Peter Lik (born 1959) is an Australian
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographers
As in other ...
best known for his nature and
panoramic landscape images. He hosted ''From the Edge with Peter Lik'', which aired for one season on
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather foreca ...
.
Early life
Lik was born in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
to
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
parents who emigrated to Australia after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
[“Peter Lik Bio,”](_blank)
Weather.com, 20 January 2011. He took his first photo at the age of 8, after his parents gave him a
Kodak Brownie box camera for his birthday. The shot was of a spider web in the garden of the family home.
In his youth, Lik would bring his camera on family vacations and take photos of country scenes and the ocean. This practice continued when he took road trips out of the city and into the wilds of Australia, often accompanied by his friend and fellow photographer Michael Plumridge. As a photographer, Lik is self-taught, learning mostly by trial and error.
Career
Photography
In 1984, Lik made his first trip to the United States, traveling around the country for a year in an old van. While in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
, he was introduced to
panoramic camera
Panoramic photography is a technique of photography, using specialized equipment or software, that captures images with horizontally elongated fields of view. It is sometimes known as ''wide format photography''. The term has also been applied to ...
s and learned about
large format photography. Upon his return to Australia, he continued to experiment with the panoramic format. In 1989, Lik returned to the United States, undertaking a project to photograph landscapes in all 50 states.
He sold some of the photos for use in calendars and as postcards.
[Lorna Gentry, “Peter Lik: An ordinary bloke with a big camera”, ''Professional Photographer'', June 2011, pp. 104-111.] Photos from the project were later collected in his 2003 coffee table book, ''Spirit of America''.
Lik spent the early 1990s working for the tourism department of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
, Australia, traveling through the
Outback and photographing little-seen areas.
In 1994, he moved to
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...
, where he opened Lik USA, which includes a facility for printing and framing his photos.
He started his own publishing company, Lik Publishing, in the mid-1990s. The company has produced coffee table books, postcards and calendars of his work. In 1997, he published his first book, ''Australia: Images of a Timeless Land''. In 2010, he published a 25-year retrospective coffee table book, ''25th Anniversary Big Book'',
a 580-page leather-bound book weighing 40 pounds and containing over 500 images.
In December 2010, Lik sold a photograph for to an anonymous collector, his highest-priced sale at that time. The photograph, titled "One", was shot on the banks of the
Androscoggin River
The Androscoggin River ( Abenaki: ''Aləssíkαntekʷ'') is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, ...
in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
. Lik has stated that only one print of the photo will ever be printed. According to
BuzzFeed, as of 2011, the amount paid for "One" is the eleventh-highest price ever paid for a photo.
After winning the Art in Nature category of the 2010
Windland Smith Rice International Awards from ''
Nature's Best Photography'', "Ghost" (taken in
Antelope Canyon, Arizona) was selected as part of a May 2011 exhibition of
nature photography
Nature photography is a wide range of photography taken outdoors and devoted to displaying natural elements such as landscapes, wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures. Nature photography tends to put a stronger emphasis o ...
at the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
[“2010 Winners Windland Smith Rice International Awards”](_blank)
, '' Nature's Best Photography'', 2010. The photo was shot in a slot canyon with the sunlight coming in through a hole above, creating a ghostly aura. His "Inner Peace" won a 2011 Windland Smith Rice International Award, and was on display at the Smithsonian from April through September 2012.
[“2011 Winners Windland Smith Rice International Awards”](_blank)
, ''Nature's Best Photography'', 2011.
In December 2014, Lik claimed to have sold a photograph titled
"Phantom" to an anonymous bidder for $6.5 million, making it potentially the
highest price paid for a photograph. Lik's claim has been greeted with much scepticism. No details of the sale have been verified though a lawyer confirmed that the mysterious buyer does exist.
Galleries
In 1997, Lik opened his first gallery, in
Cairns, Australia. He opened his first US gallery in
Lahaina, Hawaii
Lahaina ( haw, Lāhainā) is the largest census-designated place (CDP) in West Maui, Maui County, Hawaii, United States and includes the Kaanapali and Kapalua beach resorts. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a resident population of 12,702. La ...
, in 2003, and his first in Las Vegas in
Caesars Palace in 2005. Peter Lik Fine Art Photography opened in the
Plaza Hotel in Manhattan in November 2008, as part of the hotel's new high-end retail concourse. He went on to open another Manhattan gallery, in the SoHo neighborhood. Overall, he has four galleries in Las Vegas and nine others across the US.
Television
''From the Edge with Peter Lik'' debuted on
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather foreca ...
on 31 March 2011, running for one season, with Lik as the host. The documentary series followed Lik on his journeys across the United States searching for and photographing attractive landscapes, such as the volcanoes of Hawaii, mountains of Montana, Arizona's
Grand Canyon, and
Denali National Park and Preserve
Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park, is an American national park and preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali, the highest mountain in North America. The park and contiguous preserve ...
in Alaska. The show was The Weather Channel's first original programme.
Style
Lik is best known for his panoramic photos, and the large size and overall quality of his prints.
He typically shoots panoramas with a
Linhof
Linhof is a German company, founded in Munich in 1887 by Valentin Linhof. The company is well known for making premium rollfilm and large format film cameras. Linhof initially focused on making camera shutters and developing the first leaf shu ...
617 Technorama camera, using
Fuji film. He also shoots digital, primarily using
Phase One and
Nikon
(, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group.
Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...
cameras. He prints most of his photos on FujiFlex silver-halide paper, which increases the light sensitivity and glow, and helps accentuate the vibrant colors in the print.
Bibliography
* ''Australia: Images of a Timeless Land.'' Cairns, Australia: self-published, 1997. .
* ''Spirit of America.'' Cairns, Australia: self-published, 2003. .
* ''San Francisco.'' Cairns, Australia: self-published, 2003. .
* ''Hawaii: The Aloha Spirit.'' Self-published, 2003). .
* ''Las Vegas and Beyond.'' Las Vegas: self-published, 2006. .
* ''Maui: Hawaiian Paradise'' (2006). .
* ''Las Vegas: Beyond the Neon'' (2009)
* ''Equation of Time'' (2015)
* ''America'' (2015)
* ''New York'' (2015)
* ''Hawaii'' (2015)
* ''Las Vegas'' (2016)
Honors and awards
* Master of Photography, Australian Institute of Professional Photography, 2002
* Master of Photography,
Professional Photographers of America
Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is a nonprofit trade association of professional photographers. As of August 2022, PPA has 34,000 members.
History
19th century
The association began in December 1868 as the National Photographic Ass ...
, 2010
*
British Institute of Professional Photography
The British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) is a not-for-profit organisation for professional photographers in the United Kingdom. Members must be qualified professionals, and agree to be bound by the BIPP's code of conduct.
The ins ...
Fellow, 2010
*
Royal Photographic Society Fellow, 2010
* ''
Nature's Best Photography''
Windland Smith Rice International Award – Art in Nature Winner, "Ghost at Antelope Canyon", 2010
* Silver Medals, Epson International Pano Awards, for "Ancient Spirit", "Angel's Heart" and "Sacred Sunrise", 2011
* ''Nature's Best Photography'' Windland Smith Rice International Award – Plant Life Winner, "Japanese Maple", 2011
* American Aperture Awards, Best Landscape/Seascape/Nature, 2013
2013 American Aperture Awards
, ax3.cc. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lik, Peter
Australian photographers
Living people
1959 births
Landscape photographers
Australian expatriates in the United States