Camera Obscura was formed in the winter of 1982. Peter had been in several bands prior to this and just returned from living in Belgium. Nigel met Peter in a nightclub after a gig and they decided the write some songs together. Four compositions came out of this initial session of writing and two of them, Destitution and Race in Athens became the duo's first single on Small Wonder Records in the spring of 1983.

After the release of Destitution the duo became a desirable addition to several of the major record labels in particular Arista. While everyone deliberated about whether or not to take the band Peter & Nigel decided to put out a track on a compilation album. Village of Stars was released in late spring on a rare compilation called 101 sampler, this album is probably not in anyone's collection. The record was to lead to the problems which cost Camera the major deal they really deserved with Arista. For now, with no deal on the horizon, Peter & Nigel signed an extension to the contract with 101 just to get a new single out as they were completely broke at this point.

They re-recorded Village of Stars and a new track called Insect for the B-side, in London, at the Atmosphere studios on Wardour Street . These tracks were never released and sadly the masters have not survived so they never will.

Camera played live extensively at this time and tried to drum up A&R interest, which was still there and very keen. They recorded demos for EMI and Arista at the beginning of 1984 and were offered a deal by EMI, which was subsequently canned due to budget cuts and a change in personnel. Many of these tracks still exist and will see the light of day very soon, they are being re-mastered by the band at the moment.

So that's it really, Camera soldiered on into 1985 with a 4-piece line up (Gary Scargill and Rob Gospel were added) and the Quartet formed Paradise Now in '86. Nigel left in '87 and was replaced by Steve Wright from "Fiat Lux". In 1989 Peter & Gary formed the extremely successful Ded Good Music but sadly the Band ended there. However, Camera Obscura never actually split up, Peter & Nigel have just had a long break until now........