About Pete

“I want to convey your personality; who you are as an individual, who you are as a couple, who those awesome people are around you and what they mean to you. All with an artful kick to the images!
Pete Thornton

I’m Pete Thornton the photographer behind What Pete Shot. I’m an Adelaide based wedding photographer and commercial photographer whose photography thrives to challenge the norm and entice the senses. Wedding photography is different these days, as are weddings! Big, fun celebrations with no stuffiness are the go and its just the best environment to capture people in the moment, real moments.

I wasn’t born with a camera in my hand, destined to be a photographer. I wasn’t trained in the art from a young age by my father.  I dabbled in other careers and did well, went to uni and taught for some time in high schools. But along this route I did realise I had quashed a creative in me, hadn’t satisfied that urge.  I tried to draw, I tried to paint, and play music, alas – I wish I could. I can build things and I love to do that when I can. So, with lots of passion and lots of training,  photography and making people feel comfortable in front of a camera, is what I do now.  I look for the unique in what’s around us, I look for light – flattering light, good light to put people in and capture them.

A little while ago I wrote an article with Camille Abbott, one of Adelaide’s great celebrants, about why I photograph weddings and some guiding principles behind the way I shoot. We called it ‘Don’t Fluff the Dress’. You can check it out here on the Huff Post, or here’s a little bit of it…

“…I want to convey your personality; who you are as an individual, who you are as a couple, who those awesome people are around you and what they mean to you.
This is central to what I’m trying to capture in my photography.  I want to see those “belly butterflies” in my images of you.  I look for it, I wait for it and I’ve got a few little tricks to draw it out of you.

 

Enquire now to find out more about Pete shooting for you.

Your creative choice for Wedding Photography in Adelaide.

Travelling all over South Australia and beyond for wedding photography, Pete’s easy to get along with nature makes photographing your day super easy. Get in touch and lets chat about your plans and how we can make some unique artful images for you.

You know that bit I was talking about before… ‘getting to know you, those closest to you and what they mean to you’ -here’s some of those closest to me…
Testimonial

“Hi Pete,
Dean and I just wanted to send you a quick email and say... we're not worthy! We're not worthy! Thank you so much for snapping our wedding day. We both absolutely loved sharing it with you. As I said to you at the end of the night, it was like spending the day with a really beautiful friend. We're SO GLAD we were lucky enough to lock you in early and we've only seen the online preview and we're already so ridiculously stoked!

Of course, thank you also for arranging the First Look at (*secret spot - sorry. pete). What a gift to be able to not only have that experience on our wedding day but then have 'Pete Thornton photos' to remember that incredibly beautiful and significant moment in our lives.

Dean and I both wholeheartedly agree that you are an absolute legend. Can you please also thank the lovely Olivia for being so sweet and helpful on the day too, please?

Happy New Year and we look forward to catching you soon.

Warmest thanks, Ruth & Dean x”

Ruth & DeanJanuary 2017