It may take sunlight and water to grow wine grapes, but it takes hard work and passion to produce wine. Knowing that, Mark Robert Halper couldn’t help but try to capture images of the chefs, executives, entertainment moguls, and others in the diverse crowd of this area’s vintners.
Halper and his wife Jennifer were traveling from their Los Angeles home to Sycamore Springs, and on the way they stopped in Los Olivos for lunch. The town charmed them enough to lure them back a few months later, this time with a camera in one hand and a glass of Syrah in the other. The trip was a vacation combined with a chance for Halper to take his photography skills to the next level.
The excursion was relaxed, filled with wine and photography. Halper used very little artificial light or props in his photographs of Santa Barbara County winemakers, opting for a more candid approach. The result captures the beauty of the wine region exactly as he sees it. In those photos, it became evident there would be a book—and maybe more.
“When I looked at what I’d done, I was happy with the work,” Halper said, “and the response was very good.”
Halper’s wife Jennifer sent some photos on her iPhone to a friend of hers who happened to own Chez Melange Restaurant in Redondo Beach. Five days later, there was an exhibition up and an overwhelming response.
[image-3] [image-4] “It was in that instant that I knew this was just the beginning,” Halper said.
Over the next six months, the couple returned to Santa Barbara County three times to take pictures, capturing more than 100 shots of the people and places at the heart of the wine industry.
In conjunction with the book’s release, the Halpers coordinated the Los Olivos Meandering Gallery with help from a number of wine- and art-related events. Ten venues in Los Olivos make up the “gallery,” featuring portraits from Halper’s wine country exploration. Fess Parker Wine Country Inn, The Los Olivos Café, Andre Murray Vineyards, Blair Fox Cellars, Coquelicot, Daniel Gehrs, Qupé/Ethan/Verdad, Scott Cellars, Stolpman Vineyards and Tre Anelli will all be host to parts of the exhibition through February 15, 2011.
Halper said the town’s intimacy initially caught his eye. He particularly noticed that the people behind the counter at many of the tasting rooms are the same ones planting the grapes and making the wine.
“The thing about being an artist or photographer is that everyone is going to see something different,” Halper said. “This is very much as I see it. The pieces that are interesting to me and how it intersects with my vision as an artist.”
Arts Editor Shelly Cone sees it this way. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 4-10, 2010.
