What began as a personal project for Mark and his wife has grown into an amazing book highlighting the winemakers of Santa Barbara County.

To really do a true personal project, you have to let go of the intent to make it profitable – otherwise you stifle your creativity. Honestly, this was about stretching creatively.

By sharing his project with the world it’s Mark’s goal to encourage other photographers to share their personal work. He’s graciously offered, as encouragement, the following contest prizes for photographers brave enough to share their personal project within our community of professional photographers. In Mark’s own words…

The most important win here is pursing your passion and always striving to grow as a photographer.

Here are Mark’s Rules for the contest:

  • Please submit (in the comments section of this thread) links to three to four images, along with a one or two sentence description of the personal/fine art project (NOT an artist statement, but enough to give it context). I.E., “This is a series of images depicting the conditions of kids growing up in the coal mines of the north”, “These are set up situations that depict my feelings about home, safety, and abandonment”, or “This is one day in the life if my home town, Springfield. Springfield is home to the country’s most dangerous nuclear power plant which nearly melt down on the day these images were created.”
  • PLEASE NOTE we will be republishing these images here on the blog and associated DWF websites and social groups when discussing the contest so consent to do so is implied upon submission. (This is not a copyright grab, you retain full copyright to your submitted images)
  • This isn’t about work that is client orientated, so paid weddings, Tero Sade style book portrait projects, family portraits (where there was the potential of making sales), and weddings aren’t eligible. This is about work done for personal and creative growth and expression.
  • All submitted images should have been captured/created between 2007 and 2010.
  • It is fair to create images just for this contest.
  • Images created in workshops are off limits, although I’m (Mark Robert Halper) willing to make exceptions via PM if somebody can convince me that the instructor and situation didn’t have a hand in your work (for example, there are documentary photography workshops where the participants are very much on their own and out of the studio).
  • Mark himself will be judging the entries and selecting 3 top places. “I’ll have somebody in my studio do drag and drops into folders at the end of the contest so I don’t see names when I make the decision. This should be all about the work, not the people.”
  • The deadline for entries is the end of day August 24th, 2010.

The Prizes:

The workshops are being held in the Santa Ynez Valley, which is in Santa Barbara wine country, home to my personal project, Sunlight and Water and will be held while the work is up and on display in Los Olivos. The workshop seat can be given, but not sold, to another DWF member. We reserve the right to change or terminate the contest for any reason.

Back Home

Possibly Related Posts: