You may never have seen his pictures, but Peter Carpenter is not new to photography.

He has captured images for years — mainly for his own pleasure, mostly of his prized roses.

That changes this week.

Triad, an exhibition of his work, opens at Bermuda Society of Arts on Friday. It’s the first time he has ever shown his work publicly.

The photographs are a collection of his precious roses, portraits and botanical abstracts.

“Most of my photography is done for my own interest, so this idea of showing my work in the context of an exhibition is completely new to me,” Mr Carpenter said.

“I think, like most people, I was at some point at a very young age given an inexpensive camera to play with.

“Certainly in my case I was very much inspired by an older brother who was a very fine photographer and teacher of photography.

“I learned a lot about how it’s not just about holiday snapshots and what nowadays are called ‘selfies’.

“I’m very taken by how photography is something we can use to record things that are very special to us and convey really profound personal experiences that we might otherwise not share with anyone.”

Staff at BSoA pushed him to show his work, the photographer added.

“I’m not as nervous as I am excited,” he said. “The staff at the gallery are largely responsible for my doing this. They’ve been so encouraging and helpful.

“It’s also true, I’m learning, that it really doesn’t matter what other people think of your work. What’s important is it’s meaningful to yourself and that you feel good about putting it out there.”

Triad is a play on a musical term; Mr Carpenter is a trained concert pianist who gives lessons out of his Pembroke home.

“I thought it would be fun to show a variety of work,” he said. “The portrait photographs were inspired by one of my young piano students who arrived one day looking absolutely adorable in a yellow jacket they were very proud of.

“I asked to take a picture and the image was so satisfying I decided to try more with other students and friends.”

Mr Carpenter’s collection of botanical abstracts stemmed from a series of articles he wrote in the 1990s entitled In My Garden. “I initially used the camera as an educational tool to show what I was talking about,” he explained.

“It served the purpose of identifying types of plants and unique characteristics very clearly, but essentially I found I wanted to develop a more personal style that allowed for artistic expression.

“My most recent work in botanical abstracts has given me opportunity to drop a lot of that approach and explore in a freer and more imaginative way.”

The decision to show pictures of his prized roses was an easy one.

“The section of roses is really more to show some of the wide variety of roses that are very much loved in Bermuda and grow all over the Island,” Mr Carpenter said.

“It’s convenient for me that they’re all taken in my own garden.

“I’m very much [hands-on] from the time they’re propagated to the time they’re photographed, I hope, at the peak of good condition and greatest character.”

• Triad opens at 5pm on June 12 and runs through July 8 in Studio B. Visit www.bsoa.bm