The Decisive Moment: Ema Peter

Architectural photographer Ema Peter has documented many the most significant contemporary buildings throughout Canada and around the globe. Born and raised in Bulgaria, Peter spent much of her youth on set with her father who worked as a cameraman for major Bulgarian film productions. Interested in documenting life as it happens, she began photographing anti-fascist protests as a student. While pursuing an internship in photojournalism at the Magnum photo agency in Paris, she became intimately familiar with the work of French humanist photographer, Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004). Widely known for shooting candid street scenes, Bresson coined the term for this type of photography, ‘the decisive moment.’ It was also in Paris that Peter’s love of modern architecture was ignited. Inspired by the clean lines and visionary thinking of mid-century architects, she drew from her training in photojournalism to document the architectural world around her.

This exhibition featured architecture at the forefront of West Coast Modernism in West Vancouver and coastal British Columbia, with selected images of her renowned international projects. Many of the projects feature multi-generational living, public spaces, and environmental sustainability. The images illustrate Peter’s unique ability to bring architecture to life through fleeting moments: figures moving through space, a cloud tracing the sky, or a rare quality of light.

Artist info: www.emapeter.com