BEN SMITH

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037 - Peter Zelewski

'Nyaeuth' © Peter Zelewski

Peter Zelewski is a London based portrait and documentary photographer. Born in Detroit, USA, he moved to London in the 1980s and studied graphic design and photography at the London College of Communication (LCC). Through his fascination with people and a love of the city, he was drawn to the streets of London to take photographs of its citizens, resulting in two award-winning projects People of Soho and Beautiful Strangers. He divides his time between graphic design, commercial photography commissions and his self-initiated portraiture projects.

His work has been featured in numerous publications including The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Evening Standard, La Repubblica and Leica Fotografie International (LFI). 

In 2015 he was awarded third prize in the prestigeous Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London for his image of Nyaeuth (above) and this year three images from his Twins project were selected for inclusion in the Royal Photographic Society's International Print Exhibition.

His first book People of London will be released by Hoxton Mini Press in October 2016.

In episode 037, Peter discusses, among other things:

  • His recent street portraiture workshop

  • The Taylor Wessing prize

  • His forthcoming book

  • The story behind Nyaeuth’s portrait

  • Kubrick's one point perspective

  • Formative experiences growing up in Detroit

  • The influence of punk rock

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