presentation was exceptionally well put together, clean, clear and concise. It is obvious that he cares greatly about the smallest of details in every aspect of his work. It is the attention to detail that makes his work obsessive and an object of pure beauty.
The work of Peter Durant can be found on his website here.
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