Researching - Peter Lik.

Peter Lik is possibly one of the best Landscape photographers of today. He has won many awards and is known throughout the world. He is an Australian whose Czech parents migrated to Melbourne when he was born. His parents bought him a Kodak Brownie camera when he was eight which started off his enduring passion.

Lik tought himself and decided to move to the Unoted States in 1984. He met another photographer in Alaska called Allen Prier and he introduced him to the Medium Format Panoramic camera. His advice to Lik was " Go big or go home."

Lik went back to Australia and photographed the huge vistas of the Great South Land. He opened his own fine art publishing company and his first gallery in his now home town of Cairns (Australia).

In the new millenium he returned to America and set himself a task of photographing landscapes of all fifty states. Pictures of this challenge can be found in his book 'Spirit of America'. He has been awarded Master Photographer by both Australia and America and has fellowships from the British Institute of Professional Photographers and The Royal Photographic Society.

He now runs his company LIK USA from Las Vagas. He has thirteen galleries of his own and a TV series 'From the Edge with Peter Lik', which has made him a famous name in the United Kingdom. Now very wealthy, he sold his photograph 'One', of the Androscoggin River in New Hampshire for one million dollars. His photographs break records in sales and his works include 'Ancient Spirit', 'Sacred Sunrise', 'Angel's Heart', 'Tree of Life' and his famous 'Ghost'.

Tree of Life - Peter Lik

He has the ability to photograph landscape and make you feel that you are seeing something for the first time. A lot of his work mis documentary in that he has his won weekly show. This photograph is one made when he was photographing the fifty states. This particular state being Oregan. This photograph is mainly of a tree that is shown centrally positioned with a small mound of Greenery in the foreground. What draws the eye is the vivid burst of orange red of the leaves. His picture makes the viewer feel as though he is veiwing the scene at first hand and not via the medium of photography. His colours are so vivid and contrasting that it is almost psychedelic. The reason I like this image is because I like the secrecy of woods and I am particularly interested in extremes of colour.

Painted Skies - Peter Lik

This photograph is another one of his panoramic views that encompasses a fairly barren landscape made dramatic by the gloriously coloured skies above. The sky reflects the shadowy hues of purples and pinks below. The horizon sits halfway up the photo with the eye being led to the distance hills in the middle third. The sky and the land are linked by a tree in the left hand third. The landscape is flat but still conveys the distance of the hills in the background.  

Once again it is the colours that draw me to this particular photographer. Colours are very important to me, especially vivid colours, contrasting colours and moody colours, all of which are seen in his photos. I am also drawn to photos that have a particular mood. This might be a glorious feeling of exultation or the lonliness of a deserted landscape. I intend to try to convey this excitement in my final photos.