About me...

For more than 40 years, photography has been my most satisfying way of connecting to the world around me.  In the act of taking a photograph, I find meaning and a sense of belonging that often escape me in other aspects of daily life.  Through photography, I unlock the subconscious and express in pictures what I find impossible to express in words.  Making pictures bring peace of mind and in that sense, it is for me a spiritual practice as much as an artistic one.  As with all practices, it requires discipline and commitment, pushing through the dark to the light.

My work is inscribed in the classical tradition of the medium.  I prefer to pursue the straight representation to the manipulated image, although I admire the more experimental techniques of other photographers.  For most of my career, I worked mainly with large format cameras.  In recent years, I have experimented with 35mm for street photography, pinhole cameras for still life, and I have explored colour photography after a lifetime of adhering to black and white.  I have come late to digital photography.  All these experiments have opened up amazing new pathways for expression.

I love the darkroom and the traditional chemical and silver processes; they have served my aesthetic needs well.  But I am also fascinated with digital technologies and I have spent many hours teaching myself how to use them.  I have to admit however that while I am in awe of what computers and software can do, I experience a great deal of frustration at the uphill battle to master these new techniques.  I have always worked slowly, methodically, and I miss the zen of the darkroom when I am away from it for too long.

I think of my work as contemplative and poetic rather than documentary.  I am attracted to subtle and quiet themes, and I like abstraction.  Even with landscape, I seek a close and intimate connection, focusing on detail rather than panorama.

I was born in England and studied at the Blackburn College of Technology and Design, graduating with a City and Guilds of London Certificate in Decorative Arts.  Upon coming to Canada, I studied photography for three years at Algonquin College in Ottawa.  I have received grants from the Canada Council, the Quebec Ministry of Culture, and the New Brunswick Department of Heritage.  I received a Merit Award from Black and White Magazine for Collectors of Fine Photography in 2006 and have participated in many solo and group exhibitions.

Thank you for looking at my work.  I can be contacted by email at peter.thomp91@gmail.com or by telephone at (506) 457-0147.