About the Photographer

A completely self-taught photographer, Peter Jarver's natural talent was complimented by his enthusiasm for the great Australian landscape. Long an advocate for the preservation of our natural heritage, his images are not just technically perfect and aesthetically pleasing - in them Peter was able to capture the emotion and drama of a place in a way few other photographers can.

"Time really tells who the true masters are and he will go down as one of them. The power of his images are going to live on for generations."   Ken Duncan

Peter Jarver passed away peacefully on 24 April 2003, aged 49 years. We invite you to read about the photographer and share in his passion for nature.

Peter Jarver established a reputation as Australia's foremost landscape photographer, and his legacy lives on through his work. Internationally renowned for both his Landscapes and his unique Skyscape images, through his art Peter Jarver captured the essence of the Australian wilderness.

"Photography gives me a reason to immerse myself in the natural environment. To observe, to listen and to feel the spirit of nature is relaxing and fulfilling in itself, but to bring home images which capture the very essence of a place or a moment is truly satisfying. Time and time again I am able to transport myself to a particular place, or remember a magical moment of time when the quality of light transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary. Through the images in my gallery, I hope you can also transport yourself to a time and a place where your physical being is not, but where your spirit longs to be."

A multi-award winning photographer with over 20 years of experience, Peter received his Master of Photography award from the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) in 1994.

Peter Jarver's work is highly regarded and is represented in numerous private and corporate collections around the world.

"A true photographic artist should be able to produce images which are not just technically perfect or aesthetically pleasing, but also capture the emotion or drama of the place. Water should be heard to burble, leaves to rustle. The image should be swelling with emotion, the viewer drawn by the heart into the very essence of place. I believe I have achieved this and through my images I hope you can accompany me on a journey through the great Australian landscape."

Peter Jarver, Master of Photography AIPP

Australia may have lost one of its finest photographers with the recent death of Australian photographer Peter Jarver, but his legacy will live on

Charging into electrical storms, dangling over thundering waterfalls, crawling around croc infested swamps, wading into flooded streams, clambering up rocky escarpments. It was all in a day's work for photographer Peter Jarver.

So was the art of waiting. Hours. Days. Months. Sometimes years.

The Adelaide-born son of Estonian parents, Peter turned his fascination with stormy weather into a career when he swapped an electrical engineering degree for a camera and moved to Darwin -- home of some of the world's biggest electrical storms.

In the dead of night and in torrential downpours, he would be out chasing some of the 40,000 lightning flashes that split Darwin's brooding wet season skies each year. Those giant tentacles of electricity and the menacing skyscapes they illuminated became his hallmark.

Once "nibbled" by the lightning he was trying to photograph, Peter said he had taken so many lightning shots, he could almost feel when a bolt was about to strike

A fervent conservationist, he turned his attentions to Kakadu, Ayers Rock, the Kimberleys and the Olgas, capturing the mood changes of an extraordinary part of a remarkable continent.

His crystal sharp images - mostly shot in large format with a view camera and tripod -- added a new and personal perspective to an old landscape format. His indulgence of ripe and fruity colours, combined with simple but dramatic composition, invoked an emotional response few could resist.

Australia's father of photography Max Dupain wrote in his foreward to Peter Jarver's book Kakadu Country (published 1988): "Without doubt, Peter's work has drama. (His) sensitive eye has carefully considered this environment and like all serious photographers he has not just reacted to it, he has over-reacted to this turbulent land, resulting in pictures which express essences and not generalities, a concentration of vital elements in preference to a broad pattern of component parts. This means intensity and, of course, drama."

Film companies sang his praises. Photographic judges declared him a winner over and over. In 1994, he became one of the first landscape photographers to be awarded a Master of Photography by the Australian Institute of Professional Photography. His work has been exhibited in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide.

Having captured nature's exotic set pieces, Peter and wife Deborah published them in a series of best-selling books and calendars - continuing to do so when they moved to Far North Queensland in 1993. It was there that he was introduced to an even wider audience, with the opening of three galleries in Cairns and Kuranda

Among those lamenting Jarver's death is Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin, who paid tribute to him in Parliament, saying his passing would be felt by all Territorians. "Peter was the man who brought the Territory wet season to us who live there, but also to the rest of Australia. With his patience, skills and extraordinary technique, he captured the elusive beauty, the sound and light show, that is the Top End in the monsoon. "We face the loss of a great artist, who did so much to bring attention to the beauty and excitement of the storms of the Top End. But in a way, Peter will share a kind of immortality and not only through his works, which remain with us. When the wet season comes to the Top End and the lightning rips across the sky, illuminating the purple thunderheads over the sea, this, above all else, will be Peter Jarver's lasting memorial."

Queensland Tourism echoed her thoughts. "His invaluable contribution to promoting Australia and the paradise of Tropical North Queensland will live on through this extraordinary oeuvre of artwork," said Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive officer Bill Calderwood.

Fellow Australian landscape photographer Ken Duncan gave the following tribute. "He was one of the greatest photographers we've produced. His lightning work and some of his other shots are timeless pieces. In life, there's not many who can transcend death, but his images have and his images will. Time really tells who the true masters are and he will go down as one of them. The power of his images are going to live on for generations.

Extracts taken from The Cairns Post, 10 May 2003

Awards

Peter Jarver's work has been recognised with numerous awards throughout his career:

1985 First Prize, Kodachrome Golden Anniversary
1987 National Print Award - Ilford Trophy for the highest scoring print
1987 Gold Award - Sydney International Exhibition of Photography
1988 Silver Award - Sydney International Exhibition of Photography
1992 Fuji Award - Automotive Category - "Toyota"
1994 Recipient of Master of Photography AIPP
2001 AIPP National Print Awards - 1 Gold Award, 1 Silver Award with Distinction and 2 Silver Awards
2002 Australian Professional Photography Awards: Landscape - 2 Silver Awards with Distinction and 2 Silver Awards

Peter Jarver was prominently featured as a lightning photographer and freelance consultant for the Austrian-made television documentary on thunderstorms titled "Weapons of the Gods", which was distributed worldwide.