Peter Hurley

For the last 14 years I’ve been photographing people five feet in front of my lens day in and day out, and I’ve found that I am really only searching for one thing whenever I look through my viewfinder: their true self. I learned quickly when I first began photographing people that it’s the most elusive thing to have to find, yet without it I have nothing.

Little did I know that this would be my predicament when I first picked up a camera, but I thrive in challenging environments and have always stepped up to the plate when the heat is on. I developed this trait as a young sailor on Barnegat Bay. Each year, the stretch from Labor Day to Memorial Day was a blur in my life as I waited for the time when the water warmed up and I could get back out on the racecourse. I didn’t know it then, but the drive and perseverance I gained from sailing would be the very forces that would propel everything I set out to do in life. I had my ups and downs on and off the water, but in San Francisco Bay at the 2000 US Olympic team trials I accomplished a major life goal of becoming a member of the United States Sailing Team.

That moment closed a chapter in my life that I’ll never forget, but sailing brought so much to the table for me. I’ve always lived flying by the seat of my pants, and taking whatever path has been laid out in front of me is definitely a recurring theme in my life. While training for the Olympics I found myself sailing in ads for Polo and Abercrombie & Fitch. This led to a turn of events that slapped me in front of the camera for a number of years and paved the way for me to eventually jump behind it.

My fascination with the human face left me no choice but to become a portrait photographer. I remember my patience being tested as I waited for the developer to kick in while spending countless hours in the darkroom. As those faces slowly appeared, I knew I was in my element and there wasn’t anywhere I’d rather be. Although the faces show up much more quickly these days, my passion for capturing them remains as fierce as ever.

Allowing happenstance to take me wherever it may is still how I roll, and recently I began speaking about and teaching the craft I love. I’ve been honored to deliver my ideas to companies that I would’ve never dreamed possible, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, GoDaddy and TEDx. Although my camera is still my workhorse, what I’ve done with it is so much more than just photography to