London-based photographer Kate Peters will be in New York this week for her first solo exhibition in the city, at hpgrp gallery. I contacted her by email last week to find out how she got her start and where she is headed. Here’s the conversation:

Peggy Roalf: How did you get interested in photography?
Kate Peters: I became interested in photography at secondary school, when I was about 16. I went to an alternative type of school that was quite free in it's teaching methods. We had an amazing photography teacher who massively inspired me and sparked the passion. She introduced me to Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, Andre Kertesz, and Diane Arbus amongst others.

Left: Hotel Lobby, Chernobyl. Right: Plane - Las Vegas. Copyright and courtesy Kate Peters.

PR: What camera did you first use and what kind of pictures did you make?
KP: I began shooting black-and-white still-life, a lot of fish heads and flowers and surrealist inspired nudes, very different to what I do today, but I was hooked! My first camera was a Canon AE1 35mm followed by a Russian Lubitel 6x6 that I bought in a Polish Flea market. During the holidays I would convert my bathroom into a darkroom and print my own black-and-white prints, to the dismay of my family, who would have to wait between prints to use the toilet.

PR: What is the strangest, or most surprising, or most difficult place to work in that you have traveled to so far for you personal work - and why did you go there?
KP: I think the strangest and most difficult on more of a mental level would have to be shooting part of my ongoing series 'Yes Mistress' in an S&M dungeon in London. I had arranged a portrait shoot with a dominatrix and two of her 'slaves'. When I arrived and she told me that one of her slaves was downstairs and I might want to photograph him there. I walked into a white room, propped to be like an operating theatre. Inside was a man in a cage, naked apart from a leather hood, who was being electrically shocked in a very sensitive area. It was definitely an eye opener and it really made me question what I was doing.

PR: What is the most challenging assignment you've taken so far?
KP: Every assignment presents it's own set of challenges, whether it's time restraints as in the Julian Assange portrait [for Time] or coming up with a number of different set ups in an uninspiring location with the clock ticking. I'm always trying to do the best I can for every shoot and to push myself to think of different approaches. Sometimes though you do just hit a wall and have to make the most of what you have - it's this feeling of disappointment that I'm constantly trying to avoid. I never go into a shoot feeling particularly confident; I just try to have a plan and be as organized as possible.

PR:  What was it like to photograph Assange? How much time did you get, and was there much interference from his handlers'?
KP: There wasn't actually any time scheduled in for still photographs, it was on the back of a video interview Time was doing. I basically had to convince the very nice video guys to let me have a few minutes at the start to do a portrait, as I thought if I waited until the end, Assange might have had enough. They were very obliging and I managed to set up a background and asked him to stand in - I generally give a bit of direction more where to look and where to gaze the eyes. All the while the phones of his PA's were ringing pretty much non-stop. He didn't say a great deal, he didn't really want to be photographed, and I think I only shot about 30 frames before my time was up. Definitely one of the fastest commissions I've done!

PR: Your personal work and commercial assignments could hardly be more stylistically different. For example, the lighting for your editorial portraits creates a wonderfully artificial embodiment of flesh. Would you speak to the question of artificial vs. naturalistic lighting in terms of portraits vs. landscape, including interior landscapes?
KP: They are such different ways of working and I enjoy both ways for different reasons. I love the simplicity of being within the landscape (both interior and exterior) and making use of the available light, working with long exposures or different times of day. I'm a big fan of getting up early and being out in time for dawn. I like exploring and being just yourself and the camera gives you the freedom to roam and discover things. Equally, though, I enjoy the challenge of creating something out of nothing in the studio. The dominatrix series would have had a much different feeling and in a way a completely different meaning had they been shot in natural light. It just wouldn't have worked for the subject matter.

PR: Could you talk about your thought processes which have led you to create the intensely controlled settings, lighting and direction, that present the subjects in your assignment work to what is, so clearly, their audiences?
KP: With my more commercial assignments I try to strike a balance between pleasing myself and considering the client or magazine and what they are trying to present. For the more controlled studio shoots I usually start by researching the subject, what they do, and what they look like. This will help me to decide my approach to lighting, background etc. I will work out a lighting plan based on what I think will suit them and the mood I want to create, and have all that set up before they arrive. Time is usually short but I like to have a few options in mind should the first one not be right and I have to quickly adjust.

PR: It also seems that your personal landscapes, done with more naturalistic lighting, often create a rather artificial perception of these environments; some of them seem incredibly claustrophobic, considering the breadth of the landscapes in which they are seen, as in Plane - Las Vegas. Would you comment on this idea?
KP: A lot of my landscape work is based on an exploration of the environments we populate and how we as humans make our mark. I'm often trying to allude to the recent history of the place or to who might have created each scene. My parents were antiques dealers and I grew up surrounded by objects that had some kind of history to them; my parents would always be looking for authentic pieces. I guess this has had an effect on what I respond to. I want my images to be authentic, for them to have really existed without too much intervention. Or, in the case of the 'Holy Land' series, to expose the inauthentic, the artificial. A lot of the excitement about photography for me is finding that real scene which speaks to me about something or someone. I suppose by photographing landscapes created by man they are artificial by their nature, though my intention is to present an alternative view of the 'real'.

PR: Can you point to any particular influences you’ve felt that have moved you in the direction you’ve taken so far – in both your personal work and your assignments?
KP: I spent four years assisting photographer Nadav Kander who has been a massive inspiration to my approach to work. Hugely talented and remarkably driven, he always strives to push whatever he is doing, no matter what. This is something I have taken on board and I will always be trying to think how I can improve and questioning myself all the time. I visit a lot of exhibitions and to the detriment of my bank balance buy a lot of art books. I love the humour and emotion in Sophie Calle's work and the writing of Miranda July. Joel Sternfeld and William Eggleston have definitely been influential on my approach. But life in general, and human experiences, are the biggest influence.

PR: How do you balance the demands of commercial work with the time you need for travel?
KP: At the moment I would say that I am very much in the early stages of my career and don't have too much trouble finding the time - funding it is the main issue!

PR: You’ve mentioned that going around by bicycle is a big part of your life. Is there anything about cycling that informs your picture-making process? I’m curious because I think cycling is the most human-scale transit mode, after walking.
KP: I love cycling and the freedom it gives you. What I like about photographing landscapes is being out in the world discovering what's around us. You get the same feeling of being close to things when cycling. You can go places on your own steam, see things, and have time to think.

PR: What is your next far-flung (or nearby but odd) destination?
KP: I have recently been thinking that a photographic journey by bike might be the next trip. I'm not sure exactly where yet, I'm still researching a few projects. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm off though.

Kate Peters: Stranger than Fiction opens Thursday, February 17^th from 6:00-8:00 pm at hpgrp gallery, 529 West 20^th Street, NY, NY. Visit Kate's website.

Kate Peters was born in Coventry, England in 1980, and studied photography at Falmouth College of Arts in Cornwall. Her photographs have been included in publications such as the British Journal of Photography, Monocle, Exit Magazine, The Independent on Sunday, and The Telegraph Magazine. Her portrait of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was featured on the cover of the December 13, 2010 issue of Time Magazine. Her work has been included in group shows at The Hereford and Format Photography Festivals in the UK, Lennox Contemporary in Toronto, and Host Gallery in London. Her 2011 exhibition at hpgrp gallery NY is her first solo show in New York.

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