Peter Schön

Peter was born in Germany and grew up in Austria. He is currently based in Narvik/Norway and Tbilisi/Georgia, working as certified ski guide and avalanche consultant. His passion for photography started in the mountains. He is an avid ski mountaineer, with several first ski descents of 5000 - 7000m peaks in the Andes, Pamir, Tien Shan and South Caucasus. Capturing the aura of these mountains and the sport through photography has been the goal of each journey. In the recent years, it has been the South Caucasus that inspired him the most, with its intense mix of mountains and cultures. Often, a climber or skier is an element of his images – but small, in the background, with the mountain being the dominating element. All of his images were taken “on the go” – none were setup or planned. Also, some of the best images are from his early days of film photography. As such, there is often a touch of natural imperfection in the images. Peters maintains his affinity to analogue photography, still using film for dedicated photography projects. While he started with mountain photography, Peter also worked in the fields of documentary and reportage. This includes work about refugees and displaced persons in the South Caucasus. His work has been largely under the radar, but four of his images won Merit Awards in the 2012 and 2013 Black & White Magazine Single Image Contests, and he has published in renowned climbing and skiing magazines such as Backcountry and Alpinist. If you read about his expeditions and first ski descents, it will most likely only be in connection with photography. He likes to work with photo stories, with one image and a short text. If the image is good, then the climbing/skiing story behind it is worth telling.