Peter Holcombe
As a youngster I loved to carry around my father's Nikons and play "taking pictures". Then as I grew, my father showed me the actual workings of the camera and was amazed that by turning some knobs and looking through this strange metal box I was able to make images that would be preserved on paper. This magical and unbelievable process hooked me on photography for life. Although I studied art, painting and drawing throughout my education and loved working with my hands to create art, I always came back to my camera. When I learned that the University of Oklahoma School of Fine Arts offered a degree in photography I immediately switched majors from graphic design to photography.
When I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media with an emphasis in Photography, I was intent on exploring the scenic and remote regions of western America and Canada. I spent every possible moment exploring the wilderness with camera in tow on countless adventures rock climbing, mountain biking, mountaineering, kayaking and more. My passion for adventure took me to some amazing places while I developed my own style and technique for landscape photography. Photographers such as Galen Rowel, Ansel Adams, and Michael Fatali influenced me. This was a pre-dawn in my career; a personal exploration; a chance to gain knowledge and experience through trial and error and thousands of rolls of film. I began to sell fine art prints through galleries, restaurants and coffee shops in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Colorado. My clients were very kind in giving me encouragement to take my work to the next level.
In 2000 I was asked to photograph a wedding and reluctantly agreed. I was pleasantly surprised to find that many of the elements that I loved in my adventure photography also occurred in the course of a wedding day: the fast pace, fleeting moments in beautiful environments, as well as the intensity of emotion. I was equally amazed that I was having a great time and was really inspired to tell the wedding day story. This led from one wedding to another and now our wedding photography business is thriving. We have photographed weddings and portraits all across the United States from mountaintops to beaches, and are looking forward to several upcoming weddings scattered across the globe.
While my subject matter has changed throughout my life, my passion has not: to capture beautiful images and preserve them for the enjoyment of future generations. Weddings are the outlet for my passion as they are rich with emotion and intimate moments, and the anticipation of these decisive moments means success or failure in photography. I thrive on these fleeting moments and the diversity of experiences at each wedding I photograph. As a historian and an artist it is a huge responsibility to tell the wedding day story. My mission is to unobtrusively document the essence of the wedding day searching out moments of emotion, and to preserve those beautiful moments in time for generations to come.
