Earth is my witness: the photography of Art Wolfe – in pictures

3/26/2018 Earth is my witness: the photography of Art Wolfe – in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/mar/16/earth-witness-photography-art-wolfe-in-pictures 1/18
The photography of covers the globe, capturing landscapes, wildlife, and cultures from every
continent. Here he talks us through a selection of his favourite images
Wolfe will be at in Birmingham, UK
Art Wolfe
Fri 16 Mar 2018 07.23 EDT
Icebergs in Antarctica
I can never get enough of photographing icebergs. Their gradients of icy blue are mesmerising, as
are their endless shapes. I love the way the green arch surrounds the distant blue icebergs, and
how some of the blue-green ice is showing just below the water’’s surface
Fishermen on Inle Lake, Myanmar
Here people practice a very unique style of ﬁshing, gently lowering thimble-shaped nets in a very

shallow lake over fish hiding in the water grasses; they then rap their oar against the net,
disturbing the fish and causing them to swim into the net
Bajau seaborne settlement in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia
Sometimes called sea gypsies, the Bajau have little allegiance to any country. They distrust
Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. They live in boats and small stilted homes. They are
fishermen and speak their own language

Benin, west Africa
In the tiny country, large freshwater lakes provide a bountiful harvest for ﬁshermen and open-air
markets. This marketplace presents a colourful foreground as a storm builds on the horizon.
Moments later, the skies opened in a tremendous downpour, prompting a frenzied search for
shelter

Naked Man festival in Okayama, Japan
Held on a winter evening, the festival features 5,000 men in loincloths vying for a symbolic baton,
which is tossed into the inebriated throng. Whoever possesses the baton receives good luck for the
year. The scrum becomes tumultuous when one man catches the baton because anyone who
touches him acquires the good luck as well

Aerial view of camel train in the Sahara, Morocco
The setting sun over the desert makes an enchanting shadow as a caravan of camel merchants
winds its way toward the next stop on its journey. But the story in the air as this photo was
captured was no’t nearly as enchanting. As my fellow passenger ﬁlled six air-sickness bags, I was
barely able to concentrate on ﬁnding the minuscule line of camels in the vast sea of sand

Kirkjufell and whooper swans in Vesturland, Iceland
With the right amount of snow an ‘eye’ is revealed in the side of a mountain. It almost looks like
the eye in the pyramid on the dollar bill. As I photographed, a pair of swans took ﬂight

Humpback whale in Vava’u, Tonga
Tonga is one of the very few places you can actually snorkel in close proximity to whales. We had
just ﬁve days on the water but four of them were too windy and the whales were very shy. In a
more outgoing moment, one swam by and eyeballed me. It was extraordinary

Huangshan, Anhui province
I always believed that Chinese master landscape painters had creative imaginations until I visited
Huangshan and discovered that their paintings were quite faithful to reality. Huangshan, which
means ‘yellow mountain’, is famous for its jagged rock towers, beautiful wind-sculpted pine trees
and seas of swirling clouds. It resembles a sumi-e painting more than a real place

Traditional Thai tattoo in Bangkok, Thailand
These tattoos are the writings of an Indian philosopher. They are thought to protect and bring
good luck to the bearer
Asaro mud men in Eastern Highlands province, Papua New
Guinea
Probably the most famous of all New Guinea indigenous people, the mud men are also called bush
demons. The whitish-grey body clay represents the colour of death and spirits. Their ancestors,
near defeat in battle, were able to scare off the enemy by emerging from the Asaro river so
disguised. Lying on my back, I was surrounded by these eerie mask-clad men. I exposed for the
mud masks and blew out the sky to give a lightness to the image

Bison in Yellowstone national park, Wyoming, US
A small herd of bison roam the Lamar Valley in the dead of winter. By using their broad heads as
shovels, the bison are able to reach grass buried beneath deep snow

Uruguayan caiman emerge from a wetland in Brazil’’s
Pantanal marsh
These 5ft midsize members of the crocodile family are not dangerous to humans because they are
accustomed to being fed by local ranchers. When one of these bold reptiles came within six inches
of me, I used my tripod leg as a largely symbolic barrier

Cheetah and cubs in Phinda reserve, South Africa
Cheetahs often rest on termite mounds from which they are able to survey their surroundings, as
here in Phinda reserve, South Africa. This is a necessity for a mother with many cubs to keep out
of harm’s way

Milky Way over Halemaumau crater, Hawaii Volcanoes
national park, Hawaii
This is the most primordial of images, a vision of Earth at its very infancy in the universe

Koyasan Shingon temple in Mount Koya, Wakayama
Prefecture, Japan
Snow-covered branches in front of a brightly coloured wall create a peaceful scene at the Koyasan
Shingon temples, Japan

Gentoo penguin on an iceberg in Antarctica
One bird on one little iceberg is a metaphor for climate change – I love this image for that

Children at play Zanzibar, Tanzania
As I approached these kids playing in a palm by the beach, they stopped stood upright on the
limbs looking at me. I moved away and photographed them from a distance. They resumed their
antics which provides all the interest – the gestures and the movement
Photograph: Art Wolfe Inc/The Photography Show

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