My first trip to Torres del Paine was in February 1988; much has changed since then – the camera equipment and accommodations have improved – but the scenery always remains absolutely breathtaking. We had several good days of trekking, which afforded us different views of the Horns as well as some views of a snow-capped Paine Grande.
Two spots remain available for an amazing opportunity to travel with Art to Katmai, Alaska!
Join Art as he leads this exclusive workshop to a private lodge in the Katmai region of Alaska. You will have opportunities to view and photograph bears safely at a close proximity and will be creating dynamic images that are different than anything you have seen before. This is a Katmai experience like no other due to the exclusivity of the location. You can be one of only 8 people to learn the nuances of nature photography taught in a truly wild atmosphere by a well-versed set of instructors
Click here for more details and to reserve one of the remaining spots before they are gone!
Subject to the ebbs and flows of international trade, Valparaiso on the coast of Chile is on the upswing – a mecca for artists, students, and entrepreneurs. I spent the day mostly photographing abstracts for my Photography As Art seminar.
Take a virtual trip today and check out a selection my new imagery taken between January 1st and March 31st. Locations include Antarctica, India, Laos, California, Washington State, Florida, and Cuba.
If you are into gritty abstracts like I am, you would love the ancient layers on the walls of Havana. I’ve spent 40 years photographing professionally around the world, evolving both my style and subjects. If you know me, you know how much I dislike being pigeonholed as a fur and feathers guy. Don’t get me wrong; I love photographing wildlife, but delving deep into my art history background has challenged me intellectually and helped me maintain enthusiasm and creativity for the medium. Getting in close to humanity’s coarse and granular surfaces creates photographic art on a different level.
My first trip to Cuba was in 2001, and the U.S. State Department tried to fine me and the group I was with for supposedly traveling there illegally. Now, President Obama is visiting the country. How times have changed! With it comes the good and the bad, but it’s always fascinating to see a country starting to open up.
Some of you who attended my Photography as Art seminar on Sunday may recognize a few of these photos I took last week on the California coast. I work on my presentations up to the very last moment and then some, getting them to where I want them to be. Not only is this a stunningly beautiful location on the central coast, but it is a goldmine of photographic opportunities, large and small.
Photography as Art Seminar New Locations!
artwolfe.com/create
After planning to photograph in Bangladesh after India, I made a management decision and headed off for the lush Luang Prabang Province in Laos–an area and country I had never visited before. At the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers, it is an area of great natural and cultural beauty.
After the crush of the Kumbh in Haridwar, the nature and solitude of Ranthambore National Park was a welcome change. With an area of 400 sq. km encompassing rocky hill crests which descend to open valleys between the Aravalli and Vindhya ranges, dotted with water pools and fruit trees, this park gets its name from the thousand year old fortress, which looms above the forest. Well known for the diurnal activity of tigers, Ranthambore is a very special and unusual area where a natural present meets a historical past.
My attempt to explain the timing of the Ardh Kumbh Mela:
Haridwar is the place for the well-known Kumbh Mela. Kumbh Mela is a Hindu religious gathering which is celebrated for forty days and is the biggest religious ceremony in the world; “Kumbh Mela” translates to “Festival of Urn”. At any given place, the Kumbh Mela is held once in 12 years. There is a difference of around 3 years between the Kumbh Melas at each of four locations. The exact date is determined according to a combination of zodiac positions of the Jupiter, the Sun and the Moon. The Purna Kumbh Mela, the biggest and the most auspicious fair, occurs every twelve years and is organized in rotation among four places where drops of the sacred nectar spilled over: Allahabad (Prayag), Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. A mass pilgrimage for the Hindu community of India, the Kumbh Mela is rumored to be one of the largest congregation of sages, yogis, ascetics, mendicants, men, women and children on the planet. But every sixth year after a Purna Kumbh Mela, an Ardh Kumbh Mela takes place. In the Hindi language the word “Ardh” stands for “half” and “Mela” means “fair”. The “Ardh Kumbh Mela” is called so because it is held at the sixth year and marks the halfway stage between the celebration of the Purna Kumbh Melas every 12 years. The Ardh Mela takes place at Haridwar & Allahabad only. And then there is the mother of all Kumbhs, the Maha Kumbh Mela which happens once every 144 years.
OK, I think they are drinking way too much spilled sacred nectar…
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