It was rainy in Iceland this past week with no snow on the ground, however my travel companions and I made the most of it and have had a good time. The highlight was strapping on the crampons and crawling into an ice cave for some luminous shots through the glacier.
My northern European winter sojourn continues in a couple of days as we exit the Land of Ice and Fire, and begin our journey to Norway’s Lofoten Archipelago. Stay tuned to the blog and my instagram account (@artwolfe) as always for new photos!
Also a reminder about upcoming events I’m looking forward to when I return to the states:
On March 3rd I’ll be presenting Earth Is My Witness at the NANPA Summit in Jacksonville, Florida. The Summit happens March 2nd through March 4th. This is going to be an informative event featuring talks from many of the world’s foremost nature photographers at a time when an appreciation for our natural resources and respect for our earthly places could not be more significant.
On March 5th, I’ll be delivering my Photography As Art seminar in Atlanta, GA. Sign up now to ensure your spot! Photographers of all skill levels will learn to shoot captivating images regardless of their ability to travel the world or simply their own back yard.
Hope to see you there, and I also hope to see you back perusing the blog in the days to come for more photos from my trip to norther Europe!
Earlier this month I was in Myanmar for ten days, leading a photo journey with Gavriel Jecan. It was a pleasure revisiting the gritty markets of Yangon, the temples of Bagan, and the still waters of Inle Lake, perfect for photographing the now-famous fishermen.
With Art Wolfe’s Travel to the Edge airing in the US & Europe and Tales by Light streaming on Netflix, you can binge watch all these gloriously filmed, international episodes to your heart’s content and then figure out where you want to travel to next.
If you haven’t already seen it, Season 1 of Tales by Light is riveting. The six half hour long episodes follow five photographers around the world documenting their approach to photography and story telling: Darren Jew, a nature and underwater photographer, Krystle Wright, an adventure sports photographer, Richard I’Anson, a travel photographer, and Peter Eastway, a landscape photographer.
Five photographers & six episodes–the math doesn’t add up, you say. Two of the episodes follow me on wildlife and cultural adventures in East Africa, Papua New Guinea, and Alaska. In “Tribes”, you’ll catch glimpses of my work with the Surma people of Ethiopia, and gain huge insight into my Human Canvas Project. In “Wild” I visit Alaska, among other locations, to photograph the mountainous landscape and brown bears of Katmai to which I am leading workshops in 2017 and the same dates for 2018.
So good I’ll be going twice! Many of you may have recently watched Tales By Light with it’s release to Netflix streaming, and now is your chance to visit this featured location with me.
Board the expedition ship Sea Endurance with myself and Kevin Raber of Luminous Landscape and three other professional instructors for an unforgettable 11 day photo tour up the eastern coast of Greenland.
We had an amazing expedition to South Georgia Island and were very fortunate with the amount of landings we were able to pull off in spite of the weather. We explored the northern end of South Georgia around Bird Island as winds and sea swell began to highlight the remote and wild nature of South Georgia. Isolated icebergs carried north from the Weddell Sea provided dramatic backdrops to the soaring Wandering & Light Mantled Sooty Albatross.
In Drygalski Fjord the winds were so fierce that any attempt to leave the ship was decided against, but we were able to land at Gold Harbour where I’d camped many years before. The familiar landscape and abundant elephant seals and king penguins brought back many memories. One of the more dramatic scenes involved skuas gathering around the birthing of an elephant seal, soon after devouring the placenta and tormenting the mother. Later that afternoon katabatic winds kicked up. We were summoned back to the boat and boarded the zodiacs for one of the diciest rides I’d ever done from the island.
3am wake up calls were well worth it. Salisbury Plain at first light is a sight to behold, with tens of thousands of king penguins entering the surf to feed. It is still early in the year & they have not started to lay and incubate eggs yet. The scene was as dramatic a display of wildlife witnessed anywhere on earth.
After stops at abandoned whaling stations, whiskey toasts at Shackleton’s grave site, we headed into the weather for the Falkland Islands.
2.) Escape the holiday madness, and of course the cold weather!
3) Traveling with Art Wolfe and Gavriel Jecan will educate and challenge you, all while being FUN!
4.) Myanmar opened its doors to tourism only a few years ago – see it through the eyes of a master photographer familiar with the location!
5.) Ancient ruins, lost in time.
6.) Hot air balloon rides over said Ancient Ruins!
7.) Ancient traditions, long hidden from the outside world.
8.) Witness a people and a country begin to shape their own future before your very eyes!
9.) Did I mention the weather? I will again, because I personally can’t wait to ditch the fall and winter weather for a spectacular sunny break in the east!
10.) And finally – and adventure to south east Asia with yours truly all along the way, because why not?
I was honored to be a part of the first season of Tales By Light, and it’s coming to netflix tomorrow, November 11th! Produced by Canon Australia, this series follows myself and four other renowned photographers as we explore some of the lesser known locations across the world. The series was shot in 4K and originally aired on the National Geographic Channel in Australia, and now comes to Netflix for all to enjoy.
For my part, I am excited that many more of you will get to see episodes that include two facets of my work that I’m very passionate about. In “Tribes”, you’ll catch glimpses of my work with the Surma people of Ethiopia, whom helped me to create works for the Human Canvas Project; and in “Wild”, among other locations, I visit Alaska to photograph the mountainous landscape and brown bears of a region in which I lead workshops every year.
I hope you enjoy this series as much as I enjoyed participating in it!
In spite of the lack of snow, this was such a terrific trip to the land of polar bears, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. I first traveled there in the early 1980s and I haven’t been there since 1999 when I was photographing for my book The Living Wild. The lack of snow presented a unique opportunity to capture the bears in contrast to their surroundings.
Of course, the bears are terrific, but we were able to photograph some other wildlife as well, including a predatory little ermine in his best winter coat, a hunkered down Arctic hare, and flocks of willow ptarmigan. It was a pleasantly surprising array of wildlife, and overall a well worth while trip North!
Take a virtual journey and check out a few of my favorites taken between July 1st and September 30th. Locations include: Alaska’s Glacier Bay and Katmai National Parks, Oregon’s town of Astoria, the Congo’s Nyirangongo Crater and Virunga National Park, Tanzania’s Katavi National Park and the annular eclipse, Washington’s San Juan Islands, and a quick trip to California’s Venice Beach and London, England.
Check out my events page and join me on an upcoming trip! A couple spots are still available for one I am particularly excited about; an adventure to mystical Myanmar in December, where I’ve collected some of my best shots of the exotic cultures and ancient ruins. Escape the cold and capture once in a lifetime images Gavriel Jecan and myself!
If you like what you see of the beautiful Alaskan wildlife and landscape, sign up for trips in 2017 to Glacier Bay and Katmai National Park.
Escape the blustery winter months for a time and join myself and Gavriel Jecan for an intimate and exotic tour to Myanmar this December! From visiting the still-standing colonial downtown of Yangon, to a hot air balloon tour over historical Bagan, this tour of an exotic location is the opportunity of a lifetime for those seeking adventure in a unique and infrequently visited location. Myanmar is a location lost in time, and this is an exciting opportunity to witness the evolution of a country.
Time is running out to sign up for the few spots remaining for this small scale tour! Sign up now, and leave those wintry December blues behind and travel with me in search of sunshine and adventure in the east!
