Meet
the
Photographer
My name is Peter Scholz and I am based in Vienna, Austria. Photography is actually my second career. For more than 37 years, I worked in the international leasing industry, most of that time in leadership positions and eventually as CEO. Looking back, it seems like a very different world from photography. But I’m not sure it really is. Because both are ultimately about people.
Long before business became my profession, I was a member of the Vienna Mozart Boys’ Choir. As a teenager, I travelled across Europe, Japan and the United States. Later, I helped organise international tours and concerts, working behind the scenes with artists and productions that reached far beyond Austria. Those experiences taught me something very early: every person has a story worth listening to.
Today, at a stage of life when many people think about slowing down, I find myself building something new. Not because I am leaving one career behind, but because I finally have the opportunity to dedicate myself fully to something that has accompanied me throughout my entire life.
When people ask me what I photograph, my answer is usually very simple: people. Everything else is just context.
What’s your signature as a photographer?
Curiosity
I have always been curious about people – their decisions, their ambitions, their doubts and the moments that shaped them. Perhaps that is why I enjoy photographing both executives and weddings. On the surface, they seem completely different, but they are not. Both are about important chapters in a person’s life. A company someone spent years building. A relationship someone hopes will last a lifetime.
The details may differ, but the emotions are often surprisingly similar. I think many photographers start with photography and discover people along the way. For me, it happened the other way around. I was interested in people long before I ever called myself a photographer.
What do people feel when they see your work—and what do you want them to feel?
I hope they feel something honest. Not impressed by the photographer, the location or the editing. Just connected to the person in the photograph. Some images are designed to grab attention. The photographs I admire most do something different. They hold attention. You look at them for a little longer than you expected, and somehow they stay with you. We all have photographs in our lives that become more valuable over time. Not because they are technically perfect, but because they remind us of a person, a moment or a feeling. Those are the photographs I aspire to create.
What’s the most unexpected thing photography has taught you?
That everybody wants to be seen. Not photographed. Seen. There is a difference. Titles, achievements and appearances tell only a small part of the story. Photography constantly reminds me how much more exists beneath the surface. Over the years I have photographed executives, entrepreneurs, artists, models and couples. What surprised me is how similar we all are. Underneath the titles and expectations, most people simply want to be understood. The older I get, the less interested I become in what people have achieved and the more interested I become in who they are.
What do you want to be known for—as a photographer and as a creative?
Trust. If somebody trusts me enough to be themselves in front of the camera, then I have already received something valuable. Everything else follows from that. Of course I want my photographs to be beautiful. But beauty alone is not enough. I would rather create a photograph that feels true twenty years from now than one that follows the latest trend. Trends come and go. Authenticity doesn’t.
What’s one truth about your creative journey that’s stayed with you?
It is never too late. For many years photography lived beside my career. Today it is becoming the career. People often describe this change as brave. I don’t really see it that way. Life gives us different chapters. This simply happens to be one of the most exciting ones. Looking back, I realise that everything that came before – the successes, the mistakes, the people I met and the places I travelled – shaped the way I see the world today. Nothing was wasted. It all became part of the work.
What’s something about you people don’t usually see in your work—but should?
Probably that I laugh a lot more than my photographs suggest. My work is often described as calm, quiet or reflective, and I think that is fair. But anybody who has spent a day with me knows that I enjoy conversations, stories and humour immensely. Most photo sessions involve far more laughter than people would probably expect when they see the final images. Photography is serious work. Taking yourself too seriously is something else entirely.
If someone’s looking at your portfolio 10 years from now, what do you hope they see?
I hope they see people. Not trends. Not cameras. Not editing styles. People who fell in love. People who built companies. People who started over. People who celebrated. People who changed. People who left their mark on the lives around them. If somebody looks through my portfolio years from now and feels connected to the people in those photographs, I will be happy. Because that has always been the reason I picked up a camera in the first place. Not photography. People.
Why photography, and why now?
For most of my life, photography had to wait.
Career came first, responsibility came first, family came first—and that was exactly as it should have been. Photography was always there, but it lived quietly in the background. It was something I carried with me rather than something I pursued professionally.
What changed was not photography. What changed was me.
As the years passed, I became increasingly aware that time is not an unlimited resource. At some point, I stopped asking myself what the next logical step would be and started asking a different question:
What do I really want to spend my time doing?
The answer was surprisingly clear.
People have always been at the centre of my life, whether as a member of the Vienna Mozart Boys’ Choir, as a business leader, or now as a photographer. I have always been fascinated by what drives people, how they make decisions, how they deal with success, failure, love, change and uncertainty.
People sometimes ask whether leaving a successful career to focus on photography was a difficult decision. The honest answer is that not doing it would have been much harder. Photography arrived surprisingly late as a profession, but looking back, I think it arrived exactly when it was supposed to. Everything that came before—the experiences, the mistakes, the opportunities, the people I met along the way—shaped how I see the world today.
At twenty-five, I was fascinated by success.
At sixty, I am far more interested in meaning.
And that has changed not only the way I live,
but also the way I photograph.
Inspired by the visual language of Marlene Dietrich, this black and white portrait series explores power, elegance and shadow. Dramatic chiaroscuro lighting and deliberate gesture transform a single subject into an archetype - where stillness becomes strength and glamour becomes timeless.