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  • Friends having a crab feast at the beach at sunset.
    Wine bottles and glasses fill out the place settings for dinner in the wine cellar.
    Photo of a sailboat inside a wine glass at sunset.
    Smith Family Wines brings a bottling truck to their Paraiso Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, California to bottle their Chardonnay on site.
    Wine bottle surrounded by hundreds of squiggles of colored lights.
    Customers in a tasting room enjoying wine.
    Aerial photo from about 50 feet above a River Road Wine Trail Valentines Passport festivities with vineyards and mountains in the background.
    Chef Todd goofing off in front of a rustic window stage prop.
  • 3 couples kiss around a red convertible sports car in front of a vineyard.
    Man pours a glass of wine for another man at a wine festival.
    A falcon with wings spread lands on a falconer’s hand before a crowd.
    3 people sip wine on a patio with mountains in the background.
    Backlit silhouette of a farmer in a vineyard at night that looks like the Scheid Vineyards logo.
    Scheid Vineyards COO, Kurt Gollnick, celebrates another great harvest.
    Product photo of a Scheid wine bottle in its vineyard of origin for marketing.
    Vineyard worker on an ATC racing through the vineyard rows.
    Santa having a cookie and glass of wine.
  • Wine Bottle surrounded by spilt apples and cranberries with colorful background lights.
    Product photo of a Scheid Rosé in their Carmel tasting room for marketing.
    Woman pours wine for eager tasters in Valentines costumes.
    4 couples pose outside the Marilyn Remark winery.
    Aerial photo from about 100 feet above a vineyard looking at the tasting room festivities with vineyards and mountains in the background.
    Smith Family Wines brings a bottling truck to their Paraiso Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, California to bottle their Chardonnay on site.
    Aerial drone photo of expansive vineyards rows of autumn colors at the foothills of the Gabilan Mountains.
    Colorful out-of-focus lights surround a bottle of port and 2 glasses.
    A couple drinks wine in a bare winter vineyard.
    Photo of an autumn vineyard in a painterly style
  • Enthusiastic winery staff party.
    Bottle and glass of Pessagno Chardonnay in a vineyard.
    2 Chefs display a roast pig with a wall of wine barrels in the background.
    Grape vines with colorful lights in the night sky.
    Wine lovers line up for pours of Rarilyn Remark red wine.
    Man pours wine for festival goers.
    Out of focus man hold his logo wine glass up to the camera.
    A happy couple enjoy a romantic afternoon in wine country.
    BBQ chef carves up ribs.
  • Volunteer of the Year Award recipient poses with his award in from of SLH vineyards.
    A winemaker poses with her bottles.
    Woman pours wine for man across bar.
    Wine bottle product shot with full wine glass and downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea background.
    Close up of wine dripping down the side of a winer glass in front of colored lights.
    Wine festival under trees.
    Wine festival with red and pink decorations in a vineyard.
    Bottles of wine and glasses of wine and roses by candlelight.
    Product photo of a Scheid wine bottle in its vineyard of origin for marketing.
    6 wine bottles on white background.
    Aerial drone photo of vineyards and fields along River Road winding south through the Salinas Valley by the light of a full moon with the city lights of Gonzales and Soledad in the distance.
  • Bottle of Hahn Pinot Noir wine and glass of wine with artichokes, strawberries and blackberries on a barrel top with a vineyard in the background
    A line of Cabernet Sauvignon wine bottles drops out of focus.
    3 wine bottles on a bar surrounded by wine corks in front of a red wall with CM logo.
    Close-up of black and gold Pinot Noir bottles falling out of focus.
    Close-up of a line of wine bottles in a line falling out of focus.
    Looking up at a cluster of wine bottles with barrels in the background.
    3 wine bottles on a bar surrounded by wine corks in front of a red wall with CM logo.
    Wine bottle and glass of red wine with stacked wine barrels in the background.
    Close-up of a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon with stacked wine barrels in the background.
    Wine bottle and glass of Cabernet Sauvignon on a wooden table in a wine cellar with a row of bottles in the background.
    Wine bottle and glass of Cabernet Sauvignon on a wooden table in a wine cellar with a row of bottles in the background.
    Wine bottle and glass of Pinot Noir on a wooden table in a wine cellar with a row of bottles in the background.
  • Wine bottle and glass of Chardonnay on a wooden table in a wine cellar with a row of bottles in the background.
    SLH Pinot Noir in a Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans logo wine glass with an out-of-focus vineyard and blue sky in the background.
    SLH Pinot Noir being aerated as it pours into a Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans logo wine glass.
    Wrath’s winemaker poses with her bottles.
    Aerial drone photo of auntumn colored vineyard rows set against the Salinas River at sunset.
    Smith Family Wines brings a bottling truck to their Paraiso Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, California to bottle their Chardonnay on site.
    Smith Family Wines brings a bottling truck to their Paraiso Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, California to bottle their Chardonnay on site.
    Smith Family Wines brings a bottling truck to their Paraiso Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, California to bottle their Chardonnay on site.
    Scheid Vineyards COO, Kurt Gollnick, celebrates another great harvest.
    3 women smile and pose with wine glasses.
    Members of Scheid’s wine club enjoy the harvest party.
  • Photo of the party set-up with autumn decorations.
    Product photo of a Scheid Rosé in their Carmel tasting room for marketing.
    Product photo of a Scheid wine bottle in its vineyard of origin for marketing.
    Wine bottle product shot with full wine glass and downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea background.
    Wine bottle product shot with full wine glass and downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea background.
    Wine bottle product shot with full wine glass and downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea background.
    Wine bottle product shot with full wine glass and downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea background.
    Wine bottle product shot on white background.
    Wine bottle product shot on white background.
    Close-up of a line of Chardonnay bottles in a line falling out of focus.
  • Aerial photo from about 100 feet above a River Road Wine Trail Valentines Passport festivities with vineyards and mountains in the background.
    Wine bottle product shot on white background.
    Wine bottle product shot on white background.
    Celestial White Cabernet Sauvignon bottle on black background.
    Celestial Chardonnay bottle on black background.
    A collection of wine glasses with a crazy amount of light streaks behind them in black & white.
    Surfer inside a wine glass riding a wave of sparkling wine as it swishes around the glass.
    Black and white photo of wine bottles being filled in an assembly line.
    Black and white photo of wine bottles being filled in an assembly line.

Wine & Vineyard Photography – The Wines & Wildlife

Steve Zmak has done a number of assignments for California wineries and wine organizations including conceptual photo illustrations for magazine covers, location and studio bottle shots, event coverage, advertising photos, portraits, label design, and of course the grapes, vines and vineyard landscape. His photographic imagery goes beyond the literal presentation of a subject to releasing its energy and exposing its inner light in new and unique ways, including his award-winning Lens Painting technique for a painterly effect.

Photo illustration of a surfer from Marina State Beach with a bottle of bubbly in his hand and the cork flying off rides a wave of sparkling wine as it swooshes around in a glass.

 

Wrath’s winemaker poses with her bottles.

Winemaker Sabrine Rodems posed with her bottles of Pinot Noir. The Santa Lucia Highlands AVA begins just inland from my Marina home studio in the Salinas Valley and their annual gala is the signature event for this award-winning wine region. It brings out the finest local chefs and vintners showing off their artistry for a discriminating crowd of enthusiastic oenophiles.

 

Smith Family Wines brings a bottling truck to their Paraiso Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, California to bottle their Chardonnay on site.

Smith Family Wines brings a bottling truck to their Paraiso Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County, California to bottle their Chardonnay on site.

 

Photo of an autumn vineyard in a painterly style

This is an example of Lens Painting: 3 types of motion blur combined to create painterly-like imagery. This is from the Opolo Vineyards in West Paso Robles.