I had a great time going LIVE last night with my good friend Parimal Deshpande for the inaugural episode of Tequila Time with Art! This one was a little on the formal side while I adjust to the format, but I hope everyone who tuned in and participated felt like it was time well spent. I’m looking forward to doing these weekly and I hope you’ll continue to tune in and tell your friends!
Obviously we won’t be able to answer everyone’s questions during the broadcast, but rest assured we have culled inquiries and If I can find some time, I’ll answer some here on the blog in the weeks and months to come.
If you missed out on the live broadcast, they will be available every week on my youtube channel, facebook, and instagram – get connected!
Happy technique Tuesday! Hopefully everyone is healthy and using their time to practice their photography at home. While I’m currently working on my Pathways to Creativity series of lectures, I figured it couldn’t hurt to give some tips for those of you looking to pass the time.
Photographers of all levels know just how useful a tripod can be. Myself and others have touted the necessity of choosing a good brand and not skimping on a cheap one. That being said, sometimes you need to ditch that thing. While the stability a tripod offers is essential for many shots, it’s not always the most maneuverable tool to use.
In this video, I illustrate that by losing the tripod and getting down low, I can capture these chinstrap penguins in such a way that enough background is included and in focus to give true context to their environment. This is an angle and perspective I wouldn’t have been able to achieve without the spontaneity and maneuverability gained by freeing myself from the tripod.
Use your body, the ground, and objects around you to stabilize your shot – don’t forget, any three points of contact, not just tripod legs, will make for a steady shot. Now, unless you’re super lucky, you don’t have penguins in your back yard – that’s okay! Get down low and photograph your familiar surroundings from a whole new perspective.
Hello again from Seattle! Some of you may be wondering what I’m up to while we do our best to protect ourselves and one and other from the current pandemic. I’m better in front of a camera than I am a keyboard – so I’ll let it do the talking!
Watched it? Great! Feel free to leave comments below as to what you’re doing to keep your photography skills honed and your mind active; I’m sure we could all use various perspectives on how to use our time productively. I’ll be posting ideas to the blog on a regular basis as well, so stay tuned and most importantly, stay safe!
Happy Friday! I begin October on the road for a month of travel, and when I return home I’m gong to be VERY busy putting signatures to my new books that have been pre-ordered though my website. We’ve obtained our advance copies of both Wild Elephants and the trade edition of Human Canvas– and both are of the highest quality and look fantastic! If you have held the equally fantastic and award winningTreesbook that was published last year, you know what to expect.
Wild Elephantsnot only features the greatest elephant photos of my career, but also includes text by Dr. Samuel Wasser that describes the issues and most importantly the solutions being employed to protect elephant species in Africa and Asia.
Human Canvasfocuses on combining photography with body painting inspired by the many cultures I’ve encountered around the globe, bringing you a mixture of patterns and textures influenced by the indigenous peoples I’ve encountered on my travels.
Order your copies of Wild Elephants and Human Canvas today to guarantee you receive a signed copy when they are available in the coming weeks!
Join Gavriel Jecan in Katmai, Alaska for a photography workshop in a one-of-a-kind location! Along with trusted Pilot and guide Jerry Jacques, be one of a small group of 8 participants photographing the wilderness and wildlife alongside a pair of professionals and experts on shooting in this unique National Park.
Gavriel started photographing at the age of 12 when his father gave him his first SLR camera. His appreciation of photography grew while photographing black-and-white on family hiking trips in the mountains. His love of nature, rock climbing and traveling inspired him to become a professional photographer.
In 1994 Gavriel joined Art Wolfe, Inc. and he traveled extensively with Art the world over. He was a member of the Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge TV field crew and teaches photography around the world on his own photo tours and Art Wolfe, Inc. The quality and scope of Jecan’s shooting has gained him representation by the world’s largest stock photography agencies (Getty, Corbis, Danita Delimont, OnAsia, and Okapia).
Gav’s images appear regularly in calendars and magazines worldwide, including International Wildlife, Backpacker, Audubon, National Geographic, Midwest Express, Nature Foto, German Geo, Asian Geo, Outside, Sinra, Terre Sauvage etc. He has published five children’s books: C for Coyote, Wild Colors, Alaska Animal Babies, Hide and Seek, and South West Colors.
For the last decade Gavriel has specialized in Southeast Asian locations. He lives in Thailand with his family.
Sign up now for Gavriel’s Katmai Alaska Workshop before it’s sold out – and check out the Katmai episode of Where’s Art? if you’re unfamiliar with this location!
This past week I got the chance to have a conversation with Mitch Stringer and discuss my recovery from surgery, upcoming workshops, and the goals I have for both myself and workshop participants who travel with me. This edition is mostly an audio podcast as I haven’t been on many trips as of late, but there is some important information about upcoming workshops throughout our conversation. I can’t wait to get back out on the road, and I’m so appreciative of how quickly these workshops are selling out! I hope you enjoy this extended conversation with Mitch, and stay tuned for more episodes of “Where’s Art?” from upcoming workshops!
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.
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!
