Art Wolfe

You’d think this veteran travel photographer had seen it all – but, as discovers, his thirst for adventure remains

- Graeme Green

One of the world’s best-known and best-loved photographers, Art Wolfe has been travelling the world since the 1970s, shooting everywhere from Tibet to Tanzania. Like many human fears, the fear of darkness and night, he’s discovered, is often unfounded. In fact, as his new book shows, there’s plenty of human life and natural beauty to celebrate and photograph at night.

Night On Earth features a diverse range of landscape photography (the Milky Way behind Easter Island’s Moai statues, star trails in Australia, glowing volcanoes in Hawaii, Northern Lights in Iceland, moonrise in Antarctica, modern cityscapes…), as well as animals that are active at night (rhinos, anteaters, owls, hyena…) and the often unseen side of human life that takes place between dusk and dawn (camel drivers, fishermen, fire dancers, food markets, masked rituals, celebrations…).

Wolfe’s work has always been remarkable in its breadth, not just covering wildlife, landscapes and local cultures, but in his changing styles and techniques – from abstract art, inspired by his background in fine art, to astrophotography to human portraits to animal activity.

Having turned 70 in September 2021, Art Wolfe has been back on the road following the restrictions of Covid-induced lockdown and working on new projects, including locations in some of what must be the last few countries on Earth in which he hadn’t previously set foot. Here, he talks to Digital Camera about confidence, voodoo, and staying inspired.

Is there a lot more going on at night than people think?