Some of my earliest memories from childhood, linked to photography, were studying photographs of my father, standing by the Sphinx and the Pyramids, while stationed in Cairo. I decided that the first place that I would visit abroad would be in his footsteps. My first solo trip was to Egypt and some of the photographs taken were subsequently submitted to a film library, with a tentative enquiry as to their suitability. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were accepted, and a short while later, a picture of the Pyramids, was published in the Radio Times and then others subsequently were published by Titan High Tours.

It wasn’t long after this in 1987 that I took a picture of my young son Lawrence, who was getting ready for his bed and I submitted this picture to Yorkshire television for a National portrait competition. My print won the competition; and I later appeared with Lawrence on Calendar Lunchtime Live, a daytime television news programme. The picture subsequently appeared in three exhibitions, in York, Harrogate and the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. On the way back from this most interesting day out, my wife suggested that I should perhaps try doing this work professionally and after some deliberation and uncertainty I was asked to film someone’s wedding and from that moment on I have never looked back.

My late father in law and my own grandfather had both been stationed in East and West Africa and my love of the continent grew more and more. Later my pictures were carried by several libraries and I was commissioned by a travel company to film for them in Jamaica. My work has been used extensively by such companies as Titan High Tours, Thomson, British Airways, Princess Cruises and Manos Holidays, Virgin, Cosmos and Portland and in addition through photo stock libraries, my work has appeared in The Times, News of the World, GQ, OK, The Radio Times and others.

In 2004 I was asked by a local business woman, where I had purchased a picture of a leopard that I had in my office, as she loved big cats. I explained to her that I had taken the picture in Kenya the previous year and from this initial enquiry and subsequent purchase; I decided that I would attempt to market these images as “limited edition” prints. They are limited to 100 copies of each image and measure approximately 22" x 18" when framed. Selections of these prints are available to view on the “Limited Edition Gallery”. They are a small selection of what is currently available and can be purchased by contacting me via the "Contact" page. New editions are being added to the collection on a regular basis.

Peter Rye

LENZMAN