Today is International Women’s Day, celebrating women’s rights and progress around the world. For more information and to find an event near you, visit http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
International Women’s Day – Images by Art Wolfe
Final call for the Bhutan Photo Tour with Art! There are only two places left on this two week international workshop to the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. The trip dates are March 25 to April 6 and the absolute last day to sign up is Tuesday, March 9th. For information and registration, visit http://www.artwolfeworkshops.com/bhutan_tour.php
This is an opportunity of a lifetime for any photographer!
There are a few spaces remaining in our Creative Sessions Workshop on March 5-7, 2010 in Seattle, Washington. If you are interested visit the Art Wolfe Workshop Website.
The International Conservation Photography Awards (ICP Awards) is a premier worldwide photography event focused on conservation and the environment. The biennial juried photo competition, along with awarding cash and merchandise to selected photographers, will include an online exhibit, a 3-month museum gallery exhibit at the prestigious Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, Washington, publication in a national photography magazine and other printed communications, and a slide show for use in community outreach and global on-line entertainment/education. Hurry, the deadline is quickly approaching – February 28th, 2010.
Welcome to the new IMPACT online exhibition, a project exploring the internet as a venue for insightful photographic work. In an effort to remind viewers of the important role photographers play around the world, we invited an array of imagemakers to share galleries on their blogs (like this one) that comprise 12 images representing an experience when they had an impact on or were impacted. By clicking on the links below the IMPACT logo, you can move through the exhibition, viewing other galleries by different photographers. You can also click the IMPACT logo to be taken to a post on the liveBooks RESOLVE Blog where you can see an index of all participating photographers. We hope that by linking different photographic visions of our first topic, “Outside Looking In,” we can provide a multifaceted view of the topic as well as the IMPACT individuals can have on the world around us.
IMPACT: Kumbh Mela – Images by Art Wolfe
Fed by snowmelt from the Himalaya, the Ganges River is the spiritual center of Hinduism, and one of India’s holiest cities is Allahabad, cradled at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers. Every few years, depending upon the alignment of the planets, sun, and moon, this is the site of the world’s largest gathering of humanity, the Kumbh Mela.
I have been in the midst of huge migrations of wildlife, but nothing ever prepared me for this mass human pilgrimage. From every corner of the subcontinent, millions of people converge to bathe in the purifying river waters. There is nothing on Earth that can match this pilgrimage for sheer spectacle and exuberance.
From the earliest moments of the day to late at night, there is constant pageantry and stimulation. I love working the margins of the day, especially the mornings when people are just waking up. Filtered by low light the atmosphere is hazy with dust and smoke; the harsh edges softens and even the most mundane scene looks like a painting. It is easy to say that photographing the Kumbh Mela has been one of the great adventures and privileges of my life.
Just in case you couldn’t see the snipe from Monday’s Vanishing Act Post, (it isn’t easy) we have outlined it in the photo for today’s post.
February 19th 2010 marks the 20th Anniversary of Adobe Photoshop® and Adobe is getting together with the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) to celebrate the anniversary of the software that changed the face of photography and design forever.
The Photoshop 20th anniversary celebration on February 18th at 7:30 p.m. pst will be streamed LIVE and feature Photoshop luminaries including NAPP’s Scott Kelby, John Loiacono, Adobe Senior Vice President and General Manager, Creative Solutions Business Unit, NAPP Photoshop gurus Dave Cross and Matt Kloskowski, Adobe Photoshop star Russell Brown, and other key members of the Adobe Photoshop team. This fun-filled night will feature a walk through Photoshop history, a glimpse into the future, and celebrates all things Photoshop.
It’s easy to attend! Sign up at http://www.photoshopuser.com/photoshop20th, and come back to that page on February 18th at 7:30 p.m. pst for an amazing history-making night.
Icebergs and ice are an increasingly important topic in recent years, as climate change is becoming more of a resounding, everyday issue. On a recent trip to Antarctica I developed a personal project of capturing the ice in as artistic of a way as possible. During the day, cruise ship passengers disembarked in Zodiacs to go ashore and view penguins. I have photographed a lot of penguins, so my mission became the ice that was floating in the vicinity. On this particular trip I asked a Zodiac driver to take me over to a distant iceberg that I could see towering over all of the other icebergs. It looked almost like a cathedral, standing out there over a 150 feet above its surrounding neighbors.
This first image shows the dramatic angle of the pinnacle of ice as it’s surrounded by smaller icebergs. As usual I circled my subject and look at it from all angles before settling on an image.
As we travel around the iceberg it takes on a slightly different shape. This new vantage point allows me to incorporate more of the surrounding icebergs in the foreground.
With image number three I am able to incorporate a foreground “bergie bit” (little piece of iceberg) that is found floating around its larger cousins. I am using a 16-35mm wide angle zoom lens and a polarizer to compose this image. My main objective is to balance the foreground ice with the iceberg in the distance.
I put on my 70-200mm zoom and circled back around to the location where I captured my initial composition in image 1. I chose to shoot a vertical to emphasize the vertical sweep of this dramatic iceberg.
I noticed a distant iceberg with an arch and directed the Zodiac to it. As we headed over to it I put my wide angle zoom back on. I circled this iceberg looking for a point of view in which to include with my initial perspective.
This composition reveals the first iceberg in a very beautiful way. I also love the way the green arch surrounds the distant blue icebergs, and how the wide angle gives the image a nice perspective by incorporating some of the blue green ice just below the surface.
I decided to go back to my 70-200 to try to pull in that distant iceberg. This lens allowed me to compress the scene while still keeping the strong foreground element of the arched iceberg in my composition. However, because I am further away now, you can see the blue sky above the arched iceberg. I have lost the drama that I had with the last image.
I zoomed in to try and eliminate the sky from the previous shot,but in doing so I have lost the top of the distant iceberg.
This is my favorite image in the series. It conveys the drama of the arch, it frames the iceberg in the distance perfectly, and it has a nice sense of color with the blues and greens.
The result is 3 or 4 distinctly different compositions of the same iceberg, which demonstrates how perseverance and a change of perspective can yield a stronger set of images.
Learn these and other techniques in our upcoming spring seminar tour to seven major cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information visit the Art Wolfe Workshop Website.
Are we all about pretty pictures? This is a question that has been asked many times and in many forums to define the work that conservation photographers do. The real question however, is, do we want to focus on inspiring people, or do we aim to shock them?
There is a constant tension in finding the right balance between images that seduce and move and those that horrify. I believe that finding the right mix means the difference between entertaining people and moving them to action.
A carefully edited mix of images, woven into a compelling story, can show both the beauty of what we stand to lose as well as the devastation that our planet’s ecosystems are enduring all around the world. Most importantly, if we do our jobs right, photography can help us connect the dots to show the impacts that this loss has on human societies, and especially on the most vulnerable among us.
The ways in which the iLCP membership continues to expand and evolve, is a clear reflection of this philosophy. Although we will always need to rely on beautiful imagery to win and maintain the attention of our audience, we are also committed to working with photographers who focus their efforts on serious photojournalism. Perhaps the most important aspect of our work, is that regardless of whether images are beautiful or disturbing, they should be truthful and compelling. Our most valuable currency continues to be credibility; the perception by the public that what we are showing is a true reflection of reality.
Creating beautiful images that depict some of the most devastating and tragic losses our planet’s ecosystems are suffering is the ideal that compels the work of conservation photographers; succeeding in propelling law-makers, donors, government officials, corporations and society at large, is our ultimate mission.
Cristina Mittermeier
Executive Director, iLCP
To read the whole newsletter head to the iLCP’s website.
Drawing form 36 years of international travel, Art will delve into a vast range of subjects; from discovering the subject to elements of design and even new works such as time lapses. Imagery of nature, wildlife and the world’s varied landscapes will round out the curriculum to provide the most comprehensive and imaginitave class available. For more information visit our workshop website. Don’t delay, our first two events in Toronto, Canada – May 20 and New York, NY – May 22 are filling fast.
