- Joined
- Jun 10, 2004
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Peter was the founder and proprietor of Looking Glass Photographic Arts located in Berkeley/Oakland, California from 1971-2000, passed away April 12,2005. For many years Peter taught photography at Diablo Valley College (DVC) in Pleasant Hill, California and at the University of California Berkeley through their Associated Student (ASUC) and U.C. Extension program.
I was fortunate enough to have taken his beginning photography class at DVC. Having started off my first semester of college on the wrong foot, I choose to take a photo class because I thought it would be an easy A. Get a camera, walk around taking photos of whatever, go to the drug store get the pictures back, take them to class, a little show and tell and an A grade in 16 weeks. I was so very wrong. What's black and white film? A darkroom? Film developing and printing? What did I get myself into? I got myself involved with a teacher who would eventually become like a father to me and an art forum that would change my life though it did not seem like that in the beginning. I wasn't the best student in Peter's class but after receiving a strong lecture (which became the first of many) for only having shot two rolls of film for the first two weeks of class I started to take his class more seriously. After all, I needed an A right? Eventual, I fell in love with printing. I enjoyed shooting and developing film but being in the darkroom was fascinating. I guess when I began to show a genuine interest in his class and photography, he became my photo coach. Close to the end of the semester, he had a job opening at the Looking Glass and asked if I was interested. Sure, why not. Little did I know interviews at the Looking Glass consisted of a two part written test, photographic knowledge and basic math. No problem with the math but I did get a lecture for getting a few answers wrong on the knowledge test because that test was pretty much like his final that I received an A on. He was not happy with my reply of, "Well, I studied for the other test."
Lucky for me I got the job and I'm still working at the Looking Glass. I've worked there for almost 20 years (I did work at another photo store for a few years but that's another story). During the years I worked for Peter our relationship grew from employee to friend to father. I truly love him like a father and he loved and lectured me like I was his daughter. I miss him a lot. This is just my story. There are other people with Peter stories as well. Some good, some bad, some happy and some that are just sorta mean. Peter ran the Looking Glass in a umm, let's just say personal manner. His way of doing business was not like most people. All in all I think his photo supply store offered a great service and left a lot of customers happy. He had a big heart and a great love for photography and the Arts. Even though Looking Glass has had a new owner for the last 4 years or so, I like to think that we're still offering the same if not better quality of service.
There are many other people, students as well as photographers who's life Peter has touched. The sad thing is I'm just now learning about all his accomplishments. He was always a very private person. A lot of his photography was exhibited in Mexico and a few other countries. He was friends with many well known and not so well known photographers locally and around the world. At some point I hope to create a website to share his life and photography with other people. If you'd like to see some of his images, you can go to www.zonezero.com
Well, I'm sure I've said plenty. APUG is apart of my photo community and it just seemed fitting to mention Peter Pfersick's passing away, as well as tell a little about how I knew him . If there are any apug'ers that shopped at the store and/or knew Peter, and would like to attend the memorial service, which is going to be more like a get together and a small exhibit of some of his work, on Saturday, April 23rd, please PM me and I'll send you info.
tomtom
I was fortunate enough to have taken his beginning photography class at DVC. Having started off my first semester of college on the wrong foot, I choose to take a photo class because I thought it would be an easy A. Get a camera, walk around taking photos of whatever, go to the drug store get the pictures back, take them to class, a little show and tell and an A grade in 16 weeks. I was so very wrong. What's black and white film? A darkroom? Film developing and printing? What did I get myself into? I got myself involved with a teacher who would eventually become like a father to me and an art forum that would change my life though it did not seem like that in the beginning. I wasn't the best student in Peter's class but after receiving a strong lecture (which became the first of many) for only having shot two rolls of film for the first two weeks of class I started to take his class more seriously. After all, I needed an A right? Eventual, I fell in love with printing. I enjoyed shooting and developing film but being in the darkroom was fascinating. I guess when I began to show a genuine interest in his class and photography, he became my photo coach. Close to the end of the semester, he had a job opening at the Looking Glass and asked if I was interested. Sure, why not. Little did I know interviews at the Looking Glass consisted of a two part written test, photographic knowledge and basic math. No problem with the math but I did get a lecture for getting a few answers wrong on the knowledge test because that test was pretty much like his final that I received an A on. He was not happy with my reply of, "Well, I studied for the other test."
Lucky for me I got the job and I'm still working at the Looking Glass. I've worked there for almost 20 years (I did work at another photo store for a few years but that's another story). During the years I worked for Peter our relationship grew from employee to friend to father. I truly love him like a father and he loved and lectured me like I was his daughter. I miss him a lot. This is just my story. There are other people with Peter stories as well. Some good, some bad, some happy and some that are just sorta mean. Peter ran the Looking Glass in a umm, let's just say personal manner. His way of doing business was not like most people. All in all I think his photo supply store offered a great service and left a lot of customers happy. He had a big heart and a great love for photography and the Arts. Even though Looking Glass has had a new owner for the last 4 years or so, I like to think that we're still offering the same if not better quality of service.
There are many other people, students as well as photographers who's life Peter has touched. The sad thing is I'm just now learning about all his accomplishments. He was always a very private person. A lot of his photography was exhibited in Mexico and a few other countries. He was friends with many well known and not so well known photographers locally and around the world. At some point I hope to create a website to share his life and photography with other people. If you'd like to see some of his images, you can go to www.zonezero.com
Well, I'm sure I've said plenty. APUG is apart of my photo community and it just seemed fitting to mention Peter Pfersick's passing away, as well as tell a little about how I knew him . If there are any apug'ers that shopped at the store and/or knew Peter, and would like to attend the memorial service, which is going to be more like a get together and a small exhibit of some of his work, on Saturday, April 23rd, please PM me and I'll send you info.
tomtom
