Photographers

Anders Petersen (born 1944 in Sweden) is one of Europe’s most influential documentary photographers, renowned for his raw, intimate black‑and‑white images of nightlife, marginal communities, and everyday human vulnerability. A student of the celebrated Swedish photographer Christer Strömholm, Petersen developed a deeply personal approach rooted in closeness, empathy, and emotional honesty. His work blurs the line between observer and participant, often emerging from long periods of immersion within the communities he photographs.

His landmark series “Café Lehmitz,” made in Hamburg between 1967 and 1970, remains one of the most important photobooks in European photography. The project documented the bar’s regulars—sailors, sex workers, drifters, outsiders—with a directness and warmth that challenged traditional photojournalistic distance. Petersen’s later projects expanded his exploration of society’s edges, including long‑term work in prisons, nursing homes, and psychiatric institutions, as well as more diaristic and fragmentary sequences in books such as “City Diary,” “SOHO,” and “From Back Home.”

Over the decades, Petersen has exhibited internationally, published numerous books, and influenced generations of photographers with his emotionally charged visual language. He has served as a teacher and mentor, including leading the Göteborg School of Photography. His work is held in major museum collections worldwide, and he has received numerous honors throughout his career. Petersen continues to photograph and publish prolifically from his base in Stockholm, remaining a defining voice in contemporary European photography.