a new way of looking
After more than 40 years as a professional photographer, I felt it was time to reconsider not only which photographs I showed, but how I showed them. I am less interested in producing photographs that simply describe where I have been. I want to make pictures that hold attention, encourage curiosity and leave room for the viewer to bring something of themselves.
My established website (peteraphoto) organised much of the work by country or location. That suited the photographs and the way I was working at the time, and I remain immensely proud of that body of work. Many of those images have found their way into people’s homes and have become an important part of my career.
That work is not being discarded or replaced. The original website will remain online, and the photographs shown there will continue to be available. The location may change, but the reason for taking the photograph remains the same: something made me stop.
moments that stopped me
This new site has a different purpose. Increasingly, I have come to realise that the photographs which remain most important to me are rarely about a destination alone. They are about people, humour, solitude, work, companionship and the small, unscripted moments that briefly bring everything together.
The collections allow photographs made in different countries, sometimes many years apart, to sit alongside one another because they share an idea, a feeling or a way of looking. Where a picture was taken still matters, but it is no longer the only reason it is here.
This is a more personal and carefully considered selection of my work: photographs that I believe have something to say beyond the individual moment and which may eventually find their way into books and exhibitions. Prints are available, but the first purpose of this site is simply to invite you to look – and hopefully to keep looking.
These are the moments that stopped me.
my journey
My career began in a busy London studio, photographing still life for advertising. From there I moved into newspapers and public relations, working for national titles and becoming a Royal Rota photographer. I later spent four years producing stills for television programmes including The Big Breakfast and Big Brother.
After moving north in search of a rather different pace of life, travel gradually became the focus of my work. What began as an interest in unfamiliar places developed into something much more personal: a fascination with ordinary lives, unnoticed details and the brief moments that cannot be arranged or repeated.
Although I am often described as a travel and street photographer, place is only part of the story. I am interested in what people reveal without knowing it, in the humour and strangeness of everyday life, and in the relationship between people and their surroundings.
Nothing in my photographs is staged. I work with natural light, patience and instinct, often waiting for the separate elements of a scene to come together. Post-processing is kept to a minimum; the integrity of the original moment is important to me.
My work has been exhibited throughout the UK, is held in private collections internationally, and I am a member of Peak District Artisans. In 2026, I was nominated for the Buxton Fringe individual visual artist award.
