DWF – Let’s start off with a little bio, tell us a little bit about yourself.

MARK -I’ve been a professional commercial photographer for 20 years, shooting primarily corporate, advertising and editorial photography.  Most of my assignments have been people photography, but I also photograph still life and architecture.

Some of the subjects who have sat for me include Sumner Redstone, who owns Viacom, CBS and Parmaount Pictures, Mt. T, Ben Stein, Randy Jackson, Yeardly Smith,Michelle Williams (the singer), Architect Frank Gehry, Gene Simmons, Tori Spelling, R Lee Ermy, Lisa Rinna, Wolfgang Puck, Lauren Hutton, Erin Brockovitch, as well as stars of shows like Star Trek Enterprise, Friday Night Lights, Farscape, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

My client list includes Samsung, Sony, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Business Week, Forbes, AT&T, CBS, Cedars Sinai, City of Hope, Electronic Arts, Sanyo-Fisher, Hitachi, Johnson and Johnson, My Space, Cisco Systems, Sysco, Hello Kitty, Sonicare, UCLA, USC, and many others.

I love what I do, and always have.  I’ve been fortunate enough to have a Rangefinder article to my name, and I’ve spoken on both sides of the isle (to PPA and APA/ASMP group)s over the past few years, I’ve taught at the Santa Fe Workshops, and I teach my own workshops as well.

DWF – How did you become a photographer?

MARK - I’m in the DWF because the very strong portrait photographer presence here, and because the many things I’ve been able to learn about working with a consumer market from wedding photographers as well.

I’ve got a habit of putting up web pages when I see a potential photographic need I can fill, and I did that for family photography.  Long standing good SEO made that very visible on Google, but only one or two jobs followed that year.  In December of 2007 I received an email from a very successful portrait photographer in my area, whom I knew from many years before when we were both starting out, who told me I was doing it all wrong (I had a shoot and burn model, which is standard in the commercial world where usage is king), and that I could do far better if I did it right.  They helped me by showing me the right business model, and I began my journey.  WPPI of 2008 was a huge eye opener, and by August of 2008 we figured out how to get clients in the door.  Our first sale was a single 20×20 at about $1300, which at the time was amazing – it showed that the business could work.  When the next sale went over $8000 my jaw dropped, and I realized what I was really on to.  I do actor’s headshots on the weekends, but over the last five years that market has been saturated by low cost shooters, and the family business was really intended to replace that work as it slowed down.  Ironically, it has been able to make up for the huge slowdown in commercial work due to the economic slump and the issues surrounding microstock.  For the last year, the family business, Halper Fine Art, has been the focus of my attention, and I’ve found that I really enjoy it.

DWF- Who or what inspires you as an artist?

MARK - As a photographer, I love the process of creating.  The subject matter seems to have a lot to do with what is going on in my life.  When I was single, I did The Bed Project (http://thebedproject.com), which was all about women, and the intimacy I was looking for in my life at the time.  More recently, I’ve started to get into wine with my wife, Jennifer, and I’ve embarked on a project doing portraits of winemakers (http://studiomark.com/wine2009) and intend to publish a book of the work when it’s done.  Spending all day going from vineyard to tasting room creating environmental portraits is my twisted idea of a vacation.  There is already a show scheduled for this body of work, and it’s just starting!

When I open up an Irving Penn book, I think, “I want to be that good”.  It hasn’t happened yet, but I’m working on it.

DWF- If we needed a photographer today why would we book you? What makes you unique?

MARK – That’s easy.  You’d book me because you want something beautiful to hang on your walls.  Previous to Halper Fine Art, I’d always hung paintings on my walls – never photography, and that’s common of my clients to some extent.  I simply think that the images we do ought to be as good or better than everything else in the room, and that’s what I do.  I’m not just selling the content, I’m selling art, and I’m selling work that will look just as good in twenty years as it does today.  I can’t say that I always reach that mark, but I try each and every time I pick up my camera, and many of the images I’ve done I’m more than happy for a fine art or corporate client to see.  I don’t think there is any intrinsic value in white shirts and jeans on the beach, and I describe my work as being the polar opposite of what that work is about.

DWF- If you had to pick a favorite “Tool of the Trade” what would it be? and why?

MARK – I shoot squares (I’m counting a format as a “tool”, in this case).  I’ve loved them since I bought my first Hasselblad back in 1989, and over the intervening years as the world has gone digital there are fewer and fewer photographers who work in squares.  My main camera is no longer a square either (I shoot with an H3D-39), but I still compose and print that way, and I’m now very happy about the fact that it’s a simple thing that often sets me apart from so many others who crop their work into whatever standard sizes they can sell or happens to match their sensor.

DWF – Care to share your favorite photographs?

MARK - The girl wearing pearls was done for a portrait client, the man on the ladder is part of my winemakers project, Randy Jackson was done for an ad (I had no idea who he was since I don’t watch American Idol), the man against blue is the CEO of Broadcom, and the woman in water was done when I was taking a workshop in Santa Fe with Paul Elledge.

(See Larger Versions Below)

DWF – How about some final words to live by?

MARK - Follow your own vision.

So many photographers work within what I like the call the “PPA Aesthetic”. Those are the images that will do well in print comp, which is of course judged by other photographers who have done well in that arena.  There are so very many creative possibilities in photography, yet few people shoot work that is truly about what they find beautiful, interesting or compelling about their subject matter.

That last place to look for ideas in portrait photography is to look at what family photographers doing – it’s all the same for the most part (the so-called “Old Master” style, Wedding style PJ done at home or at the park, bad sets, and PPA style groupings on location).  As a side note, actions may enhance good photography, but they poorly cover bad photography – and many of them will look very, very dated in five or ten years.

As I continue to shoot the family work, I discover certain elements or types of shots that really work well, and sell well.  There is a trap there – successful ideas almost demand to be repeated, and in the end can lead to very unsuccessful photographers who loose sight of why they started doing this in the first place.  To create a career as a photographer, I really believe that you need to keep taking risks and trying out new ideas to grow as an artist.

Location – Los Angeles

Business Name – Halper Fine Art

Websites - studiomark.com

Possibly Related Posts:

• Confessions of a 2nd Shooter
• Sunlight and Water
• DWF Forum Adds Portrait Focus and Experts
• Featured Member Jaco Fourie
• Become a Photographer It’s Easy