About Phil Peterson / Phil Peterson  

Getting back into photography has been a strange road. I say "back" because I left it in pursuit of a career that I thought I was expected to do.
In college, I became a photographer even before I owned a camera. During the early part of my sophomore year, my roommate bugged me to work for him as yearbook photographer. His persistence paid off and I borrowed my grandmother's Pentax Spotmatic knowing nothing about shooting photos. I studied photography while working on assignments...talk about learning by emersion! By my second year, I was doing the job of the head photographer who was focused more on enjoying his time as a senior than as a key member of the yearbook staff. After I transferred to another university, I began working for the school newspaper as a staff photographer. After my first year, I moved into the head photographer position which I held for the next three years. Along with doing much of the photography, I also wrote my own opinion column.
Looking back, I probably should've gone to journalism school since I enjoyed it so much. Instead, I worked in the family business. It was a rocky road at times and 6 years ago, I started my own business.
About that time, things began to change. My beautiful twin nieces were born and I bought a Canon Rebel XT to photograph them. About a year later, my friend died on his motorcycle and I realized that I didn't have any photos of him. I bought a small camera to shoot my motorcycle friends. About a year after that, I was having lunch at a coffee shop and one of the girls who worked there invited me to watch her play roller derby. It sounded interesting and I told her I’d show up. I convinced a bunch of friends to go and I was hooked. The next game I brought my camera and a couple of the girls crashed into me and like a bad addiction, I needed more.
I happened to get a few decent photos and several of the girls encouraged me to shoot more and I did..and still do as their main photographer. I now shoot lots of bands and burlesque along with roller derby.
My real passion, however, is photojournalism and I currently work for two local publications, Urban Times and Present Magazine. Since shooting with my grandmother’s Spotmatic, my dream has been to document world events as a war/conflict/social issue photographer. So, to follow my passion, I went to Afghanistan in late February 2008 with an independent news service (longwarjournal.org) as an embedded photojournalist documenting the events in very remote and under-reported regions. The experience was nothing like I expected but way better than I imagined. I hope to return to Afghanistan with my cameras soon.


Here is what others have written about me:

As written in PresentMagazine.com:

"Phil Peterson is a freelance photographer who has a day job doing what he studied in college. He enjoys photographing live events such as bands, roller derby and other things. He can regularly be seen at various midtown establishments and even though he’s follicly challenged, is an all around good guy."

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Ashley, the curator of SF Gallery, wrote this about me:

The first time I met Phil Peterson, he called from the road to admit that he was unable to find my office and needed directions. I silently laughed about this because I love it when men admit defeat. I wondered if he had driven around for 20 minutes before he broke down to make the call.[1]

I told him I would wait outside so he could find my building. While I was standing on the sidewalk out front, I was trying to picture Phil in my mind. I thought he would be a little, geeky man, possibly in blue coveralls (not sure why) and driving a modest four-door sedan. I was happily surprised when he roared up on a motorcycle and turned out to be roughly 6'5" of bulging muscles, glinting in the sun.[2] He was like a Greek god draped in whatever it is that they drape them in.[3] When he took off his helmet and smiled at me, his teeth had a little shimmer like in a toothpaste commercial. I thought it was a little odd that Phil would ride around the Crossroads draped in fabric ... and possibly a little dangerous. This is my photographer who plays with toy cameras?

The randomness of life is one of Phil's favorite subjects. He doesn't usually shoot planned scenes, but enjoys coming upon his subjects by accident. He described a day when he was driving his bike in the West Bottoms and spotted a couple of girls in costume walking around on stilts. He of course, has pictures. Living in the moment is easily captured when rolling around with a toy camera.

Phil's photos of burlesque dancers, including Annie Cherry and Etta Vendetta, were the subject of a series that was featured in the August '07 edition of Urban Times (one of Kansas City's new premier magazines.) Also featured were Phil's action shots for the KC Roller Warriors, Kansas City's all-women's roller derby league. Hot rods, girls and rock & roll are featured in many of Phil's photographs.

The element of the accident may be a prevalent theme to mention here. Unlike the photographers in the digital world, Phil cannot determine how the final photo will turn out until he develops his film. He therefore remains powerless against the camera's whim and inconsistent nature. The light leaks and visual distortions that the Holga creates cannot be necessarily predicted and then duplicated in Photoshop. He sometimes uses old color film that expired in the mid 80's. The colors develop in an eerily cool way and when paired with the Holga's flaws, he is able to create art that cannot be planned. The exciting thing about his work is that he cannot solely rely on his artistic eye to record images; the fate of his photos is actually in the hands of his Holga. A Holga cannot have hands, of course, but I like to think that there is some sort of Holga god that determines whether or not Phil will have a good day or not.

In my last meeting with Phil, we met at Scott Fitness 2.0 in the River Market to chat about his photos. He set up his laptop behind the front desk so he could give me a view of his collection ... when finished, he moved to unplug his computer and accidentally shut down the whole system for the gym. The music turned off, the computers went down and everyone who was working out at the time turned their attention towards Phil and I. It was a little awkward; the gym is a very strange place without music. Phil apologized to the silent gym and the alarmed members and made his exit. Nice job, Phil.

Footnotes:
1 Phil later admitted that he always stops for directions and that this is his way of getting in touch with his feminine side. He claims to have no shame when it comes to asking for directions or admitting he's lost.

2 He is actually 6'4"

3 Greek Gods are wrapped in what is most likely a chiton, which was a piece of clothing made of two sheets of light drapery and worn directly over the body.

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Here's a Wordsworth poem for your contemplation:

The eye— it cannot choose but see;
we cannot bid the ear be still;
our bodies feel, where'er they be,
against or with our will.

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Check out my website:
www.phil-peterson.com

Check out the publications I work with:
www.urbantimeskc.com
www.inkkc.com
www.presentmagazine.com

MySpace profiles:
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile...

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I'm Male and Single.

http://www.phil-peterson.com
Kansas City, USA