Home » Peter Coulson Interviewed – An Inspiring Journey From Fishing To Photography

Peter Coulson Interviewed – An Inspiring Journey From Fishing To Photography

For anyone in fashion or nude photography, Peter Coulson is someone that is a great source of creative inspiration. His work is easily identifiable among the rest and he has created his own style in fashion nude photography genre.

Peter’s work is bold and different which makes it exciting and there is always something more to the image than what meets the eye. Peter creates art with every click and has been featured in top magazines around the globe.

If you are into nude photography, read ahead as we explore his journey in photography and his tips on how to capture beautiful clicks like he does.

Q1. When and how did your journey as a photographer begin?

A. My first experience with photography was when I borrowed my dad’s Minolta for a Chuck Berry’s gig.

I was photographing musicians and bands on the side initially. I am self-taught. I did go to photography college when I finished high-school, but was kicked-out after 2 months because I kept asking “why”. They could never answer my questions, and it was frustrating that I couldn’t get the answers.

After this I went to Sound Engineering school. Photography became a hobby at this point, and continued being a hobby throughout all my careers. Once my business (fishing) needed photography, I shot them, and that was where I started working ‘commercially’. A magazine approached me wanted me to shoot for them in the style I was shooting, and it all evolved from there.

I made the transition from shooting lifestyle to fashion and people because I was enjoying creating, rather than capturing what was happening. After 1 fashion shoot, I was addicted. I liked the creativity and control. And like anybody, I start shooting everything from babies, real estate, corporate headshots, any photography work that would pay my rent and bills.

As I got better, I was able to hone into the clients I actually wanted to shoot for, allowing me to drop off the work I didn’t enjoy doing.

Q2. How would you describe your photography style?

A. Black and white fashion and beauty, with my own messed up twist on it. I mostly tell people I am an eye photographer.

Q3. You have worked a bit in nude art photography, tell us about your experience working in this genre

A. True nude art photography doesn’t have eyes in it, it’s just about shapes, I have a joke with a model I’ve been shooting with for years that most of the time it’s just a ‘naked girl on a rock’. It’s not something I shoot a lot of as I need eyes in my picture, I see myself more as a fashion nude photographer as I’m after the story.

Check out some of our amazing nude photography deals:

Q4. How do you choose your models? Can you tell us more about your working process?

A. I have a pretty large following so a lot of the time models contact me, and I’ll have a look at their portfolio and see if they have a look that would suit my work. I also have an assistant who goes searching on the internet on social media sites and finds models, then shows me their work and again I have the final say in if they have look I can work with. But it’s very hit and miss. You can never tell on the internet what they actually look like or what their personality is like, their character is just as important as their look.

Q5. What would we find in your camera bag for a typical shoot?

A. In the studio I tend to shoot with a Hasselblad H6D-50c with a Hasselblad 100mm lens, and outside or using constant light I tend to shoot with the Leica SL2 and SL2s with an Noctilux-M 1:0.95/50 ASPH, Summilux-M 1:1.4/75 and Apo-Summicron-M 1:2/90 ASPH.

Q6. What do you think are the key skills of a good photographer?

A. Understanding light, communicating to your subject in a way they can understand and creating the look that you love and ignoring every body else. We run an online photography tutorials site, iNSPIRE, where I teach all this.

Check out our blog articles for some nude photography inspiration:

Q6. What do you think are the key skills of a good photographer?

A. The Photographer that has most influenced me is Helmut Newton. I love the way he used to recreate snippets of the lives of the rich and famous, images a normal person would never see. And he would put it into a surreal picture, which wasn’t actually surreal because that’s what happened behind closed doors.

Peter Coulson’s journey and work is truly inspiring for someone who wants to start out in fashion nude photography. His journey from having a fly fishing business to having his photographs on major magazine covers, it show how a small seemingly irrelevant step can change your life drastically.

Check out Peter’s website for more inspiration.

If you enjoyed this photography interview, check out more here for endless inspiration.