 In 2014 Peter Lick sold an image called Phantom for an alleged six and a half million dollars. At that time that meant that out of the top 20 most expensive photographs ever sold he had four of them but what is it about his photography that makes it so popular amongst collectors how's it how's it photographers are a funny old bunch aren't we we can get very antsy about other people's successes and Peter Lick I feel is probably a poster child for this kind of discussion his work sells for staggering amounts of money you know he's been awarded awards by numbers of bodies of photography respected bodies of photographers and yet I can't help but feel that a lot of his photography it's no different to a whole bunch of stuff that you see on on Instagram these days so what is it that makes him a photographer who has galleries all over the United States in really expensive places and apparently has sold half a billion dollars worth of prints when the people who are photographing similar subjects might get 10 or 12 likes on Instagram it's one thing to take a photograph and say look at this pretty photograph this is this is so cool it is another thing entirely to get people to connect with it I don't mean on a kind of they look at it and they go oh that moves me in a way that you know that encourages somebody to buy something but draws somebody into the story of your photography Peter putting his photography competency to one side and his aesthetics and stuff and this is not the discussion about whether or not these are good photographs it is more about what he does with these images that I believe is where his success comes in and if you look at the picture of Ghost which is the the color version of Phantom now that here on his website it said is this Peter Lick masterpiece is now sold out okay it's not like this is sold out or whatever it look at the word he's using this Peter Lick masterpiece then down the bottom there's a little bit of story about this image a lot of people when they put up photographs online we'll just go like here's Antelope Canyon and it was Canon 5DS and it was 24 millimeter lens like I go f2.8 what have you and that would be the end of that discussion right that's what kind of what people include in the images but spend a moment to look at this image while I read what Peter has written the biggest lesson I have learned in photography is that timing is everything no matter how perfect your technique and equipment if you aren't in the right place at the right time you simply won't get the shot in the underground sandstone caves of Antelope Canyon in summer I knew the sun would pass directly overhead at midday as the time approached giving me my only opportunity for the shot a narrow slither of light beamed down through the keyhole onto the sandy canyon floor below at the precise moment I clicked the shutter my Navajo Indian guide threw a handful of dust into the shaft of light it wasn't until weeks later when I finally got to see the results of the shoot that I was able to see the ghost like human form that had emerged and I could only wonder if the ancient spirits of the canyon had been present with me that day that's a lot different to just like listing out some sort of technical verbiage isn't it now you may have your own thoughts about is this kind of you know is that two word is it too much but Peter knows the audience that he wants to sell images to he what he he wants to draw them into his story to get them in a place is it it's one thing he could have just said to go do you know what there's this place when the light comes down you just chuck some sand in the air and blah blah but listen to his he's using descriptive language he's building a story around the images he's inviting you as the viewer of this photograph into his world I feel that you know even if you even if you don't want to sell prints if you just want to get people to engage with your photography then do a better job of helping them connect with it not from like using the shape and the form and the textures and things of that nature to conjure up an experience but to to craft a story around you who are you as a photographer don't just write on it if you have a website and you know if you go to Squarespace Squarespace have not sponsored me for ages but you know Squarespace is quite useful sort of easy place to get get started on an about page don't just write you know I've really liked my camera since I was eight years old and I like you know drinking coffee from a little mug and playing with Lego that doesn't tell you anything it doesn't tell the viewer about anything about you as an artist generally people who are interested in photography looking at it as as they don't care about the camera that you use they don't care that in wedding photography world that you've got insurance right they want what motivates you as a photographer what motivates me yeah I thought about this for ages what is it that the motivates me in my photography and when I look at my work and I've been working at it look in a lot in depth recently because I'm you know I'm putting together these collections for sale that it is just it my why is coming out again once motivated why am I taking the photographs that I do is because I find that I like to be quiet I mean I am actually quite an introspective person who just I'm quite happy to sit alone and look at small things and I found that when I'm in a city if I look above the crowd about the tiny things that get overlooked the corners the shapes there's little graphic elements that that allows me to find some some quietness a lot of the photographs that I have taken are they're taking in very busy places but they all seem to have a stillness that's the story if I start telling that you know I take photographs to find a place for me to take a breath in the world that's a lot better than just out you know I quite like shooting square because I'm always photographed square and I use a this and I use a that and I use light router that's nobody cares when I look at the photographs that I've I've put together that some of my favorite ones each one of them is starting to have a story that story in the case of this chair was it's nothing amazing but hopefully it's going to give you an idea about how to start thinking about a wider story in your images that you know this is me walking around a place called Berneau in in the Czech Republic where we were in art galleries and there's a weird thing that happened when we were in the Czech Republic is that wherever you went in a gallery or a museum or something there seemed to be somebody in each room always kind of looking at you you know one of the you know there's people who kind of like in an art gallery they sort of stand make sure you don't run off with artworks but there I got the feeling that there was always somebody watching and this was this is one of the watchers chairs and I just like it's a simple image but but there's a story already being built up around it not like oh I saw this and do you see how the red contrasts with the white and stuff like that we're not looking at those stories not telling the photographer telling people why you're taking the photograph you're telling about what motivates you as a photographer what's what's the interesting story around this this is the roof of the departures hall it's a IED you know in in Dulles in Washington DC and I love this photograph again it's that busy space this place is hugely busy and I'm standing there's lots of people and you know saying goodbye to a friend of mine and I'm like looking around I go look at this beautiful ceiling that's amazing but also I don't know if you know this airport terminals are designed to help funnel you in a direction of which you want to go not literally with like walls and things obviously they have those but next time that you are in an airport terminal look at the ceiling the roof the design it is to help flow the people through the building that's it and look at that that is like it's this way you could have they could have just put this post up into the roof but they've taken the time to sculpt to see how that kind of it's flowing I love that that's so that's what's drawing please see how I'm getting I'm getting into the image and I'm bringing you as the viewer into the story it's now that images starting to resonate with you in a different way as if I just went this is an iPhone 12 and it's I photographed this because it looks pretty cool it's it's it's so much more than that there's the orange and the the plastic tables and just wow I love it it's so cool just that was that's at the British Museum it's downstairs there's a place where they would have like the kids school kids and stuff would go to eat their lunch and we're there with me and and my son and then it was his best friend so we went downstairs to somewhere a bit quiet to sit down and there's all this kind of cool stuff these bids this is this is a just you know basically a an area that is just utilitarian and it could have been just you know whatever but look at the effort they've made to have this kind of awesome orange concretey steel thing in there it's just wow it's like nobody ever sees this and yet yeah we have as a photographer we this is our ability to say look thousands and thousands and thousands of people every single day walk over the top of this thing and have no idea that it's there I think this is what we're looking for this picture here this is Stratford tube station in London and again hundreds thousands of people walk past this little yellow wall with the blue dot with the with the arrow every and I don't think anybody has ever considered it as a as potential for a photograph this is about finding those you know as I said earlier that that quietness in the photography then the world around us just somewhere that I can I can touch and go do you know what all right this this is a stillness that I can connect with I don't want the hustle in the bustle I know I have to kind of exist in it because that's the world but I want this this quietness and the reason why my quietness is quite angular why it's quite metallic and and I always say brutalist but it's got these kind of hard angles is because I grew up near mountain kings it is a it is a what's called a new town there's lots of this kind of architecture around and I find that comforting I find that out a solidness in my world where I don't necessarily see that with countryside and landscapes and things like that I want a simplicity of line of shape form texture things of that nature that kind of just goes you know what I just I want to have them sit and just be a safe place it's about inviting the viewer into your world making them feel something with the photographs that way it makes those photographs easier to stand out in the person's mind Peter Licks images stand out in people's minds because he has built an environment around them not a physical environment though the you know the galleries and all that sort of stuff but he's built an ethos a mythos almost is that the right word of Peter Lick the photographer he's telling stories he's not saying I am the greatest thing in the world or maybe he is but you know that's part of his shtick right but he has taken the time to present these photographs in a way that resonates with certain people and he's done a very good job with that now even if you don't agree with the terminology that he uses the way that he presents himself if he's brash or if you think he's too much of a salesman or something like that you cannot deny that people remember his images because he gives them something more to hold on to than just the photograph if you want people to resonate with your images you want them to remember your images give them a story with it give them something give them a reason for it to lodge somewhere in their mind that is separate from all the other photographs and all the other images that they see I am going to be launching my print space I'm going to be launching my prints on Friday the first is coming Friday and I'm just oh I'm like I'm still so nervous I'm going to see what happens I've been busy you know thinking about you know the story is going to go with my images if you would like to get early access to the launch and get a £25 gift card as well which would be pretty cool there is a link in the description box to sign up for the invite thank you ever so much for watching check out this video over here and I will see you again soon