Dear Readers,

If you’re getting this note I’ve either imported you over from my Substack or my older mailing list, or you’ve recently indicated an interest to keep in touch as I deleted the last of my social media accounts.

Those of you who have been with me for a time might recognize that I’ve tried (and eventually abandoned) various platforms to share work on. I apologize for the discontinuity. Much has been said on decisions to leave social media; I won’t venture to do that here.

What I will say is that I’ve been seeking out quiet spaces from which to write and make pictures, and I want where I post my work online to reflect that. I’ve settled on hosting what I’m just going to call Letters on my website. Just Letters because there probably won’t be a lot of news, and because I am sending them out directly to you. If this feels a touch anachronistic, I’m okay with that.

I have a hunch this approach will just feel better. I’ve been thinking about doing this for awhile, actually, it’s just taken some time to get it implemented properly.

I could be wrong about this, I could pivot in my approach again, but it’s worth a shot.

As a refresher, or an introduction to those of you who are new, I originally started an email list a long time ago (around 2010) to keep both professional and personal contacts apprised of what assignment photography work I was doing for publications, or where my photography projects were being shown, etc. Most of this was when I lived and worked in Chicago and later in North Carolina. Now I am writing from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I like to think about my photography projects through the lens of ideas, as opposed to genres, so the pictures I share will vary. Still, it wouldn’t be wrong to think of me as a landscape and portrait photographer. Having worked freelance for a wide range of clients in my career I also take an interest in editorial and art photography more broadly, and in the use of pictures and in how they affect public discourse, which I will share opinions on from time to time. The more intentional integration of writing into my practice is largely thanks to the Knight Wallace Fellowship that I completed last year at the University of Michigan.

As for a schedule, I will send Letters when I have the time. There is no planned regular schedule.

Thanks for your patience and continued interest. I hope you and yours are all doing well.

- Peter

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PS: If you find this email in your spam, it would be helpful for me if you mark it as not spam, even if you want to unsubscribe.

PPS: Please bear with me as I work out inevitable kinks of this new system.

PPPS: If you know of anyone who may take an interest in this, please tell them. Word of mouth is now the way more people will see what I’m doing.

PPPPS: My intention is to keep a list where everyone on is amenable to receiving my emails. If this is no longer you, or if you feel you are on this list in error, please unsubscribe below.

1. I am a photographer after all. I’ve photographed split frame horizons of Lake Michigan for years now. There’s nothing unique about this project, except that when I started it I hadn’t seen a longitudinal body of work of only Lake Michigan looking west. It probably exists, I just haven’t seen it. (I do reference Sugimoto in the title for good reason, he’s most famous for this type of picture, albeit of different seas and not the Great Lakes). ↩︎