June is the season for speeches! Schedule Art Wolfe for your 2018 or 2019 commencement address or event!
Art is in demand as a keynote speaker around the world. His presentations brim with humor and anecdotes while managing to deliver both an environmental message and the promise that following dreams with determination will lead to a well-lived life. He illustrates his presentations with inspiring award-winning photography displaying an astonishing array of subjects, from intense wildlife images and landscapes to intimate views of cultures almost untouched by civilization.
Art has given hundreds of presentations world-wide, from diverse groups ranging from master gardeners to large companies like IBM – from large-scale global events, to intimate small-group settings. Whatever your gathering entails, you can be assured Art’s presentation of a lifetime of work and world travel will add elements of adventure, insight, and inspiration to your event!
Contact Art’s office for more information on how to book Art Wolfe for your next event!
Episode 1 was a huge success, thanks to everyone who watched, and left comments! This time around I was in Astoria, Oregon teaching my Abstract Astoria workshop. You’ll have to excuse the audio quality, as I recorded in a bunker – but for good reason! Check out the video to find out more!
Thanks again to Mitch Stringer for providing the interview questions. If you missed the first episode of Where’s Art?, you can find that by clicking here!
Before I headed out for a few weeks of traveling, my friend Bill and I made it up to San Juan Island here in Washington to photograph the plentiful foxes in the area. I was exceptionally happy with the variety of color in their coats, and the playful show they put on for us! Remember – be the fox, not the bunny!
A colorful flamboyance of flamingos congregates in the Lake Natron region of Tanzania, Africa.
Save 20% on any Flamboyant Flockprint purchased this month. These Open Edition prints are printed on EPSON Premium Photo Luster paper using archival EPSON Ultrachrome inks. Art signs the print with a silver acid-free pen. Get more information about our Fine Art prints here.
My staff and I are always striving to bring you new content whenever possible, and we are proud to present to you a new feature on our site, “Where’s Art?” hosted by Mitch Stringer. Each episode of “Where’s Art?” is brought to you on location, with insightful questions from Mitch along with images from wherever I might be at the time.
Our premier episode is from my recent trip to the Columbia River Gorge with a small group to photograph not only the iconic waterfalls of the area, but also the micro-environments and details that make this part of the world unique.
I hope you enjoy this new segment! Let me know in the comments how you like it!
Photo shoots, seminars, meetings with publishers and galleries – June is setting up to be a very busy month! I just wrapped up a workshop in the Columbia River Gorge photographing waterfalls, and now we begin another edition of Abstract Astoria.
Here’s what’s going on in my world, and perhaps yours if you decide to join a workshop or seminar!
2.) On June 5th I will be in New York presenting at OPTIC 2017, the four day imaging conference and trade show about travel & wildlife photography. It’s a free event, but does require registration.
3.) The Vanishing Act / Meisterhaft Getarnt open air exhibit continues through June 30th in Hamburg’s Überseequartier. Admission is free & the exhibit can be viewed 24/7.
4.) In honor of Memorial day, we’ll be offering a special discount on PAA events purchased in June – just use code “PAAMemorialDay” at checkout on any of the PAA events happening in Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco, or Washington DC listed above, as well as the events in Austin and Dallas this December and recieve 25$ off!
5.) Lastly, looking a bit ahead to the fall for good reason as spaces are beginning to go – join me in October at my Lake Quinault Photography retreat where we will not only be photographing the lush flora and fauna of the area, but also do some technical work with monitor calibration and EPSON printers for those of you interested in doing your own spectacular prints at home!
Here in Seattle, we’re glad to see the sun (finally) and hope you’re also enjoying the spring and looking forward to summer!
It’s no secret that soft, diffuse light is often preferred for great photos unless you’re going for a specific style, look, or feel. This quick video shows one reason why soft light is preferable. not only is the location of this village in Mali complex in terms of the many rooftops and structures, the conical rooftops themselves are textured complex pattern. Add in a busy landscape of brush and trees, and there is quite a bit going on.
Shooting this scene in more direct lighting would create a high contrast graphical image that might be interesting, but you would lose the detail that informs the viewer of the context of this location. Most of the materials used to construct this village are from the landscape it’s built upon. Showing the even tones, hues and cohesive nature in which everything blends together helps capture the symbiotic relationship between the people and the land in a way that a high contrast image with dark shadows and bright highlights simply wouldn’t deliver.
As many of you know, my garden is my anchor and, as much as I can, I work to surround myself with the aesthetic that inspires me and nurtures my soul. When I come home from a trip after being strapped to a plane seat for up to 48 hours, I am bone tired and grumpy. But as soon as I arrive home, I am instantly transported to the nature and art that fills the space where I live. Though the spring weather in Seattle has been rainy and cold, I always find time to work in my yard. I get lost in the process of pruning trees, weeding, and devising new planting schemes. My gardening inspiration comes from my travels, especially in Japan and China.
A small urban yard can be an amazing magnet for wildlife; yards can provide us with connections to the natural world as well as places to play and experiment with photography close to home. Once you have a garden or natural outdoor space at your home, it’s easy to set up a camera and go outside! Gardens can also be useful stress-relievers. Going out and concentrating on the amazing insects that visit the flowers in the garden can put you in a better mood, lifting your outlook on life and nature. Focusing through the camera on a composition of native flowers, or trying to follow a native bee, might just keep you grounded and thankful for the beauty of life all around us.
Show your support for local the wildlife habitat by certifying your garden through the National Wildlife Federation website. They’ll provide you with a list of elements you’ll need to become certified to participate as a certified wildlife habitat.
Welcome to another technique Tuesday! Today we revisit creating compelling compositions focusing on wildlife that also give context to their environment. Often times just centering up your subject isn’t the most interesting way to present it, even if your focus is on an animal or person. Unless your goal is to inform the viewer about the specific detail of the subject itself, there is often more to be learned about it’s nature by including the world it lives in.
I also give some tips on how you can ‘break the ice’ with wildlife and increase their interest and comfort level, ensuring they stick around until you get that well-composed shot you’re looking for!
Tomorrow I’m heading south to the Washington-Oregon border for my Columbia River Gorge workshop – stay tuned to the blog for new photos!
Argentine Gray Fox, Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile
At every Photography As Art seminar I present, I’m consistently reinvigorated in my approach by the heart-felt words I receive from participants. The exchanges before, during, and after my presentation illustrate why I take this message of changing the way you see as a photographer and artist on the road.
I received a testimonial from Jack, an attendee of the Portland event this past Sunday, who’s kind words and the time he took to send them are a true pay-off for the energy I’ve put into creating and continually refining the message of Photography As Art.
I was so appreciative of this gesture that I asked Jack for his permission to share his words. He has summarized so well the perspective I hope everyone is able to take away from these seminars. Enjoy!
I attended the “Photography as Art” seminar in Portland this past Sunday. I continue to mine the experience and discover more and more gold.
It was amazing how different it was to be at the seminar versus watching Art on Creative Live. One could not help but feel a connection to Art, the person. He is one of the most open, vulnerable, accepting and receptive people I have been around. It is easy to see how he makes such a strong connection to people all over the planet. Who he is as a person is integral to his art and his photography. What I came away with is much deeper and broader than the content of what Art taught (valuable as that was).
Art is a work in progress. He is constantly changing and evolving. Rather than whining about the radical changes in photography over the past decade, he uses those changes as an opportunity to grow and move in new and different directions. This is a life lesson. I am 81 years old, but I find this lesson as valuable today as when I was 20 (maybe even more so with the dramatic demands of aging). I started my photographic journey in 1950 with a Brownie Hawkeye and an el cheapo darkroom in my tiny closet. What I know is that I am the best photographer and artist that I have ever been right now.
What Art made crystal clear was that being an artist and a fine photographer is no sense dependent upon traveling the globe the way that he has. Rather it is all about training the eye. His presentations demonstrated that he sees things that few of the rest of us see. But what he helped us to understand is that what is crucial is that “seeing” is a learnable skill. If we are intentional and focused and willing to work at it, all of us can develop our eyes and see things that we have not seen before. If we were bed-ridden, we could still continue to grow as artists and photographers; we would still have the potential to create some of our best work.
I think that most of us came away with a deeper hope for our creative journeys. Seeing how truly “alive” Art is made each of us aware of our potential to be more truly alive. And for my money that is much more important than art or photography per se.
