Peter Whitford
Inside the Mind.
Below the Surface.
[or Under the Surface.]
…with the volume at 11
CCP asks Peter Whitford the questions about his craft
1.What gets you out of bed every day?
Aside from the joy of spending time with my magnificent, brilliant and supportive partner and, when possible, my delightful and talented daughter, these days, I am primarily driven to try and match the energy, imagination, talent and generosity of my much, much younger classmates at NAS. I am coming off a much lower base than most of my cohort in terms of drawing and painting, both of which I aspire to doing much better than I presently do, with a view to doing them for their own sake, as well as incorporating them into photographic work generally.
2. Who is the photographer/artist that has inspired you the most?
This doubtless sounds like a cop-out, but I find it impossible to choose just one. Like my musical taste, my taste in images is broad. It spans traditional landscape, documentary, street, portrait and abstract images of many different types. There has always been inspiration from all the classical names like Weston, Adams, Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, Dupain, Arbus etc and, more recently in terms of the development of my own work particularly, Doug Chinnery and Valda Bailey. Doug’s influence I particularly value for opening the door not only on the breadth of photographic possibility, but also to its intersection with painting and printmaking, something I want to explore more in the future. Most significantly, I think I get inspiration from discovering the spectacular range of individual perspectives reflected in work produced by contemporary photographers, especially Australian photographers, who I encounter generally either through my deliberately limited forays into social media or through FYV. There are so many wonderful sets of eyes out there, interpreting in their own way and telling stories about the worlds around them. By no means an exhaustive list, and concentrating mostly but not solely on Australians, some of the names that come immediately to mind of photographers whose work I keep returning to look at are Alethia Casey, Ushi Grant, Adrian Whear, Penny Green (@snappylapper, who catalogues life and the light around the water in one of my favourite Australian locations, Newcastle), Alex McClintock, Gary Deirmendjian, Astrid Preisz, Alessandra Cassini, Olga Baldock, Linda Caldwell and Lynne Blount.
3. What current camera are you shooting with?
I have for the last few years been shooting with a Canon R5. Just this year, I had the opportunity to play a little for the first time with a pinhole camera, which was intriguing and something, along with some medium and large format photography, I would like to explore further in the future. When I don’t have a camera nearby, the phone is always a handy and frequently used option.
4. When you are on a shoot do you play music? What other essential items do you have with you for a successful session?
I tend to have music with me whatever I am doing, including when I’m shooting, and especially when I am editing. My shooting is often spontaneous and ad hoc, rather than particularly planned. Aside from my camera, which itself can even be obsolete given the quality of images that phone cameras can produce these days, I don’t have a strict list of “essential” items. However, I do like low light, long exposure, photography, blue hour and darker; so, if there was one thing essential, additional to a camera, I guess it would be a tripod.
5. In the digital world how important is the print?
For me a print is the thing that gives significant tangibility to an image. It is more an idea than an object until it is printed. Aside from the fact digital images tend to be stored virtually and too easily forgotten, I think they are rarely viewed at their most favourable on a screen. To have a print that you can hold or, if it is hanging, at least walk up to, and step back from, gives to a viewer an experience of the work that is simply not reproducible digitally. I like large prints too; some images just shine when given expanded dimension and practically that is far more feasibly done with a print.
6. B/W - Colour - Analogue - Digital.
Put these words in your order of preference and tell us why.
As between black and white and colour, it probably depends on what day you ask me and likely even what time of the day. My own shooting probably hovers around 70/30 colour to black and white. These days I primarily shoot digital and have done for some time now. However, I am interested in rediscovering analogue processes, both with the pinhole camera I mentioned before, and I would also like to explore some medium and large format film work at some point.
7. Have you exhibited your work, and other than the print, how important was the framing process to you?
I have exhibited only once. In 2021 I participated in a modest joint exhibition with a painter friend at the Shop Gallery in Glebe. All the images were framed. I think a frame that is complimentary to an image can generally be a great asset. That said, I like printing some of my images on canvas and the painterly quality of an image can sometimes be enhanced with a stretched canvas, with or without a frame.
8. What defines a great image?
I think a great image is one that immediately draws a viewer in and invites or even demands an extended contemplation. There may be many things, and different things for different viewers, which contribute to this quality. More often than not for me, the quality of the light and its treatment, the composition and the emotional or intellectual character of a work will all combine to define a great image.
9. What is your favourite photo? Why?
I tend to think of making, rather than taking, images, simply because, for much of my work, it involves more than simply reproducing what I saw when the shutter was pressed. This can be achieved in a variety of ways of course, but most obviously in processing. A consistently favourite image of mine, is the one titled M. Monet’s Bottlebrush, which is in the accompanying set of images. It is a favourite because it is a reflection (and I have a bit of a reflection obsession), because I like the combination of the reds and greens and because it represented a turning point for me in the way I approached shooting and processing images.
10. What is the best photography advice you have been given? Tell us by who if you can or want to?
I think the best advice, which has application across any art form I think and which I have heard in a variety of contexts, has been just to play. For me, it is important to ask the question “what if” and to experiment and play with different things and see what works and what doesn’t, without getting too hung up in advance on producing something which meets some preconception of perfection.
11. When you are not taking photos, what are you doing?
Hopelessly doomscrolling and despairing at the dismal state of world affairs and, as an essential antidote to that, listening to music, looking at other people’s art, trying to learn to paint and draw better, listening to podcasts, mostly about art and politics, and reading, reading, reading (never enough time)…
High Point
It’s a photo finish between being accepted into NAS and being asked by CCP to be featured here.
Low Point
I’m starting too late in life to countenance a low point.
Peter Whitford
December 2025