Art is leading a photo workshop in India for two weeks and he’s starting to send back photos! This first batch was taken on the ghats of Varanasi. It is the holiest city in Hinduism and has been a cultural and religious center for thousands of years. A ghat is a set of stairs leading to a holy body of water, in this case, the Ganges. Some are public, some private; some are used for ritual bathing or cremation, while others are used for quotidian uses such as laundry. Whatever the use, they are always a center of colorful display—even the reflections in the water are beautiful!
I am very proud to be a contributor to Douglas Brinkley’s latest book The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom 1879-1960. This is the second book in his conservation trilogy which began with his award-winning tome about Theodore Roosevelt, The Wilderness Warrior.
There has been a lot of buzz lately about human Tiger Mothers, so let’s give a little air time to the real deal. Tiger moms give birth to 2-3 cubs, nurse them for about 6 months, and start teaching them to hunt about when they are weaned. Cubs stay at their mothers’ sides for up to three years, honing their skills, then they go out on their own. No violin or piano lessons for these kids!
We have filled all but 2 seats on the upcoming Photo Tour to China. Sign up now to secure your place for an unforgettable trip.
View this video for a preview of what to expect.
We have marked down all our 2011 calendars Half-Off. We have very limited quantities left of the gorgeous European calendars; these are like buying a folio of twelve posters. We also have a couple of wonderful inspirational datebooks available as well.
Shop at online at Art Wolfe Stockor at the Art Wolfe Store
It sounds odd, but I have been looking specifically for cattails lately. They make for beautiful layered shots of color and texture.
This past weekend I went out shooting with Libby and David, who orchestrate my workshops. We headed out to Washington’s Sauk River, dodged the rain squalls, and got some lovely shots.
The Sauk is a tributary of the Skagit River and drains from the Cascade Range. It has the reputation of being a great flyfishing river. It is also very, very wet.
The moss swells on the bigleaf maples and hangs in long wispy tendrils from the alders.
And then finally I found the cattails, standing tall and golden against red twig dogwood, with pale green forest beyond.
For the traditionalists out there who still send letters the charming, old-fashioned way, we have some new notecards that just came out. We especially like the plantable wildflower and world’s children cards.
Yesterday I was feeling more stressed than usual so I decided to take a day & go and shoot in my backyard—literally and figuratively. I took off before dawn and headed toward Mt. Rainier. The mountain (volcano) was haloed in lenticular clouds at sunrise, then the light quickly flattened out into a snow sky. I then concentrated my efforts on the Carbon River, the outflow from the Carbon Glacier on Rainier. There has been a cycle of freezing and thawing this winter due to the La Nina weather pattern. The icicles are particularly interesting with their nearly iridescent grooved patterns—not unlike a shining blade of a samurai sword.
Back at home in the late afternoon, I photographed a bonsai tree in my backyard at sunset. It was a good day.
Wildlife camouflage has been one of the most enduring subjects I have focused on in my career. I really started shooting camouflage in the early nineties for a children’s book called Hiding Out for Crown Books and this work culminated in the 2005 book Vanishing Act.
Vanishing Act ended up being published internationally in several languages. Images from the book have been the focus of untold magazine articles, including the latest, The Netherlands “Season” magazine. Click to view the PDF article.
