I’m delighted to invite you to a special evening celebrating my newest book, Acts of Faith: The Beauty of Belief. Presented by the UW Alumni Association, this free author talk will take place Friday, December 11, at Mobius Hall on the UW Bothell campus.
Over more than four decades of traveling and photographing around the world, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing extraordinary expressions of faith and devotion. From vibrant festivals and sacred ceremonies to intimate moments of prayer and quiet reflection, these experiences have given me a deeper appreciation for the beauty, diversity, and shared humanity found in spiritual traditions across cultures.
During the evening, I’ll share some of my favorite images and the stories behind them, offering a personal look at the experiences and encounters that helped shape Acts of Faith.
Following the presentation, I look forward to meeting guests during an optional book signing. Copies of Acts of Faith will be available for purchase, and you’re welcome to bring any of my other books from your collection to be signed as well.
Admission is free, but advance registration is required. I hope you’ll join me!
Date: Friday, December 11, 2026 Time: 6:30–8:30 p.m. Location: Mobius Hall, Cascadia College–UW Bothell Campus
18428 Campus Way NE, Bothell, WA 98011
Admission: FREE — advance registration required Book Signing: Approximately 8 p.m., following the presentation
Seating is first-come, first-served, and each registrant may include up to five guests.
About Acts of Faith: The Beauty of Belief
Acts of Faith is a project especially close to my heart, bringing together decades of photography documenting the remarkable ways people around the world express faith, reverence, and spiritual connection. Through images of sacred landscapes, traditional ceremonies, pilgrimages, and personal moments of devotion, I hope to share both the spectacular and deeply human dimensions of belief.
Featuring a foreword by acclaimed travel writer Pico Iyer and essays by Art Davidson, this beautifully produced hardcover volume combines photography with thoughtful cultural context. My hope is that these images will inspire curiosity, understanding, and an appreciation for the traditions that make our world so wonderfully diverse, while reminding us of the experiences that connect us all.
Whether you’ve followed my photography for years or are just discovering my work, I would love to see you there for an evening of stories, images, and conversation.
We are just over a month away from the release of Acts of Faith, and given the season it’s the perfect time to drop the latest video about this project. I’ve been to Mexico a few times now for Day of the Dead, and if you ever have the chance to go, I recommend it. It’s a beautiful way to remember lost loved ones.
While the Day of the Dead has become a part of Catholic spiritual life in Mexico, it is actually a celebration begun long ago by the indigenous people of the country. In particular the Purépecha create elaborate ofrendas and spend all night vigils on November 1st and 2nd at the graves of their loved ones.
Blending Catholic traditions with indigenous rituals, the Day of the Dead honors loved ones who return briefly to the world of the living. The Dia de Los Muertos Payer, begins, “Your providence guides our lives, and by your promise we return to dust. In your grace you promise us that those who die still live in Your presence.”
We are getting close to the release of Acts of Faith, and along the way to the pub date I am sharing the stories behind the photos. Today I’m sharing some photographs both from the book and others that didn’t quite make it in from my visit to the Lalibela mountains of Ethiopia. Here, underground churches have been incredibly carved into the stone itself, creating subterranean places of worship by the Christian groups who practice there.
Enjoy the video, and check out more stories and photographs from this upcoming book on the Acts of Faith page, and don’t forget to pre-order your signed copy with print!
October is National Book Month, making it a fitting time to look ahead to the release of Art’s newest book, Acts of Faith: The Beauty of Belief. Drawing on more than four decades of photography across six continents, the book brings together over 225 images exploring the many ways people express faith, devotion, and spiritual connection—from vibrant ceremonies and pilgrimages to monastic traditions and quiet moments of reflection. Featuring a foreword by Pico Iyer and essays by Art Davidson, Acts of Faith offers a sweeping visual portrait of traditions that shape communities and connect people around the world.
Acts of Faith will be released on December 1, 2026, in a large-format 272-page clothbound edition published by Mandala Publishing / Insight Editions. In celebration of National Book Month and the book’s upcoming arrival, now is the perfect time to reserve your copy. Pre-order Acts of Faith through ArtWolfe.com to receive a signed copy and bonus print!
I recently had the pleasure of joining photographer Richard Bernabe on the Beyond the Lens podcast for a conversation about my new book, Acts of Faith: The Beauty of Belief. We talked about photography, religion and culture, and what I’ve learned from witnessing and photographing expressions of faith around the world.
Acts of Faith brings together photographs made over decades of travel, from large public celebrations and sacred ceremonies to pilgrimage, prayer, and much quieter moments of personal devotion. While the traditions themselves can be extraordinarily different, working on this collection has continually reminded me of the common threads of humanity that connect us.
The book includes hundreds of photographs from nearly forty countries, accompanied by a foreword from Pico Iyer and essays by Art Davidson that offer cultural and historical context for many of the traditions represented.
I hope you’ll listen to my conversation with Richard and learn a little more about the experiences and ideas behind the book!
Listen to Episode 122 of Beyond the Lens: Art Wolfe: Acts of Faith, Religion, Culture, and Celebrations of Humanity Through Photography
Acts of Faith is also available to preorder directly through my website. Copies ordered through the Art Wolfe store will be signed by me and include a bonus print.
For over four decades, Art Wolfe has traveled across continents documenting the many ways people express devotion, reverence, and spiritual connection. His forthcoming book, Acts of Faith: The Beauty of Belief, brings this extensive body of work together in a visually powerful journey through sacred ceremonies, pilgrimage sites, vibrant festival processions, contemplative monastic rituals, and quiet moments of prayer.
Sacred Traditions Across the World
Captured across six continents, these photographs explore how faith shapes identity, strengthens communities, and influences the rhythms of everyday life. Widely recognized traditions appear alongside rituals rarely witnessed beyond the cultures that sustain them. A foreword by acclaimed travel writer and cultural observer Pico Iyer considers the broader themes of spirituality and human connection, while essays by Art Davidson provide historical and cultural context for the practices depicted.
ACTS OF FAITH: The Beauty of Belief
Featuring over 225 color photographs from nearly forty countries, this 272-page clothbound hardcover includes two eight-page gatefolds and measures 11 × 14 inches. Published in English by Mandala Publishing / Insight Editions, Acts of Faith will be released October 20, 2026.
Pre-order through artwolfe.com to receive a signed copy and a bonus print!
Reserve Your Signed Edition
Published by Mandala Publishing and Insight Editions, Acts of Faith is a substantial 272-page clothbound volume featuring two eight-page gatefolds. The book will be published on October 20, 2026, and is now available for pre-order.
Pre-order today to receive a signed copy and a bonus print, and experience this reverent celebration of the beauty, diversity, and shared humanity found in spiritual traditions around the world.
We’ve been fortunate to publish some truly extraordinary, award-winning books with Mandala / Earth Aware, including Earth Is My Witness, Trees, Human Canvas, Wild Lives, and more.
Coming this October isActs of Faith, a stunning and uplifting portrait of global rituals, festivals, and other faith-based traditions from around the world.
I’m especially excited about this book,ACTS of FAITH: The Beauty of Belief. I pour my heart and soul into projects like this, and seeing them make their way through the long, careful publishing process is always incredibly rewarding.
Preorder your copy today and you’ll also receive a beautiful bonus print, suitable for framing.
A big challenge for photographers is that the camera simply cannot capture the range of brightness in the world that we can see. When we look at a subject with our own eyes, we can see all sorts of detail, from the brightest areas to the darkest areas. Unfortunately, the camera cannot. And when there is strong contrast between bright and dark areas, the camera will emphasize, even overemphasize, that contrast.
This can be especially problematic with bright skies and dark landscapes. It can be impossible to get a single exposure directly from your camera that captures both a good sky and good ground at the same time. Another problem can occur when you are photographing a subject in the shade against a bright, sunny background; the exposure range can be so extreme that, once again, there is no correct exposure to get a good image.
The first thing to do is accept that sometimes you just have to say no to a particular picture, recognizing that it may be impossible to get a good image given the lighting conditions since no exposure will be correct. If you can recognize this, you will start looking around for images that you can say yes to. That’s an important decision to be able to make.
To get a better photograph, in certain situations, there are things you can do to control the way light comes into your camera. A traditional way for landscape photographers to deal with a bright sky is to use a graduated neutral density filter.
This filter is half clear and half gray with a blend, or gradient, through the middle. By placing the dark part of the filter over the bright part of the scene, such as the sky, and the clear part of the filter over the darker part of the scene, such as the ground, you can balance the light coming through your lens so the camera can get a good exposure.
The challenge with a graduated neutral density filter is that it creates a line through the image. If you have a mountain or tree going into the sky, it will be darkened as well as the sky, for example. Unfortunately, this is starting to be a very dated look for photography. A graduated neutral density filter can still be helpful in knocking down bright light or brightly lit areas in the picture to balance them with the rest of the image, but you just have to use it carefully so the effect is not obvious.
Another way to work with multiple image exposures is to shoot an exposure for the bright areas, then an exposure for the dark areas. These two images are then combined in the computer by using the best of each. Shooting two images like this is actually quite easy to do.
Exposure created for bright areas.Exposure Created for Dark Areas
Start by locking your camera onto a tripod. Shoot one exposure that makes your sky look good, then shoot a second exposure that makes your ground look good. Bring the two images into Lightroom, where you can adjust the sky picture to make the sky look its best, and the ground picture to make the ground look its best.
Then you send the two pictures over to Photoshop as layers. Put the two pictures on top of each other as layers and make sure they are lined up. Then simply remove the bad part of the top picture, revealing the good area of the bottom picture in that section of the image. You can do this in two ways. The down and dirty way is to simply use the Eraser tool by setting it to a large size and 0 hardness (a very soft brush). You then erase the bad part of the picture.
Combined Result
The second way to do this is to use a layer mask. Add a layer mask to the top picture/layer and use a large, soft-edged (0 hardness) brush to paint black onto that layer mask and block the bad part of the top picture.
If you’d like to see the masking process in action as a future lesson for the blog, leave a comment below. Although there are a lot of helpful tools these days to help you auto-mask and adjust exposures, nothing beats knowing how to manually edit your photos without relying on automated tools that might not always give you the best results. A fundamental understanding of masking is an incredible tool for any photographer to have available to them.
If you’re looking to cross someone special off your holiday list, consider gifting them my wildlife magnum opus – Wild Lives! This “Big, Beautiful Book” is just that—full of the most iconic images I’ve captured over the years, from dozens of countries and insightful text by my good friend Greg Green.
Order before the end of November and get a free calendar – choose from Big Cats and Baby Animals. Choose the standard edition of Wild Lives or the Collector’s edition that comes in a gorgeous clamshell case with a signed print and more.
One of the most powerful tools a photographer has isn’t just the camera—it’s the choice of lens. Focal length not only determines how much of the scene you capture, but it also shapes how subjects relate to each other in scale and space. By deliberately choosing different lenses, you can either magnify a subject or minimize it, creating vastly different stories within the same world.
In Ladakh, India, while tracking the elusive snow leopard, I turned my attention to other subjects while waiting out the evasive cats. Using a 1200mm lens with a 1.4x extender, the moon filled my frame—crisp, detailed, and dominant.
Compare this to my image of the moon over Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Italy, shot with a 17-40mm wide-angle lens. Here, the moon shrinks to a tiny accent while the towering spires command attention. Same moon, two worlds apart—thanks to lens choice.
The same principle applies when photographing the sun. At the Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan, I used a 500mm lens to place the sun in near-equal prominence to the silhouetted subject, creating a striking balance.
In Goa, India, I photographed two girls’ ponytails with the sun in the background, using a 70-200mm lens at 165mm. The sun becomes a smaller, softer presence—still important, but secondary.
At the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh, a 70mm lens rendered the sun as a tiny orb in a vast, dusty expanse, emphasizing the human pilgrimage over the celestial backdrop.
Longer lenses not only magnify distant objects—they compress space, making background elements appear closer to the foreground. Wide angles, on the other hand, exaggerate depth, pushing background elements farther away. Mastering this interplay between focal length, subject size, and background compression will give you the ability to control the viewer’s perception and craft stronger, more intentional images.
