Gary Fishman’s unpredictable path from wine to photography

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In the late ‘70s Gary Fishman was the first Southern California wine retailer to discover the wine of a little-known vintner named Randy Dunn.

It turns out that a good bottle of wine isn’t the only thing Fishman has an eye for, as his fine art photography career has taken off since he retired from the wine business in 2018.

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Starting April 4, Fishman’s photos will be on display throughout the month of April at The Gallery at Brasswood, 3111 St. Helena Highway North (Highway 29).

Fishman describes the photos included in “Sites and Insights 2022” as “eclectic.” A sunrise in Beverly Glen, Los Angeles. A cracked sidewalk in New Orleans. A friend’s daughter raising a wineglass. A door outside Georgia O’Keefe’s house near Santa Fe. Pretty much anything except vineyard shots, “which I don’t do,” he said.

Spontaneity plays an important role in Fishman’s photography.

“Ansel Adams would have been sweating for eight hours” over the Beverly Glen shot, he said. “I just jumped out of the car and captured a few shots, and it turned out to be this unplanned magic moment that only lasted two or three minutes.”

Fishman has also been praised for having a natural eye for interesting subject matter. He said vintner Warren Winiarski once told him, “Gary, you see things that other people do not see.”

Fishman first started dabbling in photography around the age of 6, when his skill with a Polaroid camera earned him a job as the family’s official photographer.

He kept taking photos during his 45-year career in wine, but it wasn’t until he retired that he established his fine art photography business and exhibited his work at Rutherford’s St. Supery Winery one weekend in 2019.

The Brasswood exhibit will give his photos a chance to shine for an entire month.

He thinks people will enjoy the show’s eclecticism because “you don’t know what’s coming next,” he said.

“Something of no really intrinsic value can suddenly be elevated to the level of art simply because it was noticed in a certain light, so to speak,” Fishman said.

For example, while Fishman doesn’t do vineyard shots, the Brasswood show does contain one winery shot — not that you’ll be able to tell by looking at it.

“It’s simply a cement wall drying” at Nine Suns Winery on Pritchard Hill, he said. “A year or two down the road that wall’s going to look different. But I captured a moment and memorialized a point in time.”