Alistair Peck is a photographer, based in Bedfordshire, with a passion for capturing the world around him.
I can still remember taking my very first photograph, when I was seven. My dad let me take a picture of a stone bridge on the campsite where we were staying at Llyn Gwynant in North Wales. As I didn't make a complete hash of it my parents bought me an instamatic camera and some black and white film for my following birthday and I still have the resulting wonkily-framed fuzzy prints somewhere. When I was a bit older I was bought an Olympus Trip 35 which was a fantastic camera to really begin learning how to record the world around me, and I remember it with great affection. I now have several Trip 35s which I have bought from various charity shops and eBay. In my teens I bought an old Canon AE-1 for £25: This was my first SLR and I loved the creative flexibility it gave me to experiment taking pictures of literally anything I found interesting without worrying about whether it was a “proper” photograph like one of the family or holidays. That was the beginning of my increasing interest in photography as a means of expressing myself.
Until quite recently my inspiration was almost entirely about expressing my response to the world around me. I have always had a sense of the beauty in the ordinary, that even in places and environments that people would not consider beautiful in the traditional sense there is wonder if you take the time to stop and look. I would hardly ever set up a shot, so the joy was about observing the world and seeking out the moment, or the detail. Our coast has always inspired me and I am rarely happier than when photographing an old boat or building or arcane piece of machinery slowly being reclaimed by the elements. In the last two years or so I have started working with other photographers doing more commercial photography, and because they have their own motivations for loving photography and produce great work in other fields of the medium this has broadened my horizons, and I have learned and been inspired a huge amount in that time. Through being introduced to the work of photographers like Bresson and Erwitt I have also learned that the constructed image can be as truthful as the found one.
At the moment I am about to start a project about my relationship with the British seaside resort, which will be the first time that I have gone about creating a themed set of constructed images and the first time I have used models in art photography. These are intended for exhibiting later in the year. While I'm hoping to consolidate my commercial work in the short term, eventually I would love to make a living from my art work, whether that is producing images for magazines or websites or taking on other commissions.
To learn more about me, you can find me in the following places:
