100 Miles from Nowhere

Tree of Life, Peter Lik

Peter Lik is an award winning landscape photographer from Australia. I remember first walking into his gallery in Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui; his photographs were absolutely breathtaking. While nature itself is not design, the manner in which the photographer shows nature is design. It is clear from Lik's photographs that he is inspired by the environment and color. The vast majority of his photos depicts overly saturated scenes of the natural world, and occasionally architecture. Lik has said "Mother Nature sets the scene, I simply capture it."

Dreamland, Peter Lik

Peter Lik does not use any form of digital manipulation. To my knowledge, he most often uses Fuji Velvia film, which is a slide film that is sharp and ultra saturated. Additionally, his camera choice is the Linhof 617 and a Hasselblad camera and he makes use of various darkroom techniques. However, skeptics still insist that he uses Photoshop. Personally, I find it hard to believe that after his countless awards, experts trained to find doctored images would fail to notice his if they really were subjected to Photoshop.

Castaway, Peter Lik

I recently learned that Peter Lik has an upcoming reality TV show, which is entitled "100 Miles from Nowhere" and it will appear on NBC. From what I've gathered, the show will challenge Lik to go all over in an attempt to get nearly impossible shots. I am thrilled to hear of this new show for a couple reasons. As I said in my post on Philippe Starck, I feel it is about time that design (and by extension, photography) gets some recognition in mainstream media. The fashion designers, singers, dancers, and chefs can share some of the spotlight and fame with designers and fine artists. Really though, it's not about the fame, it's about the appreciation for other talents and art forms. Secondly, for me personally, Peter Lik is one of my favorite artists and I am looking forward to seeing his process for taking photos. I think it will give me more insight into landscape photography and hopefully help me expand my own photography skills. Lik has already inspired me to try Velvia film; I'd like to see what else I can learn from him.

Angel's Heart, Peter Lik

Here is Peter Lik's photography page from his website
http://www.peterlik.com/photography
* Please note that my specifics on Peter Lik's photography techniques are based on various internet sites and have not come from an official Peter Lik source. The photographs and titles came from Peter Lik's official website (the link above).