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A book nine years in the making, Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky, is, in this writer's
opinion, the most brilliant collection of photography Art Wolfe has produced. A powerful voice for conservation with eloquent writing by Robert Redford, John Adams, and Art Davidson, this book truly represents the beauty of far reached places and the dire need to continue fighting for protection.
Mr. Wolfe joins us to share his process of making such a stunning piece of art and share his thoughts on conservation and photography.
PM: What is it about this book that makes it any more special to you than any of your other work?
AW: You know, when I am photographing tribal work, I feel like an anthropologist in the field and I am reacting to the people. I am catching up to what the people are doing. In the case of wildlife, it is largely the same. You have a wild animal moving through the landscape, and you are trying to keep up. With this landscape book, I am controlling a lot more. In other words, I put myself in the situation where I think I am going to get the best light, and when it unfolded, I am just capturing it right at that fleeting moment when it happens. I feel like I have more control. For instance, when the crescent moon was setting over the Fairy Chimneys in Turkey, I had waited patiently for that moon to descend, and I repositioned myself a few times the seconds before I clicked the picture. But, I had a lot of control over that. I know when it was going to happen, and so therefore, I feel this book represents more of my impetus than anything else does. Here this really reflects my personal taste in shots. This is a much more personalized body of work than any book that contains wildlife or humans.
PM: You state it took over nine years to put together. Has it actually been an idea for nine years or was it a collection of photographs spanning over nine years?
AW: It was actually an idea nine years ago. Of course, I did not work on it exclusively. If I had, I would have gone broke. Whenever I work on any book project, I usually have about three or four in the works. Nine years ago, I was finishing a book called
The Living Wild, and working on a few other books that might have culminated in a four-year span while I was ending
The Living Wild. With Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky it was not until the last three years when I fully immersed myself into it. The last three years is when I doggedly went after the landscapes, and that is when I did most of my travel. So, in the first several years, I started really bringing photos in and collecting them out of both the archives and various trips, but over the last three years, I worked exclusively on the book while at the same time starting a book that will come out in 2005 on camouflage in nature.
PM: There is such a dynamic range of light in all the photographs. The back of the book illustrates how the image was created in the field, but what about post processing? With today's digital darkrooms, much can be done in the post processing. Where did you draw the line for these photographs?
AW: For this book we are largely converting slides to a digital file to allow us greater control over the outcome. Where we draw the line is basically altering the content of the landscape. If
you are adding reds where reds did not exist, or if you are creating fantasy. This book is not fantasy.
It is reality portraying or showing the margins of the day we shot in. I have no problem with creating fantasy as long as
it is properly identified and explained what you did. This book is trying to be as faithful to the landscape as we possibly can.
There is a process that each photograph goes through of sharpening, boosting of contrast and boosting of saturation to bring out the color, but the color was actually there to begin with.
PM: So, what you are doing is utilizing the advancement of technology to better illustrate what you saw in the field?
AW: Right. I mean if anybody approaches any photograph from such a purist point of view that exactly what you saw is exactly what you have on the page, you will never be happy. There is such a variation with film, and lenses distort the reality of what you saw. It almost becomes an exercise of futility, if you are trying to replicate nature without having some sort of impact on the image. I do not think there is any photographer out there that would not agree that there is some sort of distortion of reality by use of telescopic lens or type of film.
PM: The book is based on conservation, and the words of Mr. Redford, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Davidson compliment your work greatly. I have always felt the photography community as a whole could do so much more when it comes to conservation. What, in your opinion, needs to be done or what is being done to change that?
AW: There are a couple of things happening. There is a group out of
south Texas where photographers are teaming up with ranch owners to raise awareness through photography competition, and there is a movement afoot to create a much more national based program similar to that. I have hoped NANPA would fill this bill of creating a conservation movement but not of yet. It has really educated and communicated with people in this field but does not have a strong environmental stance.
Like you, I often do get frustrated, and by that point, I really just move forward with my own agenda. For example, I often provide photographs to environmental groups free of charge if they have a very good campaign they are trying to get across. Within the last two months, I have given talks to four different groups in the Seattle area. One of which is Earth Justice. A group of lawyers who are doing really the strongest environmental work against what I perceive our government is doing, which is dismantling all the hard environmental work and hard fought campaigns in the past years. I speak at fundraisers and speak to money people on behalf of Earth Justice. I also do the same for a group of
marine biologists and the National Parks Foundation.
So, my name is attracting the groups, and I am definitely available for them when they have a project or need me to talk. I hope that my work will serve as a role model to younger photographers to utilize their work.
PM: With a well-known name as yours, you are able to attract big conservation groups to produce such great works such as
Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky. If you can give advice to young photographers who would like to use their work for conservation, what would it be?
AW: Well, I will be speaking to a group of photographers at the upcoming NANPA Summit and, I will be highlighting this book. However, I will also be talking about how we are approaching the book process and bringing in the environmental groups. I will say that I am not all that unique, and you all can do the same. Almost every community will have some sort of group that is trying to save this water shed, shoreline, forest or whatever it is. For the young photographer who is trying to get established, I would suggest they go to these people and offer their services. Keep in mind they do not have to save the entire Himalayan Range; they can save that one small creek. Start small on a local level and grow from there.
PM: What message would you like people to come away with after viewing and reading
Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky?
AW: I want them to realize that it is really a tiny planet. In the last few decades, we started viewing earth from space, and we saw how little a globe it is. There are still some wild areas left, and some fairly reasonable sized pieces of land. Just because some of these places are remote does not mean they are protected. We as a species need to take better care of the planet we are on, and I want to lift their spirits by looking at the earth and seeing how beautiful nature is.
PM: Well, you have for sure accomplished that. Thank you for your time.
When you purchase this book, you are not only getting powerful and brilliant photography but also inspirational words that will cause you to think of the impact our environment sustains at our benefit. As the synopsis on the book cover states, "This book is a treasure".
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