About Peter
Peter Everard Smith makes photographs that tell stories, whether theyʼre action shots of early Hendrix, reportage from the commercial zoo that underlies the Cannes Film Festival, or a reverential portrait of an Indian guru.
Peterʼs first break into professional photography came when he was roadying for legendary bluesman Alexis Korner, an early mentor and close friend.
John Mayall was part of Alexisʼs dynamic musical world and needed a photographer. “Hey Pete, youʼve got a camera, come and shoot our record sleeve”, said John.
That was in Sixties London and heʼs still in demand 60 years on, having since photographed a galaxy of stars and been honoured by The National Portrait Gallery, which has acquired eight of his photographs as well as one which features him as subject.
As an art student, Peter developed a creative vision that found expression in experimental photography and printing techniques. Early in his career, he was influenced by artists and the work of photographer Man Ray.
With the eyes of an artist, he soon plunged into the heady worlds of music, film, theatre and fashion. From the start, he was encouraged and inspired by another mentor, lifelong friend Lewis Morley, a brilliant photographer best known for his image of Christine Keeler on that chair.
From the start of his career, Peter made a name for himself among picture editors for his knack of getting the best out of tough characters, often capturing seasoned pros in unfamiliarly laid-back mode. Lou Reed, Quentin Tarantino, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear to have relaxed their customary control while facing the charismatically genial man chatting and photographing them in natural light.
Peterʼs early work was centred on the burgeoning music scene in London, where he hung out with musicians including Pentangleʼs Bert Jansch and John Renbourn in Soho.
At one point, Peter and his first wife Mog shared a house that welcomed visiting musicians including Paul Simon. Peter produced the innovative cover photography for Pentangleʼs Basket of Light and art directed the famously sexy cover for Juicy Lucy, which was instantly (and remains) more famous than the albumʼs music.
He was also commissioned early on as a reportage photographer for The Illustrated London News, creating features on London at night and on the river Thames. He subsequently became a regular contributor to The Independent on Sunday Magazine, noted for its championing of high-quality reportage photography.
On the road
Music tours followed, highlights including careening around Europe with Joe Cocker at his wild peak and filming Roger Waters and Joni Mitchell performing The Wall in Berlin. Music festivals such as Glastonbury and Latitude have been regular work venues for Peter since they started.
An early festival experience in the late Sixties was joining a wild bunch of musicians flying in to The Festival of The Midnight Sun in the Arctic Circle (“the plane landed at 11… the passengers a couple of hours later”, reported the local Swedish newspaper).
He worked at intimate gigs and huge venues, too. In the Nineties, he was hired to photograph the Rolling Stonesʼ colossal stadium stage sets, decades after blagging his way onto their tiny stage at The Roundhouse without a pass. He prefers smaller gigs, he says… he can get closer.
Peter developed his talent for reportage in the early Seventies, when he drove his two very young children overland in a VW camper van to India and back, following the death of Mog.
They got close to locals along the way in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and the Himalayas. Even the locals toting AK47s look content to allow the engagingly amiable photographer to shoot close-ups.
He was a founder of The Albion Fairs, which took music and theatre around East Anglia and which he documented photographically.
Travel projects in Britain included the topography of the ancient English landscape and standing stones in The Outer Hebrides.
Soon after these projects, he launched himself into touring internationally with Footsbarn Travelling Theatre, documenting their work and the shows of other touring troupes such as Els Comediants.
Back home
Returning to Britain in 1984, close to his birthplace in Norfolk, Peter, wife Joao and family moved into the slightly time-worn Shimpling Place, a medieval oak-framed moated hall, which is in the Domesday Book.
He gave it some care (does his own plumbing), turning it into a family home with a big studio and dark room – now augmented with digital kit – which is where he still works.
He shot Mercury Prize publicity photographs there for family friend Beth Orton in her early days and heʼs just shot a cover there for his old pal Hank Wangford.
Working from Shimpling, Peterʼs been a regular photographer for the British Film Institute, The Poetry Festival in Aldeburgh and the Unite union for many years, as well as working for national newspapers and magazines.
Heʼs photographed actors including Helena Bonham Carter and Warren Beatty, writers such as Seamus Heaney and Carol Ann Duffy, politicians including Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn, musicians from Roy Orbison to MIA and artists including his friend and neighbour Laurence Edwards.
The medieval walls of his house make a glorious gallery.
