Biography

For his entire life, Peter Loy has always felt as if he has been “from somewhere else” -- not just limited to a physical location, but deeper - to a cultural combination that was different, unique, and special. Peter’s German-born-now-American-with-an-accent father and his Filipina mother made for a mix that could be from almost anywhere, yet is distinctly not from here. Not from anywhere. Peter’s father’s career with Pan Am (remember that airline?) took Peter on visits to fifty-six countries and thirty U.S. states. He flew before he could walk and, as a Third Culture Kid, thought that seats were normal if they had folding tray tables, seatbelts, and light switches in the armrest. And his worldwide travels enabled him to observe, understand, and appreciate a great deal. Following high school in Austria, college and graduate school in the states, Peter embarked on a career that has kept him involved in international education and for which he has lived decades as an expatriate on four continents.

Photography

Throughout his travels, Peter always had – and has - a camera to capture memories. On this site there are several galleries, including musicians, wildlife, people (including some very frightening faces), and others. As a photographer and musician, combining the two passions made perfect sense, and was the impetus for the creation of this web site.

Listening to music has always been part of Peter’s daily life - LPs, cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, CDs or MP3 (he never did get into 8-tracks). Going to concerts adds another dimension to the music – seeing the bands live, feeling the energy, hearing new versions of familiar songs brought to life, feeling the deep bass surge through the body. But Peter wanted more after each concert than just a ticket stub and ringing in his ears. Taking photographs of concerts was a natural evolution of the love of photography and music.

The black & white and early color photos were taken with a Minolta SRT 101 with a 150 telephoto lens back in the day of film. All the black and white photos were self-developed and printed (which explains some of the quality). At that time, Peter had a fake press pass for an Austrian magazine, so he bought cheap tickets to concerts, put on the press pass, and made his way to the stage. It worked every time.

A few years ago, in the age of digital photography, Peter attended a small concert by one of his favorite artists, Ilse de Lange in Arnhem. About five minutes before she took the stage, his little camera slipped off his wrist and broke. He swore (a lot) and then promised to buy a good camera for the future. When Peter met Ilse after the show, he told her the story and promised to get some photos the next time. He did – and she published some of them in her publication. The recent photos were taken with a Nikon D850, D7200, and D90 cameras with 70-300/5.6, 70-200/2.8, and 17-55/2.8 lenses. No flash was used for any of the photos. And most of the photos have not been photoshopped – what you see is what Peter sees. Come take a look…

Selection of publications in which photos on this website have appeared:

Behind the Scene, multiple issues 2012-2022

Amsterdam Tattoo Convention website 2015-2023

Wassenaarse Krant, various issues 2011-2021

Venice, the band website 2014

Looking Forward online magazine, 2012

Various artist websites and Instagram by permission (patrissart, pole.by.anouschka, The Common Linnets, Ashley Campbell, Jennifer Batten, Danny Vera, Venice, Ivan Peroti, van._music, Leo Rios, Piggy Mouth, and others)