About Peter Giordano

Peter Giordano, who has no formal photographic training, has been casually taking pictures for a long

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time.
"I just grab the camera when I'm going somewhere and I might want to capture the moment," he said.

"The Walker" is one such moment, captured while he and his partner, Deanna Anderson, were walking in Arastradero Preserve.

"I just like looking at her and the way she moves. I shoot her a lot," he said. "She's a dancer. We have a bunch of pictures we call 'The Back Series.' I shoot from behind when she's not looking. She liked that one."

So Giordano scanned it into Adobe Photoshop and started "intuitively messing with it." He was trying to achieve an earthy, strong image that fits the environment, her posture and stride.

"I wanted it to feel strong and a bit raw and powerful. I worked a lot with light and contrast and grain. I went for quite a grainy look. It was a wider field of view when I shot it and I decided to focus on her in a vertical orientation because she's tall. She's 6 feet tall."

"Hopefully what people will see in it is a human being connected to the strength and beauty of the earth," he said. "And also someone in a good relationship with her body. She exemplifies the strength and joy of the human body."

Professionally, Giordano has spent the last 8 to 10 years as a marketing and communications consultant and multimedia producer. Now he's switching back to being a full-time artist and activist. "I'm a musician," he said. "I have a bent toward world music."

-- Katharine Miller