Happy holidays, everyone! As some of you may already know, I’m spending the holiday season recovering from foot surgery. I have a big 2018 and beyond in store, so it became time to correct an issue that’s been worsening over time. The great news is that the procedure went as well as possible and I’m already diving back into work less than a week later.
That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed some “down” time. Shortly before returning home for surgery, I took a little trip down to Mexico after presenting Photography As Art in Dallas and Austin. Along with my good friend Sean Fitzgerald, his lovely wife Karen, and my assistant Libby we spent some time in Mexico City exploring and enjoying the food and drink and enjoying the sights and sounds. We also took a trip up to the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Reserve to capture kaleidoscopes of these beautiful creatures.
I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season!
Capturing brown bears in Katmai, Alaska! Though specific to this location in the video, this is a lesson and focus I employ regardless of my subject – to capture that subject within the context of the environment rather than going for the same ol’ shots. Certainly as you travel and visit recognizable locations and subjects, you should capture the shots we are accustomed to seeing – but moving a step beyond and ensuring your photos are telling the story of that subject’s place in it’s environment makes for a much more informative and lasting image. Taking the time to explore a bit and focus on wide shots where the bears are present but not necessarily the focus, or finding details of the bear’s impact on the environment without showing them directly will not only immerse your audience in the location, it will inform and inspire other shots you choose to take.
Gavriel Jecan has traveled to this location with me many times, and he’ll be leading a trip here in July – sign up today! I’m leading a couple trips here as well, but they are sold out. If you’re interested, feel free to join the wait list in case we have any cancellations.
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!
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:
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!
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!
What could be better than November in Hawai’i with Art!?
We’ve had a cancellation for our Hawai’i Retreat which leaves two spaces left. If you’re looking for a special photography getaway, this is a unique opportunity to work with Art in a customized small group arrangement. Art has put together a program unique to the location with particular photo lessons in the field exploring work in a natural light art/model session, dawn to dusk landscape and star photography, abstract and fine art nature composition.
Art is packing it in with a customized seminar that will kick things off before venturing out with you into the field, putting theory into practice, under his constructive guidance. Depending on the conditions, the team will be poised to make the most of photographing all the scenic riches of the island’s seascapes, sea life, waterfalls, rainforests and lush tropical forests.
Not to miss out on the ‘Aloha’ experience, Art definitely plans to enjoy this small group gathering extending an invitation to the participants to share in relaxing dinner outings ranging from casual to ‘must try’ and most definitely with those delicious Hawaiian cocktails! He looks forward to recounting the day’s activities with the group and being around those on this trip who share his love of photographing.
The Hawai’i Photography Retreat with Art Wolfe begins November 11th. For more information, click the button below or give our office a call at 1-206-332-0993!
The last stop on my Africa adventure took me to Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia. From Sossuvlei to Dead Vlei and the Skeleton Coast, Namibia provides an abundance of photographic opportunities that illustrate a cross-section of my work. The flowing dunes and the angular shapes of the gemsbok traversing them, along with the graphic silhouettes of acacia husks provide endless opportunities to experiment with composition.
I go into more detail of what makes this such a fascinating location in an upcoming edition of Where’s Art?. Episode 9 from Botswana is available as of Tuesday, and the edition covering Zimbabwe will be up next week!
I’ll be leading a photo journey here next year which is already sold out. If you’re interested in visiting this location with me, please fill out the wait list form in case a spot opens up.
The first leg of my excursion to Africa took me to Botswana; specifically Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. Although this location doesn’t feature the wildlife that everyone might expect from a trip to Africa, the bold and curious meerkat in the area came out to mug for the camera. We took to the air via helicopter to capture the vast, beautiful landscape from the sky, and visited a remote landmark revered by the local San bushmen.
Enjoy my conversation with Mitch Stringer, and stay tuned for two more upcoming segments of Where’s Art?from my Africa adventure!
