Art Wolfe (born 1951) is an American photographer and conservationist, best known for color images of landscapes, wildlife, and native cultures. His photographs document scenes from every continent and hundreds of locations, and have been noted by environmental advocacy groups for their "stunning" visual impact. Wolfe's career has been described as "multi-faceted", involving wildlife advocacy, art, journalism, and education. According to William Conway, former president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Wolfe is a "prolific and sensitive recorder of a rapidly vanishing natural world."Three Degrees: The Law of Climate Change and Human Rights Conference/Art Wolfe, The University of Washington School of Law, Accessed May 2013, (http://www.threedegreesconference.org/speakers/art-wolfe ) In the last 30 years, the public has viewed Wolfe's work in more than sixty published books, including ''Vanishing Act'', ''The High Himalaya'', ''Water: Worlds between Heaven & Earth'', ''Tribes'', ''Rainforests of the World'', and ''The Art of Photographing Nature''.

Early life and education

Wolfe's parents were both commercial artists in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Wolfe graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

.http://www.globalgallery.com/knowledgecenter/artist_biography/art+wolfe Biography on ''Global Gallery'' Website Within four years of graduation, Wolfe completed assignments for ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

'' magazine and produced his first photo book documenting Northwest Indian baskets.

Career

Art Wolfe has released more than 65 photo books and instructional videos of photographic techniques. The

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

has used Wolfe's photographs on two stamps. He is an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

and serves on the advisory boards for the

Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, that aims to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions. Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological ...

, Nature's Best Foundation, Bridges to Understanding, and is a Fellow of the

International League of Conservation Photographers International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(ILCP).http://www.conservation.org/photography/Pages/wolfe_art.aspx Biography on ''Conservation International'' Website

Documentary television series: ''Travels to the Edge with Art Wolfe''

The public television series, ''Travels to the Edge with Art Wolfe,'' is a documentary project that explores environmental themes of visual interest. Art Wolfe's perspectives on nature, cultural diversity, geography and digital photography are the focus of each episode, as he travels to new global regions. The series is hosted by Art Wolfe and supported by a professional film team (Karel Bauer, Field Director/Director of Photography; Sean White, Director of Photography; John Greengo, Field Production; and Gavriel Jecan, Field Production). The program began with the making of 13 episodes released in 2007. By 2009, 26 episodes were filmed in nearly as many locations, including Patagonia, Madagascar, Alaska, New Zealand, and India. Some of the specific subjects addressed include glaciers of Alaska, and sacred tattoos created by Maori artists. The program is produced by

Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF tra ...

(OPB), distributed by

American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and independ ...

and aired on Create. In 2015, Wolfe appeared in the Australian television series '' Tales by Light''.

Photographic and artistic methodology

Wolfe's approach to nature photography combines elements of

photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

and

art photography Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stan ...

. Wolfe lists his major influences as

Ernst Haas Ernst Haas (March 2, 1921 – September 12, 1986) was an Austrian-American photojournalist and color photographer. During his 40-year career, Haas bridged the gap between photojournalism and the use of photography as a medium for expression an ...

and

Eliot Porter Eliot Furness Porter (December 6, 1901 – November 2, 1990) was an American photographer best known for his color photographs of nature.Amon Carter MuseumEliot Porter collection guide. Retrieved September 12, 2008. Early life and education Porter ...

. Interview on ''Rotary International'' Website In his 1994 book, Migrations, Wolfe presented photos that were strictly documentary, as well as others that were enhanced. Through a process called "cloning", for example, Wolfe strove to enhance visual patterns and create photos with potentially greater impact than originally captured.

Books

*''Light On the Land'' (1991, Beyond Words, Hillsboro, Oregon) * ''Endangered Peoples'' (1993,

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

, San Francisco) * ''The Art of Photographing Nature'' (1993, Crown, New York) * ''Migrations'' (1994, Beyond Words, Hillsboro, Oregon) * ''Wasser: Welten zwischen Himmel und Erde'' (1997, Frederking & Thaler, Munich) * ''Tribes'' (1997, Clarkson N. Potter, New York) * ''Rainforests of the World: Water, Fire, Earth and Air'' (1998, Crown, New York) * ''The Living Wild'' (2000, Wildlands, Seattle) * ''Africa'' (2001, Wildlands, Seattle) * ''High Himalaya'' (2001, Mountaineers, Seattle) * ''Animal Action ABC'' (2003, Handprint, New York) * ''Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky'' (2003, Wildlands, Seattle) * ''Smithsonian Answer Book: Cats'' (2004, Smithsonian, Washington, DC) * ''Vanishing Act'' (2005, Bulfinch, New York) * ''On Puget Sound'' (2007, Sasquatch, Seattle) * ''The New Art of Photographing Nature: An Updated Guide to Composing Stunning Images of Animals, Nature, and Landscapes'' (2013, Crown, New York) * ''Earth is my Witness: The Photography of Art Wolfe'' (2014, Earth Aware, San Rafael, CA) * ''Photographs from the Edge: A Master Photographer's Insights on Capturing an Extraordinary World'' (2016, Amphoto)

Awards

* Photographer of the Year by '' Photo Media'' magazine, 1996 * Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year, 1998, by the

North American Nature Photography Association The North American Nature Photography Association or NANPA is an organization dedicated to photography of nature. The association's headquarters were originally in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and now are in Alma, Illinois. Established in 1994, the asso ...

Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards for Magazine Photography Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

, April 2000 * National Outdoor Book Award (Design and Artistic Merit), ''The Living Wild,'' 2001 *

National Outdoor Book Award The National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA) was formed in 1997 as an American-based non-profit program which each year presents awards honoring the best in outdoor writing and publishing. It is housed at Idaho State University and chaired by Ron Watte ...

(Design and Artistic Merit), ''Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky'', 2004 * Honorary Fellowship of The

in 2005.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Art 1951 births Living people Nature photographers American photographers Travel broadcasters University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design alumni Artists from Seattle