Often described as a blog, an online magazine, a journal when examined further the description changes and it becomes a project, an objective, a mission. American Male is one simple thing. It is a collection of different thoughts and experiences so come share yours and be part of the narrative.
When American Male launched in 2012, Peter Zvonar was one of a handful of photographers that allowed American Male to feature their collections. What I remember most when I first viewed Peter’s collection back then is how colorful his photographs were. It was as if you could feel the energy of that moment (although it was capture in a photograph) it seemed to come alive and radiate from his collections. That’s when I knew I wanted to feature his work as part of the Coffee Break Discussion Series. The creativity and the passion that he brings to his work is absolutely amazing.
Over the years, I have had the pleasure of watching Peter grow as a person and continue to grow as talented photographer. It’s amazing to see when someone can stand unapologetic and bring their sense of self to their work. By American Male Contributor B.W.
Q: Peter you described your latest collections as: “Life is about symbols. Religion. Sex. Power. Fetish. Playing. Money. Killing… I am a photographer and I like to work with these symbols.” Can you describe how these symbols influenced your work? Every human life is like a never-ending mosaic. We compose it from our birth and thanks to the help of our parents, we learn how to feel individual objects and understand situations and emotions. We are discovering what is good and bad in our life and how in which to go about creating a balance. Symbols go along with us during our lifetime. Nowadays superficiality is common and very few people are willing to express their own point of views. It’s this lack of personal expression that sometimes create a “deformed morality.”
Q: I have come to believe that establishing a connection with another person often begins with the willingness to venture beyond the surface of your persona and slowly exposing yourself if you hope to solidify a relationship. I have read that symbols are often our unconscious mind attempting to communicate to us for the purpose of revealing parts of ourselves that we were not initially aware of. Assuming there is some truth in both statements what does the symbols Religion. Sex. Power. Fetish. Playing. Money and Killing reveal about you? The collection “The symbols” is mostly about sex, because, whether you like it or not, sex is still the“unspoken” part of our lives. From sex we were born, sex give us amazing delightful feelings, so sex influences us from birth until death. I’m not the typical religious person, so I have my own faith but for so-called classical Christian I´m not a religious person. However, with regard to sex and religion, if god didn’t want us to have sex he wouldn’t have created this fantastic feeling which comes with each orgasm. I selected symbols which are deeply and multi layered at least to me. Certainly I could had chosen beautiful and noble symbols like love, friendship, desire, and family… but this is not the my way, to draw the world only in pink colors. I’m naturally an optimist so creatively exploring only beautiful and noble symbols in my photography is less interesting☺. All mentioned symbols are part of my life. They affected me in many ways, I am artist, so a lot of these ideas I put into my pictures. In regard to what you wrote, symbols are like periodic occurrence of our sub consciousness trying to communicate with us. Some symbols reveal things about us, some of them are our apprehensions. If we would like to be deprive from our fears, we have to be free, to act as a free individual.
Q: I once was told what becomes your passion in life is often the very thing that creates your sense of hope. If photography is your passion, what fuels your passion to be a photographer? Has following this passion made you more hopeful, if so how? This is a really hard question and I’m not sure how to answer. I don’t know if it is just passion for photography that gives me hope or it is on the contrary. I’m full of hope and belief from my childhood. I remember times when adults would often lecture me and tell me that my vision for myself is to big and I’m not living in the real world. However, all my dreams I have always followed. I believed in my dreams. I believe in myself than, and I believe still in the vision I have for myself now.
Q: Here is a quote from a journal entry submitted to the Random Thoughts on Various Things Journal Series. “What ultimately determines my ability to move forward in my life is based solely on the depths of my convictions, it is my concept of “self,” that allows me to complete any task presented before me.” Peter I have come to believe that life sometimes forces us to believe in something that can’t be seen or felt by others. Anyone that has attempted to
follow a dream especially in an industry (for example a career as a photographer) that offers such a small opportunity for success can attest to this. How do you continue to prepare yourself for this journey a journey that will ultimately test every unique part of you? I indicated it already in the previous answer. It is mostly belief in myself. It is the conviction that all that we do is something good, something useful. For me it is not only about the photos, it’s about connecting with the person that I’m photographing. My ideal
is to convey a story in every photography. For me it is important when photography is breathing, when it is unique from other photographs. This process can become difficult when I’m being pushed to take a photograph with which I haven’t quite identified with. These are the moments when I know that this photography session will not have a happy ending. But this hasn’t only occurred in my creative ventures, it is happened in my life as well. Once you are different, many people try to give you advice on how and what you have
to be and do. But they don’t understand my work, my life, or my story. It’s about who I am and not who they want me to be.
Q: Peter your work has appeared on American Male several times since American Male launched. It’s without question your work along with the works of many of the other photographers, film makers etc. has brought a uniqueness to American Male that I could have never envision possible. Since appearing and having your work featured on American Male how has it influence your work as photographer? A: American Male was the first magazine (American Male is actually a blog
) which
noticed my photographs on Flickr, than came an offer for an interview with me featuring my photographs. In that time, I’ve started to wise up that my photographs work, the way I’m doing it, how I feel it, it´s not useless. This first interview with me, especially when it was in a foreign medium, improved my Self-confidence
Q: Peter speaking of when our path first crossed, I have noticed over the last two years that you physically have changed. I remember reading your comments on twitter and it seemed like you were always working out. Now in your latest photographs not only are you modeling for your photographs but I see that you have put on a lot of muscle mass. What motivated you to want to hit the gym? Hahahaha I remember some of your comments regarding the gym. So this is my opportunity to say thanks ☺. The truth is I’ve never been a sportsmen, but I always liked that kind of nice muscular men. I was in a relationship prior where working out wasn’t possible. Once that relationship ended I started running and I lost approximately 25
kilos (55 pounds). Suddenly I found I’m a pretty attractive boy. I must confess modesty is not my dominating attribute ☺. About a year and a half ago I started working out. I had trainer and learned all the basics ☺. When I started I could hardly bench press 20 kilos (50 pounds) now I can bench about 80 kilos (176 pounds) but I’m still not satisfied. My motivation to continue is really strong for two reasons. First being, I like the way I look now. The second is the huge interest that I have in the person who is now a part of my life ☺ ☺ ☺.
Q: I have asked you this question before and I’m curious to see if your answer has change since our first interview. If you only had five minutes to say what you have learned thus far about life or about yourself what would that be? What lessons have you learned from either your successes or failures thus far that you would pass down to the next generation? I don’t remember what I answered to you at that time. What I have learned? Probably that life is too short and beautiful so we have to live in truth not in lie. It would also seem people have broken away from having discussions with one another and prefer to spend more time talking about themselves and less time listening and connecting with others. This lack of connection I have observed saddens me. I did a collection on this topic called “Good Morning World.” What message do I have for the next generation? Be free, don’t be afraid to present your opinions, and be sure you do what’s right and correct for you. Whatever you do be sure to do it with love, joy and fairness, doing so
will help you to never lose your way ☺ :*
I wanted to end this interview by featuring some of Peter’s colorful photographs that initially captured my attention.
In Peter’s 2012 collections, I continued to enjoy how he was able to capture the different colors and shades light. Most importantly, I enjoyed how his photographs felt alive.
Peter I want to once again take this opportunity to say thank you for your continued support of American Male. Its been a pleasure having the opportunity to work with you over the years. Thank you for your willingness to allow your work to appear on American Male but most importantly I have enjoyed your friendship. Wait one last thing, I wanted to share some of your selfies from over the years.