Mike Peters

Since 1979 I have made my living as a professional photographer. Initially I worked at Tiffany & Co. photographing merchandise for catalogs and advertisements.

I left to freelance as an assistant to Billy Cunningham who shot for Architectural Digest, and to do my own shooting for magazines such as Connoisseur and NJ Monthly. Between 1983 and 1986 I worked as a newspaper staff photographer, and since then freelancing for The New York Times, along with numerous corporate and editorial clients, design firms, and photographing events of all types and sizes.

I am currently the staff photographer at Montclair State University in New Jersey. I also continue to work for a variety of clients on a freelance basis, photographing people for use in magazines, annual reports, the web, and all types of corporate and private events. My philosophy of what I do is to be sure I capture the spirit of the day at an event, or a glimpse of what makes a person who they are.

I believe that what is in front of me is far more interesting than any fiction or concept. My goal is to get out of the way of the photographs and allow people to be themselves.

I am also involved with making photographs for myself, which I exhibit in galleries and am invited to show on blogs where I write about what I do. This work is made on the street, working candidly to photograph people as they are.

If you'd like to get in touch, please feel free to email me at the link below.