Showcase of the Week – Peter Levi

Hi, I am Peter Levi. Living in Stockholm, Sweden.

I´ve had a deep interest in photography for many years, but haven´t been practicing the art seriously until recently. Right before the digital camera revolution entered I had a small darkroom, a cheap plastic camera and all the accessories that came along with it. Photography was then a financial issue for me. Film, papers, the RIGHT papers, chemicals etc etc made photography more or less a luxury hobby that only could be practiced when my economy allowed it. And at the same time the digital cameras entered the market and I just lost my spark.

Not long ago the urge to start working with photography again took a new start and has accelerated into an obsession.

Deeply inspired by long exposure photography and documentary, reportage and street photography. I have a need to mix my work. My softer side need the more delicate and subtle art shots, and my darker side crave the strive for raw, true, honest photography thru walking the streets capturing life as it is and add my personal artistic touch to the images.

I do my work to 99% in black and white. Not really by routine, I always do a colored and bw version. Then I compare them and decide which version is best for the image, somehow I almost always go for the bw version. I love its dynamic and the somehow more pure emotion it gives me. I would probably shoot much more in color if I lived in a colorful environment like India for example. Sweden is blue, green and grey. And people doesn’t dress in strong, colorful clothes here for some reason. So, I´d rather shave away the colors as they doesn’t add anything to the pictures, the few bleak excisting colors are just more off an distraction than an asset to the images.

I use a Canon 5D mkII with a 17-40mm lens for all my work. I´ve tried to use smaller cameras both with zoom lenses and fixed lenses to fit in with the rest of the general street photographers community. But I can´t help it, I just love the 5D even though it´s neither small or noiseless. I´ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter if I carry a large or a small camera on the streets. If someone spots me, they do it no matter the camera size. So, why not go for the highest quality camera while I´m at it? And if someone hears the camera or not really doesn’t matter to me as when they hear the mirror slam the shot is already made. I like to get as close as possible and with the 17-40 I can get really close without having to cut bodies or heads as I would have to do with for example a fixed 35mm. I do have a fixed more light sensitive 35mm as well, which is used rarely when I shoot in dark surroundings.

Upcoming projects are to travel and capture the life in other countries and to do more reportage photography.

You can find Peter Levi on the Web :

• Flickr
• 500px

Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Peter Levi. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.