When I returned from Europe, I received a graduate assistantship which took me to India for another 3 months, and gave me more great opportunities to take more photographs as a part of my study. 

After graduate school I spent a few years doing free lance graphic design work and large paintings on canvas. I also worked with a number of companies designing logos and corporate identities. I was in a number of regional art shows, and had a few one-man shows in Upstate New York.

Then that rude awaking came, and I realized that I needed to get a 'real job' to support my artwork! I was fortunate to do some teaching on the high school and college level, and quickly realized that I needed to get out of teaching and find a more hands-on creative job! I was very fortunate again, and received a job as a packaging designer.  That job lead to another job as a packaging engineer for Fisher-Price Toys.

After a few years working as a designer for Fisher-Price, I received a sales position with them, and was relocated to Cincinnati.  I enjoyed selling, and learning about business. I was also in a position where I could learn about retailing, and after about 5 years of this, the job began to be more about writing reports, doing extensive paperwork, and less about selling, so it was time for me to move on. 

I became a manufactures representative in the toy, hobby and sporting goods industries, and did well until the retail industry in my categories began to change where a handful of national accounts specializing in toys, hobbies and sporting goods were seriously hurting the independent retailers that I was selling to. It was a difficult decision, but I left this industry, and began selling printed packaging to manufacturers of high-end consumer products.  The business was excellent, and I was able to bring the graphics training and background together with consumer products, retailing and marketing. I enjoyed it very much, did a lot of domestic travel, and made an excellent career in sales.  I continue to work in this industry where I sell high quality folding cartons the the spirits and cosmetics industries.

I have always enjoyed photography, and used a 35mm Nikomat that I bought through the Whole Earth Catalog while I was at R.I.T. I knew a lot of photography majors in school, and always admired their work.  Photography seemed so fast compared to painting, and they got some excellent images. While I was in NYC about 5 years ago, I bought an inexpensive Nikon Coolpix 5000, and found my passion again with photography!  It was fun to do, very fast, and I could view instant results! I could shoot the sunrise, all day and into the evening, and it didn't cost a thing for film, processing and printing!  I began to mat and frame my work, and started placing them on consignment at gift shops and art galleries.  All of a sudden it took off, and I quickly learned the framing business, and was having a ball!  I'm still very happy when someone likes my work enough to buy it, and feel that they are receiving an excellent value for the money. 

Things were going fantastic for me, and I was in about 15 very nice shops and galleries.  The work was selling, and I enjoyed learning how to build displays, and market my work. One day a few years ago I received a telephone call from the film industry, and they wanted me to mock-up some of my work as postcards for a movie being filmed here in Wilmington, North Carolina.  I did, and I was told that quite a few of the people working on the movie wanted the postcard samples from the set after the shooting!  I had been encouraged before this to look into making postcards, but this really hit home, and I all of a sudden found myself in the postcard business!  I bought some more digital cameras, and began taking more and more photographs, and built a line of high quality postcards that now cover the entire North Carolina Coast!

The business has been blessed, and we now have an excellent customer base of high quality retailers that we supply our 5x7“ Postcards to. Based on the postcard success, we recently added an assortment of 12x18“ Mini-Posters, and the Coastal Carolina Playing Cards that have 54 of the best selling shots on them. As long as my work continues to be well received by the public, and as long as it keeps selling at retail, I'll keep shooting, and making more high quality unique products.

In addition to the framed prints, postcards, posters and playing cards methods of distribution of my work, I have been extremely fortunate to have my work selected by numerous publications where it's used for photo illustration.  It's been featured on many magazine covers, as well to promote state travel and tourism by the North Carolina Ferry System.  It's always exciting to see a photograph that I took printed anywhere, and especially when the shot is being used for a good cause!

I also receive a number of assignments for specific needs by publishers and advertising agencies.  I also donate a lot of my work for non-profit organizations, and am always open to inquiries about this.  My exceptionally large framed works in the 24x30” range have been purchased by foundations to be used as gifts for visiting dignitaries, and awards by civic organizations. I'm proud of the fact that numerous corporations have purchased my work to be used to decorate their corporate offices, and are a part of their permanent art collections.  

My works appears on a regular basis in 'Our State' magazine, and has been used on featured billboard advertising, and various advertising campaigns.  I was taken recently when I received a call from DreamWorks in California, and have recently signed an agreement with Paramount to have my work as a feature prop in their upcoming major motion picture 'THE SOLOIST!'  If you care to look for it, my 'Seven Lighthouses of North Carolina' Postcard will be on Robert Downey Jr,'s desk, and I've been told it will be a repeated key prop for the movie! 

I'm married, and have 3 beautiful children that are all involved in the business, which allows me to spend the time with my full time job in the packaging business. Making time to shoot new photographs is a priority to me, and the business, and I try to shoot at least 3 times a week. This remains to be the most enjoyable part of the business, and I truly enjoy doing it. I have also been blessed to work with very talented people in the industry that make the graphic design, prepress production, and production of the products go smoothly, which again allows me to concentrate on developing new images, and introducing new products to the trade.

I continue to sell the matted and framed work through this web site, and hope that some day in the future the business will grow to the point where it can become my full-time job.  Thank you very much for taking your valuable time to spend on the website, and for supporting my work.  I work hard to keep it fresh, and for the most part it is presented in it's natural state with very little (if any), manipulation.

I hope that you enjoy viewing my work, and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or would like to discuss what I'm doing. 

Best regards,

Peter