Anders Petersen is a Swedish photographer, noted for his intimate documentary-style black and white photographs. He shows a great tenderness towards his photographic subjects, which are typically real people in desperate situations, such as prostitutes and psychiatric patients. His first book "Café Lehmitz," published in 1978 in Germany, documents several years at a bar of the same name in Hamburg. The photos in the book depict the seedy bar-goers: pimps, prostitutes, and transvestites. Yet even in photos of such sad characters, Petersen never judges, and instead casts his subjects in a sympathetic and humane light. A more recent book, "Photographs 1966-1996" offer a retrospective of Petersen's work. He has been active since the late 1960's up until the present.

To see some of Petersen's work, go here: http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/anders/default.html

Quotations from Anders Petersen about his work:

"The people at the Café Lehmitz had a presence and a sincerity that I myself lacked. It was okay to be desperate, to be tender, to sit all alone or share the company of others. There was a great warmth and tolerance in this destitute setting."

"To me, it's encounters that matter, pictures are much less important."

"I can't describe reality; at the most, I can try to capture things that seem to be valid, the way I see them."

Sources:

http://photography.about.com/library/dop/bldop_apeter.htm

http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/anders/default.html