I’m happy to announce that Travels to the Edge Season 2 is now available for streaming on my Vimeo On-Demand channel – just in time, as DVDs are getting harder and harder to find. Check out fan-favorite episodes on Mongolia, Iceland, Australia and much more! To celebrate upcoming 2023 international workshops, I’m offering up two full episodes to watch completely free! Just sign up for my email list – don’t worry, I hate spam also!
Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge Season 2 Episode 1 – Japan: Hokkaido & Honshu
The Image many of us have of Japan is congested and kinetic. But Japan has a wild side. In winter, beyond its crowded cities, the country delivers quiet, unexpected natural beauty. In the second season opener, Art Wolfe ventures north to the remote region of Hokkaido to view iconic red-crested cranes; south to the mountains to film the mischievous macaque snow monkey; and journeys on to the sacred temples of Mt. Fuji and Koyosan on a photographic pilgrimage.
Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge Season 2 Episode 10 – The Kingdom of Bhutan
Known as the “Land of the Thunder Dragon”, Bhutan has survived in isolation for more than a thousand years. As this enlightened Buddhist kingdom greets the 21st century, its greatest challenge is to preserve its soul. In episode ten, Art Wolfe finds a photographer’s nirvana of mountainside monasteries, sacred festivals and chanting monks in an environmentally and spiritually progressive nation.
Did you know that Season One of Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge is available for streaming worldwide? It’s true! For an episode, or a season – check it out!
When the series first launched, American Public Broadcasting interviewed me about the series – talk about a blast from the past! Here are a few of my responses from that Q&A:
APT: What a great job to have … to travel the world with a camera and take pictures.
AW: There’s actually an ulterior motive to it. I almost want to use my photos as worms on a hook to attach people to the subject, [make them] care about the subject, and ultimately help the subject. Whether it’s a vanishing culture or an endangered landscape, I think we ought to care more about these subjects than we currently do.
APT: How many times do you think it takes to get that award-winning photo?
AW: You know, I never really think about statistics but I can tell you when I started out it took me a lot longer to arrive at a good shot. At this point in my career, I can see the subject and capture it fairly quickly. I’ve done a lot of wildlife [photography] and you don’t have time to wait around – so you make fast decisions. That has served me well with cultures and even the very ephemeral, changing light on landscapes.
Virtually everywhere we went was a dream so they’re all great. One that stands out is a trek around these really remote mountains in Patagonia (Southern South America). It’s memorable because virtually everything had to be carried on our backs. We were out there in a really exposed environment, and bringing high-definition cameras along is unheard of in those locations. But really, it’s a TV series of highlights. We had thousands of places we could have gone and we boiled it down to 13. Each one of them better be a homerun and they were all homeruns.
All of season 1 is available for streaming world wide via Vimeo On Demand
Fresh off my recent trip to South Georgia and the Falkland Islands (see my recent blog post with new photos here) It seemed appropriate to reflect back on the filming of Travels to the Edge from that location. Enjoy this excerpt from the companion book, “Travels to the Edge: A Photo Odyssey” on this #FlashbackFriday and if you’re looking for gift ideas, my staff is ready to send off DVD’s of each and every episode!
South Georgia Island, the Southern Ocean
Despite it’s cold, unwelcoming climate, South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic is one of my favorite places on earth. A remote, hundred-mile whaleback of rock, South Georgia Island resides in the Southern Ocean, more than eight hundred miles southeast of the Falkland Islands. It features glacier-clad mountains rising two vertical miles above the sea. South Georgia is as wild as it gets, hosting one of the largest concentrations of wildlife anywhere. Over four hundred thousand pairs of king penguins walk the beaches and swim in the frigid blue ocean. Seals, albatross, and even reindeer (imported for meat by long-gone Norwegian whalers) also inhabit this isolated island. I used a wide-angle lens to photograph austere landscapes, intimate plant studies, and endearing animal behavior in this wildlife oasis.
On a tiny island near the coast of South Georgia Island, a courting male albatross bonds with it’s potential lifelong mate. The wandering albatross, with an eleven-foot wingspan, is clearly king of ocean birds, but overfishing and destructive longline nets threaten it’s survival in southern oceans. Some nets stretch up to sixty miles and snare fish and birds indiscriminately.
An adolescent king penguin challenges reindeer crossing through a penguin rockery on South Georgia Island. Long gone European brought reindeer to the island as a dietary alternative to whale meat. Reindeer herds continue to roam through the remote island.
Forty-pound king penguins line the shores of South Georgia Island. They are on their way to the rockery where territorial instincts prompt numerous quarrels among the birds. The beach is a respite from the dangers of the ocean and the crabby neighbors on the nests. Although the island experiences some of the worst weather in the world, we were fortunate to shoot in the pink light of a clear sky with the sun hidden behind the horizon.
Want to know more, and see these animals in motion? This episode is featured on Season 1, Episode 4 of Travels to the Edge, available individually, as part of the entire first season, and the full series! Have a great weekend!
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.
Art Wolfe’s Travels to the Edge continues to be aired on public television stations across the USA. There are more stations than ever in the Southeast and the Midwest carrying the series! Enjoy!
I have been working with Amber Lotus for many many years. They are a great company to work with, and I thought I would share their mission:
Amber Lotus Publishing’s wall calendars are like a book that you read one page a month. This vehicle can be very valuable in promoting inspirational ideas because the messages, quotes and concepts are repeatedly transmitted throughout the month. These inspirations sink into the reader’s consciousness while they are engaged in something as prosaic as checking what is scheduled for the next day. Therefore, they are inserting the infinite into the finite realm of time. We are committed to supporting Environmental Awareness, Earth Stewardship and Mindful Living through the pages of these calendars.
We have always been concerned about the environment. We were one of the first calendar companies to use recycled paper and were an early member of Green America. We started our program of offsetting our tree usage and carbon footprint by planting trees and contributing funds to NativeEnergy. We continue that initial focus by using FSC certified paper and partnering with Trees for the Future. As of 2013, Amber Lotus Publishing has helped plant more than 330,000 trees and Trees for the Future has certified that we are now significantly carbon negative as a company.
You can purchase a copy of the 2014 Travels to the Edge calendar on my store.
