Source Colossal
All images © Stephen Wilkes, courtesy of Taschen, shared with permission
Whether atop a 40-foot lift truck in the center of Paris, in a small house on a far-flung island, or perched beside a Serengeti watering hole, photographer Stephen Wilkes certainly has patience on his side. Sitting in one spot for hours on end, he sets up his camera to capture a single scene over the course of a full day or more, tracking the dramatic movement of weather and the sun over expansive landscapes. Day to Night, a forthcoming book published by Taschen, highlights 60 of the artist’s most compelling images, from U.S. National Parks to iconic international landmarks to remote wildernesses brimming with wildlife.
Wilkes carefully selects his location and takes more than 1,500 exposures from a fixed angle to follow the gradual changes in light and the bustling activity of humans and animals. To get the scene of visitors at the Grand Canyon just right, for example, he slept in a watchtower during a 36-hour shoot. “There was, of course, no artificial light, so I had to wait for the moon to light the canyon. I had only one hour of exposure to get this right,” he says. When he returns to the studio, he painstakingly filters all of the images into a single composition, producing pieces akin to distilled timelapses.
Day to Night will be released next month and features panoramas taken between 2009 and 2022, many with hidden stories that Wilkes describes throughout. You can pre-order a copy on Bookshop, and see more of his work on his website.
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