About Peter

Baltimore County
In Peter Stern’s photography, viewers see the Mid-Atlantic from a unique and intimate perspective. Flying low, slow, and alone in his small airplane over the coal mines of Pennsylvania and the coastal landscapes of the lower Eastern Shore, Stern conveys an intimacy with his subject that echoes his deep personal connection to the region.
 
With the ability to fly between 500 and 800 feet above his subjects, and shooting primarily in “bird’s-eye” perspective, Stern discovered that he… more

Images 2007-2010

  • Quarry Abstract
    Quarry Abstract
    08/31/2007 Lancaster County, PA This image initiated my narrative of the “third space” between the representational and the abstract. I was impressed by the stunning richness of the rocks and minerals arranged about the excavation, the pareidolia creatures they contained, and how the enormous boulders used to line the gravel roads throughout the quarry become the most delicate rows of gems when seen from the air.
  • Anthracite Scrublands
    Anthracite Scrublands
    10/09/2009 Luzerne County, PA Outside of Nanticoke, hearty shrubs and small trees hold on to islands of soil among the waste rock and coal tailings near an abandoned coal processing site
  • Winter Track
    Winter Track
    02/04/2010 Lancaster County, PA Low southern Winter light creates long shadows from the barren trees surrounding a dirt track near New Holland.
  • Coal Ridge Forest
    Coal Ridge Forest
    10/08/2008 Schuylkill County, PA Ridges of coal tailings near Lansford show the progression of forest re-growth from the unmined hill in the foreground to the farthest ridges just above the stripping pit in the background.
  • Red Shale and Coal Tailings
    Red Shale and Coal Tailings
    11/21/2009 Luzerne County, PA To the East and Southeast of Hazleton, vast areas appear as a churned and blackened landscape of hills of coal tailings and lakes of dried run-off from anthracite strip mines. Within that landscape lies intimate beauty.
  • Marsh Spirit Figure
    Marsh Spirit Figure
    10/20/2010 Ocean County, NJ Flying west from Barnegat Light over the Manahawkin Bay marshlands, I encountered this human like figure emerging from the marsh. The straight and diagonal lines in the photograph are drainage channels, cut a century ago for the purpose of improving irrigation and reducing mosquito breeding. These man-made lines give the image the appearance of a cave painting or hieroglyph, as if created by a giant hand from the sky upon the landscape.
  • Phasianus
    Phasianus
    07/03/2010 Clearfield County, PA Piles of multicolored tailings from a mine in western Pennsylvania created by humans and earth moving machinery form graceful patterns seen from the above, part of the aesthetic beauty found within the altered landscapes of Pennsylvania.
  • Island, Prettyboy Reservoir
    Island, Prettyboy Reservoir
    12/31/2009 Baltimore County, Maryland This image represents one of the unexpected discoveries made by casually taking along the camera on an unexpected flight. The last day of the decade, December 31’st, 2009, and I was released from work early. Just a dusting of snow on the ground didn’t keep me from taking to the air, and flying south into Maryland and over Pretty Boy Reservoir, I slowly circled and photographed this peaceful winter gem in the middle of the lake.
  • Jersey Shore Waves
    Jersey Shore Waves
    10/20/2010 Ocean County, New Jersey Flying low along the coastline north of Atlantic City, I took numerous photos as I proceeded towards Barnegat Light. Several days of heavy rains in recent days had left the coastal waters heavily laden with sediment, giving the water the murky, greenish hue. The unusual, backwards cresting of the waves make it appear as if these are giant waves seen from the side cascading towards the viewer, when actually the photograph is from a vertical perspective. The two people in the upper right corner are the few humans that appear in any of my aerial photographs.
  • Dyer Quarry
    Dyer Quarry
    08/31/2007 Berks County Pennsylvania Dyer Quarry, which is off-limits to the public due to several deaths that have occurred there, has become a special place of interest to me. I have flown over it often, looking into the peaceful depths, often watching birds circling just over the water, and have even made the journey to visit the quarry by land, in which I found it to be a lovely, spiritual, powerful and impressive place.

Lower Eastern Shore 12/26-27,2014

  • Leafy Sea Dragon
    Leafy Sea Dragon
    12/272014 Accomack County, Virginia Tidal flats near Wachapreague create the impression of a seahorse or mythical creature when seen from above.
  • Tidal Sinew
    Tidal Sinew
    12/27/2014 Accomack County, Virginia A tidal estuary system appears like veins, or sinew, upon the surface of the Earth.
  • Atlantic
    Atlantic
    12/27/2014 Accomack County, Virginia The Atlantic coastline of Metompkin Island
  • Shadow Forest
    Shadow Forest
    12/27/2014 Accomack County, Virginia Launching from Accomack County Airport at first light, I witnessed long shadows cast from the thin line of trees atop a berm separating marsh and field.
  • Winter Marsh
    Winter Marsh
    12/26/2014 Accomack County, Virginia Winter light brought unexpeted richness to the palatte of colors in the marshlands of the Eastern Shore.
  • Luckdragon
    Luckdragon
    12/26/2014 Accomack County, Virginia "Luckdragon" imagines a creature composed primarily of underwater shoals in the lower Chesapeake Bay, imagining the Japanese mythical dragon Fukuryu, which has no particular powers, but simply “brings luck”.
  • Shoreline Angel
    Shoreline Angel
    12/26/2014 Accomack County, Virginia
  • Alluvial 2
    Alluvial 2
    12/26/2014 Sommerset County, Maryland
  • Marsh Channel and Hummocks
    Marsh Channel and Hummocks
    12/26/2014 Sommerset County, Maryland
  • Marsh Diagonals
    Marsh Diagonals
    12/26/2014 Sommerset County, Maryland

Images 2019

  • Treeline
    Treeline
    05/17/2019 York County, Pennsylvania
  • Sand Mine Berm
    Sand Mine Berm
    05/19/2019 Cecil County, Maryland
  • Sand Mine
    Sand Mine
    05/19/2019 Cecil County, Maryland
  • Deforested Hillside
    Deforested Hillside
    05/22/2019 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
  • Cloud Study #3.
    Cloud Study #3.
    08/02/2019 York County, Pennsylvania
  • Quarry Figure
    Quarry Figure
    10/09/2019 Berks County, Pennsylvania
  • Quarry Elements
    Quarry Elements
    10/09/2019 Berks County, Pennsylvania
  • Quarry Light
    Quarry Light
    10/09/2019 Berks County, Pennsylvania
  • Strata
    Strata
    10/09/2019 Berks County, Pennsylvania
  • Eye of Horus
    Eye of Horus
    10/09/2019 Berks County, Pennsylvania

Images 2016-2017

  • Escarpment
    Escarpment
    10/21/2016 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania A low-lying area of coal dust consisting of fine particles of coal washed from coal strippings by erosion reflects light from the shallow water that runs across its surface.
  • Talus
    Talus
    11/02/2016 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Mounds of coal tailings near an open strip-mine near Hazleton resemble an otherworldly topography. The various colors are rocks and minerals. The low-lying area between the mounds contains elements which have been washed into those areas, and erosion lines can be seen on the mounds.
  • Carbón
    Carbón
    06/02/2017 Northumberland County, Pennsylvania The name of this image alludes to the generations of immigrants who worked these mines. These tailings are the testament to their extreme hard work and sacrifice. The element of carbon forms the basis for this mass of sifted Earth-rock. It's shape has been altered in time by the forces of water and wind, and the tires of off-road vehicles.
  • Rivulet
    Rivulet
    08/25/2017 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
  • Fossil
    Fossil
    10/27/2017 Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Looking down into an area adjacent to a mine creates the impression of fossilized cambrian creatures and plants embedded in shale.
  • Black Rose
    Black Rose
    10/27/2017 Clearfield County, Pennsylvania A large mound of coal awaits loading by the conveyor to the right into trucks for transport from the mine. The red color in the water is likely from iron.
  • Gradient
    Gradient
    10/27/2017 Clearfield County, Pennsylvania A hillside strewn with rocks and boulders forms a gradient of textures as the larger pieces roll to the lower part of the scarp adjacent to a bituminous coal mine.
  • Tuscarora
    Tuscarora
    12/07/2017 Franklin County, Pennsylvania Late Fall brought soft light and a variety of colors, textures and forms that combine in this section of a bituminous coal mine.
  • Palette
    Palette
    12/07/2017 Adams County, Pennsylvania The soft, sensous motion of color in the gravel, limestone and coal of a small quarry near Gettysburg reminds of a painter's palette.
  • Butterfly Earth
    Butterfly Earth
    06/15/2017 York County, Pennsylvania Fields in crop rotation follow the contour of the earth near the Susquehanna River.