Peter Latham

Peter Latham is an established landscape photographer based in North Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand. He has a wide range, from sunny North Island beach scenes to golden light on snow-dusted mountains, soft-flowing waterfalls, and emerald green lakes. In all of his work, Peter’s distinctive style is apparent, showing an experienced understanding of light, detail and clarity, and the impact of wide panoramic shots made by stitching many frames together. Constantly seeking new inspiration, Peter conducts extensive research to uncover fresh subjects and locations that engage his audience.

New Zealand may be small on the map, but these far flung islands pack more variety and grandeur into every corner than anywhere else. Not that it makes my job any easier, NZ is surrounded by vast oceans and that means one thing—rapidly changing weather & plenty of liquid sunshine! I work hard to capture images that portray an original point of view, but it's all about the light and getting yourself in the right place at the right time. And when things don't go to plan, I'll try again. I'm persistent if nothing else! 

Peter was drawn to photography at an early age. He learned to develop film in a darkroom and found the whole process, including the length of time it took to reveal each photograph, magical. He bought a Canon T70 in the late 80s, soon followed by a Bronica 645 120 film camera. Today, the latest generation of Phase One medium format camera equipment allows Peter to capture images with even greater precision and detail than previously possible.

Peter prints all of his photographs himself using a large format printer with archival pigment inks onto 100% cotton-rag fine art paper or acid-free archival canvas. These processes are state of the art and the materials used are the highest quality available. Print permanence ratings were published in 2007 by the Wilhelm Research Institute of California. They rated the print permanence of the processes and materials Peter uses to be greater than 250 years (indoors).

Peter’s first book, Looking For The Light, was released in 2017 to wide acclaim and has now sold out. In the same year, Peter completed a series of 20 large installations for Auckland International Airport, showcasing the NZ landscape on an extraordinary scale. His latest book, Land of Light: Landscape Photographs of New Zealand was released in late 2024 and is available from Art by the River.

Peter’s work is held in collections around the world, including by a number of corporate clients (TVNZ, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Rydges Hotel, Vector Arena, and more). Art by the River can arrange for any prints to be made on order.