Mark Robert Halper - Capabilities and Biography

Images Crafted for Your Brand

Diverse Creative Vision / Solid Business Values

This website is designed to communicate the three pillars of Mark Robert Halper Photography:

Creativity - A true creative vision over a range of specialties that transcends the simplicity and limitations of a simple technical style.

Consistency - The ability to deliver strong imagery in every setup, and to plan and maintain a thematic look appropriate to your particular project.

Credibility - Over fifteen years experience as a working professional photographer with the ability to maintain long term relationships by providing quality and expertise delivered on time and on budget.

About Mark

Mark Robert Halper is passionate about everything he does. A commercial photographer for over fifteen years, Mark has built a successful career in a very competitive field by bringing a consistent vision to a very diverse client base. As both a people and, more recently, a still life and architectural photographer, for clients that range from magazines to ad agencies, he thrives on the variety in the projects he tackles. “Every day is something different doing exactly what I love.” Mark says, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

What stays the same is Mark’s approach. “I take out everything that isn’t absolutely necessary, until the only elements that remain are those which are entirely essential; the best photographs are usually the simplest.” “It’s about getting something honest out of who I’m shooting” and even the most challenging personalities come across as relaxed in his images. Not surprisingly, Mark has found himself with an ever increasing amount of celebrity work. “Sometimes you only have five or ten minutes for one setup, the idea is to turn that hurried energy into something dynamic that comes across on camera.”

Mark has a particular talent for arriving on location and making great images with what is on hand, based on what needs to be communicated. In fact, most of the images on this website were not planned out in advance.

Mark has his own perspective, both visually and philosophically. “When I’m setting up, people often don’t understand what I’m doing and that’s how I know I’m on the right track. When they see the test images they get this quizzical look on their face, as if they’ve never before seen that particular corner of their own office or home. Then they smile. They see something that can only be communicated visually. They see what I see; I’ve influenced the way they look at the world.”

Clients have often commented on Mark’s “boundless energy” and “enthusiasm”. Mark credits his success to an absolute passion for what he does and a highly proactive approach to every aspect of his work. “I’m always working to evolve, I’ve even let go of keeping up a conventional portfolio; my website, studiomark.com, can show a much greater variety of work and doesn’t need to be shipped. One of the best things about what I do is that there is always room to grow. I’m never going to retire, what would be the point?”

Capabilities

Mark Robert Halper Photography is a full service commercial studio. Mark is equally comfortable both in studio and on location, and shoots for a diverse range of clientele. In business, as a working professional photographer since 1989, Mark understands that commercial photography is first and foremost about meeting the needs of the client and how to best accomplish that.

DIGITAL CAPABILITIES
As we enter 2007, we have added the Hasselblad H3D 39 megapixel digital camera to our studio. For advertising projects, architecture, and images that need to be blown up large, the increased images quality of what we believe is the single best digital camera available in the world adds a new level of capability to what we can offer to our clientele.

The 16.7 megapixel digital images produced by our other digital back are still under many circumstances in excess of most client's needs and are in almost all circumstances superior to medium format film, both in quality and in workflow. The versatility of the digital back allows it to be used both with the H1 Camera System as well as the Fuji 680III camera (providing for perspective and focus correction generally associated with large format photography).

We also offer 35mm digital capture for projects that are best met by using a smaller format system that still delivers excellent quality.

While the key component in creating a good photograph remains the talent behind the camera, digital photography has brought a new relevance to the actual equipment being used. Please note that in some cases there will be an additional cost to using the 39 megapixel back to account for the additional time and storage involved in working with these very substantial images, especially when the shoot involves a high quality of capture.

COSTS AND BUDGET
Mark's rates are based on the type of job, how the images will be used, the time involved, and the level of difficulty. Projects are bid on a job by job basis. You will find the costs are appropriate to the specific project.

Mark bids many of his projects on a flat fee basis to keep the process as simple and predictable as possible for the client. We understand your need to know a fixed cost in advance, rather than to find yourself subject to unknown expenses and time. Mark understands the key components to good business relationships are simple. We do what we promise, for the cost we promise, deliver the best work possible, and do it on time.

In understanding your needs, it is important to be as effective in communicating as possible. To that end, we would like to invite you to visit our limited glossary that covers different types of people photography Mark often shoots.

Some clients with relatively smaller needs have been concerned that the rates would be outside of their budget. They have often been pleasantly surprised to find that our bids are professionally competitive. Please call to inquire.

LOCATION AND TRAVEL
Mark frequently travels on assignment at reasonable rates.

Los Angeles County and Orange County, as well as parts of Ventura, Santa Clarita, Riverside and San Bernadino counties are generally quoted at the same local rates as Los Angeles projects.

PRODUCTION
Mark works on both simple and complex projects, and can handle all aspects of your production (such as make-up and hair, prop and wardrobe styling, location scouting, rental and permits, catering, organizing castings, talent, etc.). We believe in making sure all the necessary details and contingencies are covered, while still keeping the shoot as simple as possible to avoid unnecessary costs and complications. We maintain a comprehensive professional two million dollar insurance policy for your protection on any shoot we do.

THE STUDIO
Mark's studio has a shooting area that is 21' x 30' (about 625 square feet) with a 15 foot ceiling. A mezzanine sits over the other half with a make-up station, a stylist station, and a changing area. Attached to his home, the main floor has been set up to make spending the day in the studio an enjoyable experience with a full entertainment center. When the weather is right, we often lunch outside in the courtyard, with plenty of room to be inside on less agreeable days. The 2,600 square foot house also provides excellent location opportunities, with different combinations of faux finishing and textures throughout the house. There is a selection of furniture at our disposal. The house was decorated with an eye towards location photography. The studio is located in Los Angeles, California, in the Silverlake area (between Hollywood and Downtown, a mile from the 101 Freeway).

Biography

Mark has been shooting professionally since 1989. Based in Los Angeles, Mark shoots projects on local, regional, and national levels for clients based all over the United States and in Europe.

Mark graduated USC in 1987 with a degree in International Relations and Political Science. A year later, he began to take photography courses at UCLA Extension and work on his own to build a portfolio. (Mark would later return to UCLA, both as a photographer and as an instructor.)

“Looking back, there were so many things that pointed me towards photography. In High School, I was a filmmaker. I even won some awards. In college, I loved my photography classes, and on the day I graduated, I found myself pulling out my camera. As a graduation present, I asked for a darkroom.”

“From the beginning, I have always been motivated by the fun and challenge of assignment photography. There are a lot of photographers who shoot commercially to support their art, but I seem to do my favorite work on assignment.”

Mark’s first big break was a 1989 assignment for a teen magazine, which quickly turned into a regular client. He also cut his teeth doing portraits for the Los Angeles Daily Journal photographing some of the most famous lawyers and judges in the country. During that time, he continued to build his client base with magazine and corporate clients.

“I like to change, to try new things, to deepen the way that I see. There are styles that I work in, but I don’t believe in having only one style. There is always something new to learn and plenty of room to grow creatively. I believe in having a vision, and that vision can manifest itself in many different ways.”

Mark has built a diverse business that includes everything from advertising to annual report to editorial clients.

“I'm a photographer because there is nothing else I would rather do.”

Photo of Jennifer and Mark from their September wedding by William Henshall.

Mark is generally not the lowest bidder, but before you make a decision based on cost, please consider what John Ruskin had to say over 100 years ago on the topic:

It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money, that’s all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot -- it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.

More detailed technical and logistical information can be found on the Frequently Asked Questions page.

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