![A mirror self-portrait of Phillip Periman. He is wearing cold-weather clothing and round, black glasses. His camera is hanging around his neck as he takes the picture.](https://i0.wp.com/phillipperiman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/phillip.png?resize=580%2C747&ssl=1)
Phillip Periman received his first camera, a 35mm Voigtlander, in 1956 prior to his first trip to Paris. After thirty-three years of snapshots, family, and travel photos, Periman began photographing seriously in 1989, primarily influenced by Linda Connor and Richard Benson. He has explored view cameras to iPhones and produced pictures using a variety of media from silver gelatin thru dye transfer to digital ink jet printing. Periman photographs people, landscapes, and whatever else shows up in front of his lens.
His daughter suggested the name Facing West Press for his self-publishing efforts, starting with his book, “An Attribute of the Eternal: the City Churches of Christopher Wrenn” (1998).
Periman’s studio, the IC Gallery in Amarillo, Texas, opened in 2001.
After Periman retired in January 2017, he began regularly submitting his poetry for publication. He has been published by the Black Mountain Press, Unstamati, the Burningwood, Literary Journal, and LitteraturRW. Now in his eighties, he has also written a series of essays, “The Final Exam” which explore the last period of his long life.
In spite of all of this Periman says he feels like a beginner in life, ready to leave the shelter of home excited about his first day in a new world.