New Photos from South Florida


Before heading off to Cuba a few weeks ago, I shot some aerials over southern Florida. Freshwater issues abound in this state. How do you accommodate an increasing and thirsty population and a thriving and powerful agricultural industry while protecting water quality and the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades, as well as other increasingly endangered wild areas of the state?

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Print of the Month February 2016

Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia

 

I took to the skies to capture some shots of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s great natural wonders & now it is part of the largest marine park encompassing 1.2 million square miles of ocean surrounding the continent. It’s always good news to hear of a preservation of our planet of this proportion.

Save 20% on any Heart of the Sea print purchased this month. They are printed on EPSON Premium Photo Luster paper using archival EPSON Ultrachrome inks, and I hand sign them with a silver acid-free pen. Get more information about my Fine Art prints here.

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2015 Year in Review

Some years are publishing years, some are traveling, 2015 was for reshaping the business—a necessity in the ever-changing photography industry. I closed my downtown Seattle gallery and launched this website, focusing my core business online and allowing me the ability to concentrate on other projects, of which there are many.

TV: Tales by Light aired in Australia & New Zealand

All the filming that I did in 2014 with Abraham Joffe and the Untitled Film Works crew—in East Africa, Papua New Guinea, Alaska, and here in Seattle—finally came to fruition. Tales by Light is a joint Canon Australia and National Geographic Channel production & I hope it comes to the US soon!

As for Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge, it continues to air in broadcast markets worldwide.

Travel & Photography: The year was bookended by East Africa

While travel slowed somewhat in 2015, I still managed trips to Tanzania (twice), Kenya, Yellowstone National Park (twice), Antarctica, India, Bali, Japan, Iceland, Washington State, Alaska, Svalbard, California, and Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. The final expedition of the year was to the Danakil Basin of Ethiopia.


Presentations, Gallery Shows, and Articles

I lectured at, among other places, Florida’s Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Fine Art, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, Portland’s OMSI, and at #OPTIC2015 in New York. Human Canvas took over the Rotella Gallery in Soho for the month of November. DPreview.com published several well-received articles on my experiences photographing emperor penguins, humpback whales, and Iceland.

Books: A year of foreign editions

 

The Art of the Photograph in Spanish

El Arte de la Fotografia

 

Earth Is My Witness in French and German by National Geographic

Hymne coverEden cover

 

Vanishing Act in USA, German & French

VANISHING ACT Photographs by Art Wolfe, text by Barbara Sleeper In this revised edition, legendary wildlife photographer Art Wolfe turns to one of nature's most fundamental survival techniques: the vanishing act. His portraits show animals and insects disappearing into their surroundings, using deceptions, disguises, lures, and decoys to confuse the eye of both predator and prey. Spotting each cryptic animal amid Wolfe's clever compositions is both a fun and an informative challenge. At a time when many species are performing permanent vanishing acts due to habitat loss and human encroachment, this book showcases the beauty and evolutionary extremes of animal behavior and artfully illustrates the tenacious will to stay alive in an eat-or-be-eaten world. Softcover: 224 pages Publisher: Cameron + Company; Revised edition (Oct 14, 2014) Language: English Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.5 inches Preorder: http://store.artwolfe.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=526 Book will be signed and shipped October 14, 2014. (Cover design and release date subject to change)Meisterhaft getarntL'art du camouflage001

Awards & Honoraria

Earth Is My Witness garnered several publishing awards, including an IBPA Benjamin Franklin and an Independent Publisher. As for moi, I was named honorary chair of Washington Wild.

Top Blog Posts of 2015

Why I Do What I Do
Pretty in Pink: Springtime in Japan
Yes on 1401: Save Animals Facing Extinction (YES- it passed in November!)
Technique: Creating Graphic Images
Revealing Africa’s Major Elephant Ivory Poaching Hotspots
Travels To The Edge Music in the Japan Episode
Fall in Wyoming
Technique: Creating Abstract Images
International Cheetah Day
Colors of the Year 2016

Now on to 2016: new books! Museum shows in Europe! Exciting travel and learning opportunities!

 

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International Cheetah Day

The cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal and Africa’s most endangered cat. Uniquely adapted for speed, the cheetah is capable of reaching speeds greater than 110 kilometers per hour in just over 3 seconds, and at top speed their stride is 7 meters long. With its long legs and very slender body, the cheetah is quite different from all other cats and is the only member of its genus, Acinonyx. The cheetah’s unique morphology and physiology allow it to attain the extreme speeds for which it’s famous, and is often referred to as the greyhound of cats.

To find out more about this amazing cat visit internationalcheetahday.com

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Remembering Elephants Kickstarter for Born Free Foundation

Along with many other top photographers, I am participating in the Remembering Elephants book benefiting the Born Free Foundation. This is a Kickstarter campaign so you can pre-order your book and opt for other rewards. Pledge by September 22nd.

Untitled-1

 

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Only Two Spot Left for Grand Teton Workshop October 1-4


In the book The Living Wild, Art wrote, “After all, an animal without habitat is simply a curiosity biding time to its extinction. But an animal with its habitat is a vibrant representation of natural selection.” It is within this book that Art highlights the environment and the wildlife in a symbiotic relationship and travels beyond the more common seen portrait of wildlife. There are many places throughout the world that highlight this type of diversity, but Americans need to travel no farther than the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. With the reintroduction of wolves in the 90s’, this 11 million acre reserve of land has become one of the most intact temperate ecosystems on the planet. If you count the bird, mammal, fish, insect, amphibian, plant and reptile species, you walk away with thousands of potential photography subjects. Due to the stunningly beautiful land surrounding the creatures, this place offers the opportunity to capture imagery very similar to the visions Art has created in The Living Wild. Moose, bear, antelope, elk and countless others can be composed with the backdrop of the Tetons at sunrise and sunset. If you are wondering how, now is your chance to learn.

Visit Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming the first weekend in October with Art Wolfe and Gavriel Jecan for a four-day workshop being held in the heart of one of America’s most scenic locations.

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Vanishing Act: The Artistry of Animal Camouflage, Available Now

Click play to hear the story behind this Vanishing Act photo!

VANISHING ACT Photographs by Art Wolfe, text by Barbara Sleeper In this revised edition, legendary wildlife photographer Art Wolfe turns to one of nature's most fundamental survival techniques: the vanishing act. VANISHING ACT
The Artistry of Animal Camouflage

Photographs by Art Wolfe, text by Barbara Sleeper

In this revised edition, legendary wildlife photographer Art Wolfe turns to one of nature’s most fundamental survival techniques: the vanishing act. His portraits show animals and insects disappearing into their surroundings, using deceptions, disguises, lures, and decoys to confuse the eye of both predator and prey. Spotting each cryptic animal amid Wolfe’s clever compositions is both a fun and an informative challenge. At a time when many species are performing permanent vanishing acts due to habitat loss and human encroachment, this book showcases the beauty and evolutionary extremes of animal behavior and artfully illustrates the tenacious will to stay alive in an eat-or-be-eaten world.
Softcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Cameron + Company; Revised edition
Language: English
Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.5 inches

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Revealing Africa’s Major Elephant Ivory Poaching Hotspots

A study by Sam Wasser, who I’ve had a great working relationship with for several years, has been published in the journal Science that finds the poaching of Ivory in Africa comes from two main sources, including large elephant reserves in Tanzania and Mozambique. You can find out more from the story on NPR’s Morning Edition program or from The Seattle Times article.

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Yes on Initiative 1401: Save Animals Facing Extinction

Illegal poaching and wildlife trafficking is the fourth largest transnational crime behind weapon, drug, and human trafficking, and funds other types of violence and criminal organizations across the globe. Passing I-1401 will help reduce that violence. In addition, many of the animals protected by I-1401 are killed for medicinal use despite no real evidence of the efficacy of these expensive treatments.

While New York and New Jersey have passed laws to protect elephants and rhinos, I-1401 will prohibit and strengthen the penalties for the sale, purchase and distribution of products made from a list of 10 endangered animals: elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, marine turtles, pangolins, sharks and rays. Despite widespread public opposition to these practices, powerful special interest groups continue to lobby state legislatures and Congress to oppose common sense laws that would protect iconic species slipping toward extinction.

I-1401 would ban the sale or purchase of products made from endangered and exploited animals, including elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, pangolins, marine turtles, sharks and rays. It will be the first statewide ballot measure to help protect iconic species on the verge of being slaughtered into extinction. Passing it will set a national, and perhaps even international, precedent.

But first, at least 325,000 signatures must be collected by July to make the November ballot, in addition to building a robust, statewide campaign.

Join philanthropist Paul G. Allen, the Woodland Park Zoo, the Seattle Aquarium, the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, in getting this bill passed this November.

saveanimalsfacingextinction.org

Full text of the initiative here.

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Earth Day 2015

Every day is Earth Day!

Here are a few suggestions of ways to celebrate all year:

  • Plant a tree and a garden
  • Walk to work
  • Compost and Recycle even more and reduce trash output
  • Take children out to experience nature
  • Eat more local food & use reusable bags when shopping
  • Volunteer to improve trails and parks and waterways

Pledge your “Act of Green” at earthday.org

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