In addition to my photography, I have made a number of videos. Here’s a small selection that are worth watching.
Joe Castle is one of those quiet geniuses whose sculptures provoke thoughts and reactions in profound ways. This video features Joe discussing some finished and unfinished pieces in a moving explanation of what has inspired his work.
Water is the gift of nature.
I spent this morning watching the ice on the brook and decided to make this gift for everyone who has been suffering from the California drought.
This video is probably the foremost document of Cabernet Sauvignon. I used 2 cameras and the brief was to film two Masters of Wine, two of the leading winemakers in Santa Barbara County and the main viticulturist from Allan Hancock College. The presentation was in front of only 22 invited guests and the subject was Cabernet Sauvignon’s identity around the world. 16 wines from Australia, South America, North America, South Africa and Europe were tasted and identified. For advanced course Sommeliers and students of wine, this is a must watch.
No Limit Wines. I’ve been involved with this project almost since its inception in 2005 one way or another. I help winemaker Ethan with the winemaking, the blends and the footstomping of the grapes. For syrah , or indeed any wine drinkers, this is a remarkable wine. First vintage chosen by the James Beard Society as their main course wine for Christmas, wine writer James Suckling tweeted about it when he tasted it in Las Vegas. It has been called the only true Cote Rotie style wine made in California. Limited production of 200 cases.
This was shot at dawn after the picking crew had been harvesting since 2am. The music is from a CD called “Let the Dog Decide” by my friend Chris Burroughs.
Hope is an incredible artist, this video was shot the first time I met her, though had built her website and had been working with her images for about 2 years. All hand held with available light, we spent about 3 hours filming. I then spent about 4 hours editing, during that time I kept hearing the music in my memory from 3 years prior and had to find the track again. Glad I did because they go so well together.
Another of my favourite videos. In 2005, I started the first ever online video website devoted to winemakers in Santa Barbara County and their own stories. I kept it going for about 3 years, but it was expensive to produce and I had no funding to keep it going. However, I did learn a lot and at its height sbwinemakers.com was seeing about 10,000 visitors a month. I tried selling the footage to various wine related sites but none were interested in the “new” technology.
For this video, I had about 15 minutes available to film this before heading to another appointment. Altogether I got about 8 minutes of footage, I like the flexibility of cameras hand held, and knowing I wanted this to be in a moody black and white, I wanted to give it an edge. I edited the same evening and kept thinking that it was more like uncut scenes from Metropolis, and some industrial city run by robots. The soundtrack by Joy Division just seemed to fall into place.
I also filmed a couple of Arabians horses in the Santa Ynez Valley. These videos were created to showcase horses that were for sale.
Designer Dreams from Carol Steppe on Vimeo.