It’s easy to fall into the trap of looking at an Art Wolfe book and feeling that one’s camera should stay in the case because nearby opportunities could never be as spectacular as what the photographer has found around the world.
Even a cursory glance at "Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky" leaves one in awe of the Seattle resident’s effort and artistic eye.
But don’t think all the eye-catching landscapes are far, far away.
"We live in a dramatic landscape. I cut my teeth in my own backyard. I climbed everything you can imagine. I know of what I speak," Wolfe said.
"Mount Index from the Skykomish River has a beautiful landscape if you’re willing get out of the car. Mount Baring has a dramatic face to it. You have all those mountains to the east."
Go north and work with Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan. Put on snowshoes and take advantage of the winter.
"You need to get over the attitude that you need bright sunshine."
But it’s rainy (whine) and cold (whimper) in the winter, one might say.
"You just go bundled up. Most 35mm cameras are amazingly watertight. Most of the time a steady drizzle has no impact on your lens."
When the sun is bright, he said, "I’m basically waiting for the clouds to come back. (In the book) almost every forest interior except for one is defined by overcast light. When I shoot in a forest, I hope and pray for cloudy conditions. It reduces the contrast."
The University of Washington art major hasn’t painted for 12 years, but landscapes dominated his art clear back to grade school.
"I was always defining a landscape in terms of intimacy and light and really strong provocative images. It was always the thing that got me excited," Wolfe said.
Reds dominate many of Wolfe’s landscape photographs.
"It’s just the fact that I use the dreamy light, at sunrise and sunset. The low angle of the sun defines the land in its most dramatic way. As the sun settles upon the horizon, it gets more red and dreamy."
The landscapes in "Edge of the Earth, Corner of the Sky" are in wild places.
"Our need for wild places becomes more evident as the land becomes diminished. Mentally, spiritually, we need to have spaces where we’re not necessarily alone but where our thoughts can flow. We really needed it as a human race," Wolfe said.
To have wild places, the environment needs protection, he said.
"It’s amazing to me to see how, on a systematical everyday basis, (the government) is dismantling protections that have taken years to put in place … It’s unbelievable, and I’m totally outraged."
In "Edge," there’s rarely a shot of a person.
"I wanted nothing to distract from the simplicity, the beauty, the austere reverence of the land. There’s a lot of that out there; it’s not inexhaustible but we sometimes forget it’s there.
"People who don’t travel much think (the TV pictures are) the world. I want to remind people that in the spring there are vast fields of wildflowers blooming in Turkey."
Wolfe reminds us of a full moon over ice formations along the border of Chile and Argentina, and a steaming lava flow meeting the ocean in Hawaii.
He also gives us sunlight streaming through the trees in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Sometimes great photo opportunities are in our backyard.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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