Night Drive: an Interview with Photographer Peter Nelson
Real human being
Peter Nelson is a dear friend of mine, and one of my very favorite photographers. His work explores the thin line between beauty and decay in two of America's most iconic cities, Los Angeles and Chicago. He's also an auto enthusiast and photographer of California car culture. I sat down with Peter in the summer of 2020 to chat about his practice, his influences, and where his art is headed.
Hi, Peter! What have you been up to? Still shooting during quarantine?
Thanks for hitting me up, Pat. I've been doing pretty well. I've mainly been doing automotive photography for one of the aspects of my job, automotive review for WindingRoad.com.
While I was furloughed for about two months, I was able to get out and shoot personal work, though not as much as I would've liked. Shooting around downtown Los Angeles–even masked up and staying away from people (often my default is staying away from people, pandemic or not)–proved to be somewhat difficult.
Some of your strongest work imagines a city without people. Buildings in downtown LA shot from ground level, a beach without a bather in sight... What's the attraction of capturing images like these?
I naturally avoid crowds. I do have people in photos occasionally, but they're usually small/unrecognizable and more there to give a sense of scale.
I get a lot of my inspiration from film, particularly works by Michael Mann, William Friedkin, and Andrew Davis–ironically, all of whom come from Chicago. Friedkin and Mann are absolutely brilliant at portraying Los Angeles. All of them do cityscapes and architectural surroundings so well.
I think my photos can be a bit nostalgic, too. Davis's shots of Chicago in The Fugitive–as well as Mann's of LA in Heat–harken back to different eras in these two cities. I've shot saturated, pinkish sunsets of DTLA, and I’ve shot DTLA at night; this definitely comes from my fascination with Los Angeles in film during the early-mid ‘90s. I really dig on late-'70s to early-'90s aesthetics in general–pinks, oranges, deep blues, grain, haze, saturation, stuff people conjure up when they're listening to synthwave, haha.
Regarding my interest in Los Angeles circa the late ‘80s-to-mid ‘90s, I’m fascinated by the city trying to make DTLA more of a destination by outlining its history, making it more walkable, giving it more character, and updating it for the new millennium.
When they started building the subway system during this era, they went to great lengths to make it new, fresh, efficient, and exciting, with cool public art (like wild neon lights in the Pershing Square station), ultra-period typeface and design on its signs, and more. There were also a bunch of historical "point of interest" signs put up all over the financial district and Bunker Hill to outline the area's historical significance (like, hey, check out Angel's Flight!). Another thing worth mentioning is how they re-did Pershing Square. Hoo boy does it look dated (in a good way). I like to refer to all this as "Late-80s/Early-90s Idealism,” and it’s a theme I try to integrate into my photos when shooting street photography in DTLA.
Like yourself, I've always had a fascination with architecture. Any chance I get to present modernist, postmodernist, or brutalist architecture, especially when there's some warm afternoon lighting thrown in, I shoot the hell out of it.
To summarize, I shoot as if I’m making b-roll for a movie set in Los Angeles or Chicago in 1993.
When did you move from Chicago to Los Angeles? Did you notice a change in your photography right away? What are some of your other favorite cities to shoot?
I moved in September 2016. I didn’t notice a big change per se, it was more a situation of being inundated with more subject matter and things I’d grown fond of shooting when I’d visit friends who’d already been living here.
Any urban setting with rad architecture really! I loved shooting around Seattle with you back in 2015, and San Francisco has a lot of brilliant modern/brutalist architecture as well.
I should also note that I love using photography to explore new places. Some people say having one’s face behind a camera is a hindrance to travel because they spend too much time trying to document their experience. I see a camera as an excuse or motivation to get out and see more, and to look for the details that you might otherwise have missed.
I think you’re right about that. Speaking of travel, tell me more about the connection between cars and photography. On the one hand, your photos serve a real purpose for enthusiasts looking to buy or service or modify cars (I’m showing my hand - I’m not a car guy), but they’re also works of art in their own right.
Cars are also a major passion of mine. I’ve been into them almost my entire life.
I never fully combined my love of photography with cars until I started working in motorsports/auto journalism. Combining the two came out of necessity, as we’re a very small source, but I was also stoked to fully integrate what I’ve learned with photography with presenting automobiles.
It’s been cool doing shoots and having thousands of people see my shots. My auto photography is way more basic and no-frills than people who are actually pro photogs, but I like to think my background in exposure, framing, lines, etc., enables me to have at least a passing grade.
It’s also been fun bringing friends in who are pro photographers and want to train more in auto photography. Chris Fowler’s photos of a 2020 Toyota Supra I had are brilliant.
What equipment do you use to shoot? You've been taking photos since you were a high schooler; what's it been like to live and work through the enormous leaps in technology?
At the moment, I’m pretty bare-bones. I use a Canon 6D and EF 50mm 1.8 II AF lens, and that’s it. I should find a good, inexpensive zoom lens, utilize daytime fill-flash, etc.. I don’t even own a backup or film SLR at the moment!
It’s been a wild 17 years, I gotta say. Starting with film SLRs that cost $100–they now run about $20 on eBay–to digital cameras that have exponentially more capability and ease.
I still like shooting film. If one isn’t shooting in low light, most films are easy to shoot with in my opinion; 150+ years of development (pun intended) have given it the best kind of auto white balance–plus the colors, grain, and texture are so nice. When it comes to photographing Southern California, Kodak Portra 400 and Fujifilm Fujicolor C200 do a very nice job.
I’ve done well not trying to always have the latest and greatest. I shoot with cameras that create crisp images at a good size, and I’ll maybe keep a film SLR or rangefinder around for fun.
What's next for you? Where do you see your photography headed?
Nothing too crazy for me. I don't think my style or amount of frames shot will change much in the coming year or two. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing: looking for new subject matter, photographing the hell out of DTLA, bringing my camera along on my travels around California, getting crisp shots of cars for Winding Road, etc.. I currently reside in Long Beach. I should shoot more of the downtown here. It also has excellent architecture, brilliant sunsets, and vintage ‘80s/90s flavor.
Good read!