Peter Ashworth

Peter Ashworth (born 1953) is an English photographer. Ashworth initially specialized in music photography, between 1979 and 2000. In the 1980s, he worked with many UK and international music artists including The Smiths, Tina Turner, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Robert Palmer, Bryan Ferry, Soft Cell, Jimmy Page and The Associates.

He has also performed as a musician with various bands, including Marc and the Mambas (with Marc Almond), The Gadgets, and The The. In 1980, Ashworth—using his Triash pseudonym—was briefly a member of the band The The with Matt Johnson. In 1982–1983, he played drums as a member of Marc and the Mambas.

He now works predominantly in fashion and style/culture photography, working with fashion designers such as Stephen Jones, Basso & Brooke and Atsuko Kudo. He is known in part for his photography of fetish subjects, for creating sets and shooting on location using lighting techniques that explore the textures and cut of his subjects.

Ashworth's work is featured in The National Portrait Gallery permanent collection archive, consisting of twelve images: Adam and the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier; Annie Lennox - Eurythmics: Touch & Face to Face portrait; Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome; Soft Cell - "Bedsitter" and Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret; Associates - Sulk; Erasure - phone-booth; David Sylvian - portrait; Julian Cope - Saint Julian; Visage - debut sleeve; Steve Strange - portrait.

In an interview with Dylan Jones for his book Sweet Dreams: From Club Culture to Style Culture: the Story of the New Romantics, Ashworth describes how after school he abandoned his earlier scientific studies and decided, without ever having taken a picture, to become a photographer. In 1976, he joined the London College of Printing, and during this time befriended Stephen Jones, who was at St Martin's College:

'It was a fantastic time to be in London. I didn't realise when I first came here, because the London I came to was a wreck of a place. I was horrified at the state of London. It looked like it was still in the Second World War, and everyone was in the doldrums. It just felt very grey and negative. It felt like I'd travelled back about five or ten years from Eastbourne, which was a relatively happy-go-lucky place. London was ugly but full of fascinating people.'

One of Ashworth's inspirations as a photographer was British music photographer Brian Griffin. When writer Bill Brewster interviewed Ashworth, he said, 'He’s a stunning photographer I learned how to light by seeing Brian’s pictures and thinking, "These excite me".'

Ashworth's work came to prominence in the 1980s when he worked with pop bands such as Dead or Alive, Soft Cell, Eurythmics and The Associates; rock artists such as The Clash, The Ramones, The Cult, Tina Turner, Julian Cope and The The; post-punk band PIL with John Lydon; 1980s-era New Romantic performers Visage and Steve Strange; and established artists such as Bryan Ferry.