Just in time for the holidays, two newly published editions of a couple of my most popular books are now available in France and Italy!
France:
Hymne à la Terre (Earth Is My Witness)
L’art de photographier la nature (The New Art of Photographing Nature)
Italy:
Eden (Earth Is My Witness)
L’arte della fotografia naturalistica (The New Art of Photographing Nature)
I’ve been holding on to some episodes of Where’s Art? for the busy holiday season, and I’d like to finish rounding out my September trip to Africa with the final episode from Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. Those of you familiar with the location know that it’s an excellent place to capture stunning images of this landscape, with sand dunes casting shadows and fading into the hazy distance. The shadows that fall from the wind-swept peaks and valleys filling the vast expanse of this region provide an opportunity to capture varying levels of the beautiful orange hues of the sand.
The dead and calcified Acacia trees as well as the angular horns of the gemsbok that populate the area are just a couple examples of how even the organic elements of the region only reinforce the graphical nature of the images one can capture here. Few places in world combine such a unique environmental aesthetic with varied wildlife and a deep local culture. Though Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei have attracted a number of tourists in recent years, this is still such a large area that it hardly impacted our group. Many of the local visitors come out for a short period of time, behold the beauty here, and move on. If you’re willing to make the effort and invest the time to being here at the margins of the day, however, you’re bound to capture some truly unique images. Enjoy!
From a 2011 trip to China. . .
Never discount the ability to create effective photographs during a rainy overcast day!
On my last day in Yang Shao, China we were hit with some pretty bad weather. Instead of staying in the hotel, I traveled to a view point along the Li River to shoot some limited edition, fine art black and white images. I knew from experience that images taken on a day like this could yield dreamy photos with just a basic amount of dodging and burning once converted from a color capture.
My workflow for these images was fairly simple. I created a virtual copy in Lightroom, desaturated the image by dragging the Saturation Slider to 0 and then using the Brush Tool to selectively dodge and burn areas of the sky to make the clouds pop. Then, Jay Goodrich, my co-leader on this trip, opened the images in Photoshop and added an Auto Curves adjustment layer that, to my surprise, made the images just jump off of the page. When I have more time than I do on location, I will further refine the black & white image by using NIK Software’s Silver Efex Pro 2 software. This will allow me to really fine-tune the image.
I am always amazed at how many ways there are to process an image to get the results that I am looking for in my pursuit of creativity.
Great news on my evergreen TV show! The first thirteen episodes of Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge are now available to stream in the US & UK on Amazon. If you haven’t seen them before, it’s now even easier!
Check them out at an affordable price, or stream them free if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber:
US: Click Here
UK: Click Here
Revel in the beauty of awe-inspiring landscapes and the unique animals and people that inhabit them through an artist’s lens. During these journeys, I share my knowledge, curiosity, and enthusiasm about the world around us. You will also learn professional photographic techniques in such an intimate manner that you feel as if you’re right there with me getting a personal photography lesson.
Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge was produced by Edge of the Earth Productions, LLC in association with Blue Moon Productions, Inc., presented by Oregon Public Broadcasting, and distributed by American Public Television (APT). Funding for Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge was generously provided by Canon U.S.A., Inc. and the Microsoft Corporation. Additional funding was provided by Conservation International.
From the freezing temperatures on Mauna Kea to the molten magma fields of Kilauea, the Big Island of Hawaii has so much to offer that even a week-long retreat with eight photographers seemed short. With local guides we traversed the island to find petroglyphs, lush fern forests, trees of extraordinary beauty, and fantastically tattooed models. Bumping down to the remote Waipio Valley, flying in helicopters, and rushing up to the MKO for sunset and then waiting for the brilliance of of the Milky Way was both exhausting and invigorating!
This trip exceeded expectations, and I look forward to offering it again in the last week of October 2018. If you would like to get on the advance notification list, please drop us a line via our contact page, or call 206.332.0993!
The holiday season is upon us, so it’s time for a flash sale! Now through Midnight PST on Monday November 27th, Purchase admission to any currently scheduled Photography As Art seminar and receive a second for half price. Just add two or more seminars to your account and use the code “PAABUDDY2017” at checkout, and save over $100. Join Art Wolfe live with a friend or surprise that special someone with the gift of a broadened photographic vision and creativity!
The next Photography As Art is as soon as next weekend, with two dates in the Lone Star State, so act now and save!
Dallas, TX – December 2nd, 2017
Austin, TX – December 3rd, 2017
Seattle, WA – March 4th, 2018
Raleigh, NC – March 25th, 2018
Tampa, FL – May 20th, 2018
Montreal, CA – June 2nd, 2018
New York, NY – June 3rd, 2018
Philadelphia PA – June 9th, 2018
Pittsburgh, PA – June 10th, 2018
December is fast approaching, and I’ll be spending the first week or so in Texas with a trio of dates! It all kicks off on the evening of Friday, December 1st at 7:30 PM where I’ll be delivering my Eart Is My Witness presentation at Sean Fitzgerald’s studio in the historic Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas. Earth Is My Witness is a presentation focused on the stories behind some of the most iconic images of my 40-plus year career.
The next day, join me back in this same location for the full-day presentation of Photography As Art! I’ve created this seminar to counter the photographic locations, compositions, and themes we see recycled time and time again, and aim to teach each participant to see the world around them in an entirely new way; to use any location to their advantage, and capture the often unseen elements around us to create unique artistic images.
The following day I’ll be taking Photography As Art down the highway to Austin – so if the trek up to Dallas is a bit too lengthy, then join me at UT Austin!
I’m looking forward to visiting Texas, and I hope to see you there. Follow the links below to purchase tickets for these events:
Friday, December 1st: Earth Is My Witness – Dallas
Saturday, December 2nd: Photography As Art – Dallas
Sunday, December 3rd: Photography As Art – Austin
I am pleased to announce that beginning in January of 2018, I’ll be providing Portfolio Reviews to those interested in having me take a look at your photography work and provide constructive feedback! Among the many requests we’ve had, reviews come up most often – and given that the critique process has long been a part of our workshops that I look forward to, it only made sense to offer this service.
As you may know, I approach photography from the perspective of having had classic arts training, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and art education from the University of Washington in 1975. Receiving and participating in the critique process with peers and instructors was an invaluable asset for my development as an artist, and the art of photography is no different.
We hope to accommodate anyone interested in having their work reviewed by offering a trio of packages and perks:
FOCUS:
CAPTURE:
PRESENT:
Check out the Portfolio Review page for more information. I look forward to seeing everyone’s work in 2018!
Though my Africa trip seems like a ages ago, I still have much to share in the form of another episode or two of “Where’s Art?”! This leg of the journey was to Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. I had two book projects in mind when I planned to come to this location, and it did not disappoint! For a book on elephants, coming to Mana Pools was a must due to the unique flora that can be found here providing a backdrop that you just won’t see anywhere else. I also had my sights set on capturing some nighttime exposures of baobab trees silhouetted against the starry evening sky for a book that will focus on images captured in between dusk and dawn.
Though the elephants here are generally accustomed to visitors to this area, they are still wild animals – and that was proven when a mother decided to charge our group. Fortunately we were prepared and able to use the surrounding trees to our advantage and no one was hurt, but it was just one more reminder about the importance of staying alert and respecting that this is their home. Rounding out the trip were African wild dogs which were entertaining, to say the least!
Greetings! I’m headed off to Hawaii today to lead a photography retreat of EPIC proportions – but before I go I wanted to share some photos from my recent trip to the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia – part of the world’s largest archipelago – where we found, after a couple of days of searching, a social group of macaque monkeys.
As you can tell from these photos these animals are friendly, outgoing and most of all, grabby! Many of you know of the controversy surrounding the macaques of Sulawesi and photographer David Slater. I post these photos so we can all appreciate the often joyful personalities of these outgoing creatures. These are curious animals whom have no fear of the camera, mug for it, and often reach for it out of curiosity – hence the appearance of ‘selfie’ type shots. Rest assured, I was not about to trust them with my expensive equipment!
Though this trip started out with such wonderful subjects (pygmy tarsier’s included!), it was unfortunately cut short due to medical concerns. You see, back in the spring I took a trip to Chad and came away great photos of elephants and some not so great sand fly bites. If you are unfortunate enough to experience such a thing, get them treated immediately! To make a long (and not particularly pretty) story short, CDC was eventually involved despite my best efforts to treat them as recommended by my doctors back in Seattle. Given that the remainder of the trip was structured around diving opportunities, we felt it best not to tempt fate with the damp and irritation of repeatedly changing in and out of a wet suit. I’m on the mend – but I can’t stress enough how important it is to address such things immediately!
That’s all for now – enjoy the photos!
