St. Louis, MO

Stewart D. Halperin's illustrious trajectory from fieldwork academic to refined artist has led him to some of the most remote corners of the globe. His passion for travel is apparent in the roots of Halperin’s photography. Inspired by time spent in the rainforests of Tanzania, Halperin first learned to look through his camera’s lens when he was a young graduate student working with Dr. Jane Goodall.

“In Africa, studying and watching the chimps and gorillas, I learned to truly see – observing animal behavior unfold, watching the slow rhythm of the forests, witnessing the cycles of light over the course of each day and each month. I had the luxury of time," reveals Stewart Halperin.

The next and probably more formative influence on Stewart Halperin's work was his friendship and collaboration with color photography legend Ernst Haas.

“Ernst seared my eye, heart and soul with color. He showed me you don't have to be technical in your approach to work – be fluid, take a chance with your colors, be bold in moving beyond reality and into abstraction. Don’t just use your images merely to document, but use them to ask questions. Photographers are painters in a hurry and though we create that image in an instant we still have the same obligation to attend to every element of the frame’s canvas.”

Stewart D. Halperin’s body of work reflects a keen ability to capture the essence of a place in a single still frame. Halperin also enjoys moving beyond the representational. He plays with perception by shooting from obscure angles or by using reflections of the images in bodies of water. In his work from Burano, Italy the viewer’s eye delights in an elusive rainbow of colors, while beholding the beauty of a master composition which leaves one begging to know more.

Stewart D. Halperin's Curriculum Vitae...