In Good Company

From his early shots of Zurich’s underground scene in the 1970s to his later fashion editorial and commercial projects, In Good Company traces the evolution of Swiss photographer Walter Pfeiffer’s (born 1946) fluid practice. In this book, portraiture, nudes, landscapes, still lifes, abstract compositions and fashion shoots coexist without hierarchy, reflecting Pfeiffer’s anti-academic approach and his sustained exploration of artifice, desire and the everyday.

This volume highlights the defining features of his work: pragmatic use of flash, embrace of chance and imperfection, tension between staging and spontaneity, and preference for nonprofessional models, encompassing friends, lovers and strangers. Moving through the decades—from periods of travel and experimentation in the 1980s and 1990s, to renewed international recognition in the 2000s and beyond—the book presents Pfeiffer as a pioneering figure who anticipated contemporary image culture.