Bio

PETALS

"Give the Gift of Self Discovery"

Petals Team Bio

Photographer:

Nick Karras

Karras was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin -- not a hotbed of erotic art. After extensive travel, he settled in San Diego, California where he built a successful business as a commercial photographer. Early on, Karras became enamored by the unique capacity of the camera to explore the nature and essence of human sexuality. The discovery has shaped his art and his life. Karras refined his skills and gained a notable reputation as an erotic photographer. In the past few years, exhibitions of erotic work by Nick Karras have been featured at galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Victoria, and Amsterdam.

Nick is also a teacher. His Doctorate degree in Sexology was awarded by the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (IASHS) in San Francisco. He has been a featured speaker and workshop leader at SSSS (The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality) and ASEP (Association of Sexual Energy Professionals). His investigation into taboo sexual subjects has allowed him to experience the basic nature of many intimacy problems. From his controversial work in the Petals project, his partner Sayaka and he created a workshop: "Wondrous V ". To learn more about what Nick Karras and Sayaka are doing, please go to their website.

Director:

Beck Peacock

Richard Beck Peacock is the director of the documentary Petals – Journey into Self-Discovery. He was an Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Cinema Department at Palomar College, San Marcos, California where he taught documentary film making, film history, and screen writing. He is the author of The Art Of Movie Making: Script To Screen (Prentice Hall, 2001), co-author of Learning To Leave: A Woman's Guide (Warner Books, 1993), writer of the screenplays "Magnetic North" and "Sammy", and director of a previous documentary, "Men And Childbirth" (1990). He now lives in Victoria B.C., Canada.

Producer:

Arwen Hunter

As Gamut Production's post production supervisor in Victoria B.C., Arwen Hunter has worked on a wide range of video projects. Arwen's female sensibility and aesthetic added a fresh dimension to "Petals – Journey Into Self Discovery" as the film developed under her editorship. Her other credits include: "Compatibility Test", a romantic comedy recently completed at Gamut; "CT" (2005 Leo Award Winner), "Here Are The News", a biographical documentary about the life of the northern Yukon journalist Edith Josie (aired on CBC in 2006). Arwen just completed a monumental project about the de Havilland "Beaver" the workhorse aircraft that for years symbolized Canada's rugged north. The documentary was shown on the Discovery Channel in 2008.