Last week on Tequila Time and the blog, I discussed ten books in my collection that I found influential and inspiring to me by other artists and photographers. Viewers were also curious about the ten books of my own that I’d pick out as my favorites and we delivered last night!
Here are ten (in no particular order) of my personal books that I’m most happy with. If you want the details, you’ll have to watch the video! Also, watch til the end for a special promo code for 25% off books in my online store, valid until midnight PST this Sunday!
Books! They’ve been a popular subject lately on the weekly Tequila Time live stream. Last week we discussed 10 influential books by other authors, and tomorrow I’ll be talking about my own book projects and the work that goes into them.
On that note, I am excited to announce that for friends in Deutschland, my popular title Photographs from the Edge with Rob Sheppard is now available in German! It is available through Amazon.de & and HERE as well! This is one of my more popular books, which recounts capturing some of the most recognizable and/or personally meaningful photos of my career.
Der legendäre Naturfotograf Art Wolfe gewährt erstmals intime Einblicke in sein Schaffen. Er fotografiert seit über 40 Jahren überall auf der Welt Natur, Tiere, Menschen, Kulturdenkmäler und Feste verschiedenster Nationen. Seine besten Werke sind in diesem Band versammelt, begleitet von Geschichten zur Entstehung der Fotos und wertvollen Tipps zur Ausrüstung und zu den Techniken des großen Künstlers.
Produktdetails
ISBN: 9783954163205
Erscheint am 26.05.2020
Frederking & Thaler Verlag
288 Seiten
ca. 200 Abbildungen
Format 19,3 x 26,1 cm
Hardcover
Welcome back to Art’s Bookshelf! Last night on Tequila Time with Art, I discussed some of the books that have influenced and inspired me over the years. It’s a list of 10, but they are in no particular order. I find that as an artist, it’s difficult to choose “favorites” – any shred of inspiration you can find is simply invaluable and incomparable. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself something nice, whether it’s one of MY books, or these fantastic volumes by other authors. Looking at images online is amazing and convenient, but there is something about picking up a heavy book and immersing yourself in it’s pages with no distractions.
Without further ado – 10 influential books from my bookshelf! For the details, I discuss them all on Tequila Time Episode 5!
Enjoy the list and hopefully the episode of Tequila Time. If you’re not joining me at 5:30 on thursdays for our live chat, you’re missing out! Follow me on Instagram and Facebook (The Insta audio/video is much better quality!) and join the conversation, submit questions, and catch me in some candid predicaments.
As usual drop your comments below and include your Instagram handle for a follow!
Happy World Wildlife Day! It’s also technique Tuesday, and today’s tip was inspired by a question from Lowell E., Who inquired via my contact page – how exactly DO photographers make things, like the sun for example, seem so much larger in a photograph than it does in real life?
Great Question Lowell!
The simple answer – use a telephoto lens! Now, it should be noted the sun itself is not getting larger, rather it’s an optical trick where your subject is appearing larger as your lens dials in on it. Photographing a subject a quarter of a mile away, for example, is relatively a short distance compared to the sun at 93 million miles away.
For more information, here’s an excerpt from The New Art of Photographing Nature:
AW: As I was driving down the Flathead Valley in the Montana Rockies, I noticed this homestead set against the distant mountains. The first shot was taken with a 50mm and most closely resembles what I saw from the car as I drove by. I recognized the possibilities, but this clearly was not it. It incorporated too much sky, too much foreground, and the dark furrow of earth leads your eye away from what was most important to me in the composition.
In the second shot, I zoomed in with a 300mm lens, creating a telescopic effect, and brought the mountains closer in relation to the farm. I knew this was what I wanted–the farm with the looming backdrop of mountains. I placed the farm in the bottom and cropped so only mountains were above it, creating a sense of dramatic vertical rise. For the last shot I used a 400mm with a 1.4 teleconverter resulting in 560mm focal length, bringing me even closer. By making the image a vertical I was able to emphasize the rise of the mountains, and using a polarizer allowed me to create a little more drama. For my money, this is the strongest image in the series.
MH: Here again is a good example of what the camera can do that the eye cannot. The only way we could approximate this image would be to hike a long way to get very close to the farm. But even then you would not have the same perspective, with the farm and the mountains so strongly juxtaposed. This sense of drama is created by the compression of distance only achieved by using a powerful telephoto lens.
Think you have a great question that might prompt it’s own Technique Tuesday post? Submit a question via the contact page!
Here are some other great resources relating to the subject:
In January, Dr. Samuel Wasser and myself had the pleasure of speaking to a crowded Great Hall about the efforts being made to protect and preserve elephants at Town Hall Seattle. If you weren’t able to make it to the event, the Seattle Channel has made it available for all to watch online.
If you’re inspired to help, visit www.giving.uw.edu/ivory and contribute to a very worthy cause via the University of Washington.
I create books in large part because I know how impactful and inspirational they can be to the right audience. Sometimes all it takes is finding the right perspective to instigate an idea, a project, or even a lifestyle change. What might just be a picture and technique book to one person fills in the gaps for others and can send them down a creative rabbit-hole.
To that end, I make it a point to highlight books that either come across my desk or that I am referred to by friends, peers, and clients (often one in the same!) that leave an impression on me or that I think might be helpful for the photographer who follows my work.
Today I am honored to discuss fellow Tales By Lightalumnist and kindred spirit Peter Eastway’s recently released book, The New Tradition. As a fan of both the traditional photographic works of staple legends like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston as well as the idea that photography can be its own self-contained conceptual art form, this book echos and expands upon this idea. Filled with hauntingly beautiful photographs, each one is accompanied with techniques and anecdotes that help describe Peter’s process and approach.
This is an important book that comes at a great time for photography enthusiasts. Digital photography has in recent years finally shaken many of the stigmas attached to it, and The New Tradition illustrates just that – a new way of approaching photography while capitalizing on the technology we have available rather than shrinking from it simply because it’s not how things were done “back in the day”. We have the ability and opportunity to push things beyond anything these historic innovators ever could, and I can’t help but think if they were still working they would be taking every technological advantage they could find IF it helped convey what they were hoping to communicate with their captures.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough! Order it today as an amazing gift for the photographer and artist in your life!
It’s #GivingTuesday – so it’s a good time to mention the wonderful charitable organizations featured in my recent book, WILD ELEPHANTS: Conservation in the Age of Extinction. Though the book does touch on the troubling plight of elephant populations, we also explore many of the fantastic organizations and individuals who are out there making a difference and providing hope for the future of these animals.
To that end, if you’re feeling charitable this holiday season here is a list of the organizations mentioned in the book. Maybe the nature lover in your life or the person who has everything would appreciate a simple holiday donation in their name? Anything helps!
Hot on the heels of Wild Elephants, I’m excited to announced that the trade edition of Human Canvas is officially published as of today! I’ve forever been fascinated by the traditions and rituals of indigenous people world wide, and as a visual storyteller whom seeks to discover metaphors and relationships in my subjects, the practices of body painting have long been fascinating to me.
In creating the Human Canvas Project, my goal has been to combine the aesthetically complicated form of the human body with the elements of design to create images that are both interesting and immersive upon first glance and rewarding to those who linger longer. Art is subjective, and I truly believe this book has something to offer everyone.
This book build upon the images contained in the luxuriously packaged and printed Human Canvas Collector’s editionwith more images and plates in an affordable package that retains the quality of materials that photo book collectors will appreciate.
Purchase Human Canvas today for yourself or a holiday gift for the artist and photographer in your life!
Good news if you’re in the Pacific Northwest and could use a little photographic inspiration to recharge those chilly fall batteries – the next two weekends will see me back home for a few events, and I hope to catch you there!
As you may know if you follow me, Wild Elephants was published this week. Thank you to everyone who pre-ordered. I’ll be signing those books this weekend so we can send them out! The new trade edition of Human Canvas will also be officially published next week, but we have received those as well. I’ll be attending the Kenmore Camera Digital Photo Expo this Saturday from 10:30 AM til 12:30 PM – come and pick up your signed copy of either or both books! This is always an invaluable event with plenty of resources on-hand to talk about the latest photo tech – don’t miss it!
For those of you in the Seattle and Portland areas, there are still limited spaces remaining for both Photography As Art seminars happening in those cities – sign up to reserve your spot today!
If you’d rather gamble than secure a guaranteed spot, today is the last day to enter your name in our give-away, so check it out and enter your name before midnight for your chance to win a ticket!
I’m THRILLED to announce that Wild Elephants is officially published as of today! This is a big, beautiful book that encompasses a lifetime of photographing elephants and includes fascinating text by notable conservation biologist Dr. Samuel Wasser on the impacts of the illegal elephant trade and other factors affecting these awesome, intelligent beasts. The news isn’t all grim as we highlight the many measures being taken to ensure these intelligent and charismatic animals can continue to thrive.
Wild Elephants is a celebration of these wondrous gentle giants and the renewed efforts countries are taking to protect their natural heritage. We explore what we can do to empower local populations to safeguard the survival of a magnificent species. Over 250 beautifully printed sturdy pages explore Asian and African elephants in a variety of environments, from lush forests to wide open savannas. Individuals and groups are examined through textural details of their thick, leathery skin to their place in the vast herds they belong to.
For those of you whom have already pre-ordered your copy of Wild Elephants, those will be sent out as soon as I’m able to sign them! If you’re near the Seattle area, I’ll be giving a presentation and signing this book with others for sale as well at the Kenmore Camera Digital Photo Expo this Saturday November 2nd from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM – I hope to see you there!
For those of you in Germany, Frederking & Thaler will also be making a copy available to you!
Books! They’ve been a popular subject lately on the weekly Tequila Time live stream. Last week we discussed 10 influential books by other authors, and tomorrow I’ll be talking about my own book projects and the work that goes into them.
Wild Elephants is a celebration of these wondrous gentle giants and the renewed efforts countries are taking to protect their natural heritage. We explore what we can do to empower local populations to safeguard the survival of a magnificent species. Over 250 beautifully printed sturdy pages explore Asian and African elephants in a variety of environments, from lush forests to wide open savannas. Individuals and groups are examined through textural details of their thick, leathery skin to their place in the vast herds they belong to.
