Stephen Wilkes exhibits his series “Day to Night” at ClampArt Gallery in New York, opening tonight. The series includes eight photographs of New York City locations taken over the course of 10-15 hours from the same perspective, as the camera remained stationary. It is the first time the photographs will be exhibited together as a series.

Wilkes created the first image in the series, of the High Line, back in 2009 while on assignment for New York Magazine. Since then he has captured Washington Square Park, Times Square, Park Avenue, Central Park, Flatiron, Gramercy Park, and most recently, Coney Island. Wilkes focuses on one scene at each location and captures it over and over, averaging around 1,000 images a shoot. The images are later blended together in Photoshop to create the final photograph.

“Day to Night” opens tonight at ClampArt Gallery, with a reception from 6-8 pm. The show will run until October 29th. Visit the gallery’s website for more information.

See more of Stephen Wilkes’ “Day to Night” series here.

Stephen Wilkes photographs the latest global campaign for DHL.  The campaign emphasizes the delivery service’s unrivaled speed and reliability, and features the tagline “The Speed of Yellow.” The glowing light emanating from a document, a dress, and a car in the ads is a metaphor for the brand.

Wilkes shot on locations in Paris, Berlin, New York, and Alaska. For the Berlin shoot, Wilkes and the crew flew to the city during its Fashion Week and worked with designer Michael Michalsky to re-create a live fashion show. This was the first time Wilkes combined still photography with 3D rendering. The scene was lit similarly to what appears in the final ads, but the glow effect was added in post-production.

Creative Director Neil Durber says of working with Wilkes, “Stephen was awesome to work with, his attention to detail and experience is second to none. Which on such a huge job made life so much easier. He’s also a really nice guy, so easy to work with.”

See more of Stephen Wilkes’ photography here.

Client: DHL
Agency: 180 Amsterdam
Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Head of Print: Maria Perez
Creative Director: Stephen Hancock
Art Director: Neil Durber
Art Director: Audrey Lefebvre
CGI: Smoke and Mirrors

Stephen Wilkes’ fine-art series “Day to Night” was recently featured on PDN. Read about Wilkes’ original inspiration for the project and the process behind it.

By Jacqueline Tobin

Over the last several years, digital photography technology has reached a point where you can create almost any thing you dream up. For Stephen Wilkes this meant turning his fascination with the passage of time within a single photograph into a full-scale, fine-art project titled “Day Into Night.” It comprises digital composites he outputs as limited edition, gallery prints sized at 30 x 40 and 48 x 60 inches.

Wilkes made the first image in the series in 2009 when he was on assignment forNew York Magazine in downtown Manhattan. The job required him to shoot the expanse of public park known as the High Line that had been built on the site of the 1.45-mile-long elevated rail structure running on the city’s West Side.

To get the shot he wanted—an epic overview of the High Line that still retained intimacy and a human connection—Wilkes photographed from about 40 or 50 feet off the ground in a cherry picker. (Initially, he scouted several nearby rooftops to shoot from but the view lacked both the intimacy and broad scale of the area that he was in search of.)

Using a 4 x 5 camera with a 39-megapixel digital back, Wilkes rotated his camera manually—because the scene was so expansive as it moved from south to north—from atop a tripod throughout the day. He shot hundreds of moments unfolding before him. He kept a constant f-stop but varied the shutter speed to allow for proper exposure as the sun eventually set. Periodically he and his assistant, who was also in the cherry picker, would load images onto a laptop and start creating rough comps to make sure he was getting what he needed.

The final panorama, edited down to between 30 and 50 images and blended seamlessly together in Photoshop, conveys a gradual shift from day to night. What begins on the left side of the image as a warm, bright day filled with picnickers, pedestrians and the blur of traffic below blends toward the right into a dark, somewhat desolate space void of people but eerily lit up by the glow of nearby buildings and lamp posts.

Wilkes is reticent about the technical how-to, but readers looking for clues might want to check out the blended panoramic images of Simon Høgsberg (See “For the Love of Humanity,” PDN, May 2009). For his project, Høgsberg selected images he had shot from the same viewpoint over several hours, blended them in Photoshop, and also used Photoshop’s gradient tool to create a background sky that shifts from gray and overcast on one side of the image to bright and sunny on the other.

Wilkes says he first thought about the idea of using multiple exposures to photograph time shifts while shooting for LIFE magazine on the set of director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet in 1996. The magazine had asked him to create a panoramic gatefold but when he arrived on the set, he realized that the set was actually a huge square. “I decided to take the square and break it apart, à la David Hockney, using individual images,” says Wilkes. “I ended up shooting over 250 images that I then pasted together by hand.”

Wilkes explains that the aspect of passing time came into play in the center of the photograph. There, the stars (Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) hugged as other actors surrounded them. “To the right side of the photograph was a huge mirror, probably 20 or 30 feet in height, and I asked them to kiss for the reflection image,” Wilkes explains. “That reflection does not match the center embrace and when you look at the photograph quickly you think the image in the mirror is a reflection. But then you realize that the reflection is a time change and a completely different moment. That idea stayed with me.”

A successful commercial shooter, Wilkes has embraced large-format photography in his fine-art work, “because it gives my all-important details greater depth,” he notes. “So much of my work is about levels of story.” That work includes his ethereal, haunting color series of images of neglected buildings on Ellis Island (Ghosts of Freedom, W. W. Norton & Company, 2006); the dismantled and decaying factory scenes of Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania; his series of large-format photographs portraying victims of Hurricane Katrina (“In Katrina’s Wake: Restoring a Sense of Place”); and his three projects on China (“Old and New,” “Factories,” and “Three Gorges Dam”).

“My favorite thing as an artist is to create a print that actually gives the viewer a visceral experience when they see it,” says Wilkes. “I continue that experience with ‘Day Into Night.’ ” In the center of the High Line frame, for example, one can see several children pressed up against a glass partition of an overpass as they watch what’s going on below at street level and it’s easy to imagine their sense of awe and wonderment. Behind them are people sitting, eating, napping, texting on their phones and so on. Keep panning out and more and more of the surrounding buildings and sky broaden the scene and you feel the gradual shift from day to night just as it would happen in real life.

“I’ve been told the images have a Bruegel-like quality,” says Wilkes, who actually studied the Flemish painter’s famed landscape series “The Harvesters” which emphasized not just a time of year and the labors of the period, but the atmosphere and transformation of the landscape itself. “I love Bruegel’s scale, and the idea that he was able to do these epic views yet you could see these workers laboring within the depth of these wheat fields, all busy doing different things, and you could almost read their body language, you could almost feel the breath coming out of their lungs as they were lifting these heavy loads,” Wilkes describes. “I love that.”

He says that during his shoots he loves grabbing fleeting moments, and scanning “every inch of this enormous frame using extreme wide angle perspectives but within that context you can read body language and gesture.” He no longer rotates his camera, as he did during the High Line shoot, but instead establishes perspective, locks it in and doesn’t move the camera for the next 10 to 15 hours. He stays focused on a scene and grabs very specific moments. He even shuts the power off in the cherry picker so it stays still as well. Then he photographs one scene through his lens over and over. “With the new computers on the market today we can now multitask. My assistant usually begins a rough comp on location in Photoshop, and I’m still able capture images simultaneously.” On average he shoots 1,000 images and takes a very specifically edited group of what he considers unique moments during all times of day and night.

Since the High Line shoot he has been all over Manhattan continuing his pursuit of what he describes as “quintessential city portraits.” They include views ofTimes Square, Central Park in the winter, the Flatiron building and adjacent pedestrian mall (done last year on 9/11 to capture the beams of light from the memorial), Washington Square Park (located in the heart of Greenwich Village), and Gramercy Park (a private park between East 20th and 21st streets off of Park Avenue South). What he loves about shooting in and around Manhattan, he explains, is that there is an abundance of iconic views that meld his love of pure street photography and shooting iconic landscapes.

His most recent shoot took place at Gramercy Park this past July. The foreground element of the fence was very important for him to capture, he says, because he wanted to define it as a very private park. “Developing the relationships between the foreground, the middle ground and the background are crucial here,” Wilkes explains. “I’m striving to capture the scope and the epic quality of the city and so I’m working on many different levels. It’s very challenging when you get up there because if you move a foot one way or a foot another way everything changes. It’s a structured process but it can also be a very dynamic, freefalling process. I never know who or what might appear in my frame.”

Wilkes says the nine images he’s created so far will be exhibited for the first time as a series, output at 48 x 60 inches, at ClampArt Gallery in Manhattan this month (the show opens on September 8 and runs through October 29).

At press time Wilkes and his wife, Bette who is also his producer, were already firming up plans and securing permits to shoot at Coney Island. “I have the best seat in the house, I really do,” he says, “and the best part is, no one really looks up or knows I am up there looking down on them. I have become the ultimate voyeur.”

See more images from Stephen Wilkes’ “Day to Night” series here.

The 51st Communication Arts Photography Annual looks at the best photography of the year, choosing 147 winning projects from the 6,075 entries. Among those to catch the jurors’ eyes are Jamie Chung, Michael Schnabel, and Stephen Wilkes. Says juror Jane Perovich of Getty Images, “Original, authentically inspiring images that are emotionally accessible will continue to be the foundation for what informs us, makes us think and ultimately captivates us.”

Pictured above: Michael Schnabel’s advertising campaign for O2, one of the largest leading mobile telecommunications provider.

Photographer: Michael Schnabel
Category: Advertising
Client: O2
Campaign: Neue Wege gehen. Damit Sie es einfacher haben.
Agency: VCCP Berlin
Creative Director: Lars Wohlnick
Art Director: Michael Milczarek
Learn more

Photographer: Jamie Chung
Category: Editorial
Publication: ESPN magazine
Photo Editor: Amy McNulty
Learn more

Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Category: Editorial
Publication: Vanity Fair
Photography Director: Susan White
Assistant Photo Editor: Dana Kravis

The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling unit exploded on April 20th, spilling millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and resulting in the deaths of 11 platform workers. Operated by BP, the company continues its efforts to halt the spill, drilling a relief well to intersect the original well. The relief well must strike a specific target that is more than 3 miles beneath the surface of the ocean; sensors and magnetometers direct the path of its construction. Once the relief well is finished, mud, cement, and other materials will be pumped into the original well to restrict the flow of oil.

The relief well is meant to be the final solution after several short-term attempts such as the containment dome and top kill failed. Stephen Wilkes embarked on an oil rig for Time magazine, capturing the latest events surrounding the aftermath of the explosion. Arriving via helicopter, Wilkes took aerial shots of the operation. Once on board, Wilkes chronicled the workers trying to stanch the spill, attending to the drill of the relief well and monitoring activity from the rig control room.

Rig Control Room

Wilkes was the only photographer on board, along with television crews. The presence of Wilkes and other press on board the rig was dependent on the weather and safety conditions. At any moment should the situation be deemed unsafe, all media outlets were instructed to immediately return to the heliport and leave. Wilkes arrived on the day that the rig was scheduled to replace a containment cap, and was warned he might have to don a respirator as they headed downwind towards the oil rising to the surface.

No complications arose and Wilkes’ photos can be seen in this week’s issue of Time magazine, also available for purchase on the iPad with additional photos. Wilkes also spent time in the surrounding area doing studies on the oil that surfaced on the water. He will continue to document the places affected by the Deepwater Horizon explosion; look for more of his work in upcoming issues of Time.

Monitoring the drill

A fireman aboard the rig

Oil in the water

Links:
Read the story at Time
View the photo gallery
Download the iPad app to view exclusive photos
View more work from Stephen Wilkes

SPREAD|Artculture magazine brings you the latest in art, culture, design, and more in its 5th annual issue. M.I.A. graces the cover in conjunction with the release of her third album /\/\/\Y/\. Tracey Emin discusses her polarizing personality, uterus, and life during menopause. Visit Anish Kapoor’s studio and learn about Temenos, Kapoor’s sculpture in Middlesbrough, England. Get an eye-opening look at the freshly built Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa for the FIFA World Cup. These are among the many features and stories in the 2010 issue of SPREAD|Artculture magazine. Look for it at a newsstand, Barnes & Noble, or Borders near you.

Tracey Emin, Photo: David Eustace

Central Park, Photo: Stephen Wilkes

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Photo: Roy Zipstein

George Lois, Photo: Mark Lund

Henrik Vibskov, Photo: Nick & Chloé

A film still from Shirin Neshat’s Women Without Men, 2009

Products by Julian Paul, Sebastian Wrong, and Michael Sodeau, Photos by Dana Gallagher

Read SPREAD|Artculture magazine online

Heart Art Productions holds an art auction to raise funds for Haiti earthquake relief efforts. All proceeds benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières. Artwork from Tatiana Arocha, Kareem Black, Tristan Eaton, Yuko Shimizu, Michael Turek, Stephen Wilkes, and more are up for auction. Begin your bidding here. Auction closes June 17th at 11:59pm.

Pictured above: Kareem Black: Untitled and Untitled
Learn more about Kareem Black’s time in Haiti.

Michael Turek: Yorkshire

Stephen Wilkes: Horse in Meadow

L: Tristan Eaton x Filth: Untitled
R: Yuko Shimizu: Untitled

Tatiana Arocha: Red Yellow Sun

Stephen Wilkes works with Our Man in Havana on the Bronx Zoo campaign for The Wildlife Conservation Society. The campaign blankets New York City, displayed on special inserts in magazines, bus shelters, subway cars, platform posters, and even wrapping the entirety of the Shuttle train that takes passengers back and forth from Penn Station to Grand Central.

The spectacular subway car wrap will remain for a month. Says Creative Director Andrew Golomb, “When you see Stephen’s images life-size on the subway car, the amount of detail is just unbelievable. He has done an amazing job bringing the zoo to life in such an artful way.” Comments Wilkes, “I hope people will look up from their cellular phones and Blackberries along their busy commute and see the train filled with crocodiles, fish, and more animals and feel as though they are really looking into a window at the zoo.”

When The Wildlife Conservation Society chose Our Man in Havana as their new advertising agency, Andrew Golomb and his team began by asking small focus groups questions such as why they went to the zoo and what they took from it. The team was surprised to find that few mentioned animals as their reason for visiting the zoo.

“It’s not that people don’t care about the animals,” explains Golomb, “They like it because it’s an escape – a way to get back to nature – a way to feel rejuvenated from pounding it out in the city.” Furthermore, “It gives families and loved ones a way to connect and feel closer, giving people moments that you don’t really get when you’re walking around a museum or an amusement park.”

With those insights in mind, Our Man in Havana and Wilkes decided that they needed to change people’s perceptions of the zoo. Adds Golomb, “In testing, we saw that people’s awareness of the zoo is about 98% for the metro area, there isn’t a brand in the world who wouldn’t kill for that, but most of the time, people forget it’s there.”

Rather than target specific demographics, Golomb and his team created a psychographic profile. They based their targets on “Natural Escapists” – people who care about nature, feel revived by greenery, tend to be more environmentally aware, and prefer to spend time with families and friends over material pursuits.

The final campaign shows families, couples, and children taking in the wonderment of the zoo. The diversity of the casting reflects the zoo’s original mission to be open and available to everyone; and also to mirror New York’s diverse ethnic make up.

During shooting there were a number of logistical issues, from limited time available at the zoo, seasonal constraints, a wide variety of media buys and sizes that had to be considered, and more. Golomb reflects, “I just can’t say enough about what a problem solver [Wilkes] is, through a combination of art and technology he did an amazing job.”

Wilkes’ opted for a hyper-real style that shows an enormous depth of focus and has a luminosity that reminds one of what they might see on a flat panel screen, lit from within. Wilkes notes, “These animals are obviously behind glass, but I tried to photograph them so that the glass becomes invisible to make the viewers feel like they are watching crocodiles in their own living room.”

To get a full grasp of the amount of detail in Wilkes’ photographs, stop by any of the subway stations along the 42nd street Shuttle train route. Or better yet, visit the Bronx Zoo to gain the full experience.

-Helen Shih

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Client: The Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Zoo
Agency: Our Man In Havana
Creative Director: Andrew Golomb
Creative Director: Tony Gomes
Managing Director: Ahron Weiner
Art Director: Andrew Golomb, Kathryn Kenosian-Viola, Maria Harboe, Ahron Weiner
Copywriter: Tony Gomes, Sylve Rosen-Bernstein
Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Producer: Bette Wilkes
Retoucher: Nina Scherenberg
Flash Development: Ivan Mrazovic
Pre-press: Tag New York

Photo District News announces “the innovators who made the year in photography.” Erwin Olaf and Michael Schnabel were recognized for their advertising work, Stephen Wilkes was honored for three of his editorial pieces, and Stewart Cohen’s and Joel Meyerowitz’s photo books were lauded. Pictured above is Olaf’s “Voltaren” campaign with agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The campaign illustrates that with Voltaren gel, the elderly can become flexible as flexible as a ballerina, dancer, or yoga instructor. Creative Director: Magnus Olsson. Art Directors: Alexander Lagoet, Rick Coolegem.

Photographer: Michael Schnabel
Category: Advertising
Client: O2
Agency: VCCP Berlin
Creative Team: Lars Wohlnick, Michael Milczarek

While the chairs may appear to rest on snow, they are actually sitting in a white sand desert in South Africa. The tagline for the campaign reads “Creating new paths, so that you have it easier,” showing that O2 is willing to go the extra mile for the consumer. Learn More

Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Category: Editorial
Publication: The New York Times Magazine
Director of Photography: Kathy Ryan
Photo Editor: Clinton Cargill
Design Director: Arem Duplessis
Deputy Art Director: Gail Bichler

The dancers of Moses Pendlton’s troupe Momix grace the cover of “The Green Issue.”

Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Category: Editorial
Publication: New York Magazine
Photography Director: Jody Quon

Wilkes took a time-lapse photo of Washington Square Park in New York City, capturing the park from day to night.

Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Category: Editorial
Publication: Vanity Fair
Photography Director: Susan White
Assistant Photo Editor: Dana Kravis

Wilkes’ image appeared in the story about Bernard Madoff’s wife Ruth, “Ruth’s World.” Ruth appears in her Manhattan penthouse prior to her eviction by Federal Marshals.

Photographer: Joel Meyerowitz
Photo Book: Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New york City Parks
Editor: Lesley A. Martin
Forward: Phillip Lopate
Production: Matthew Pimm
Designer: Francesca Richer
Creative Director: Peter Buchanan-Smith
Publisher: Aperture Foundation

Not since the 1930s under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA campaign has a photographer attempted to document the nearly 9,000 acres of parks in New York City’s five boroughs. Commissioned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, renowned photographer Joel Meyerowitz celebrates the beauty of New York’s City’s parks in the publication of Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks.

Photographer: Stewart Cohen
Designers: Todd Hart, Zech Bard/focus2
Copywriter: Bill Baldwin
Publisher: Dream Editions Press

Stewart Cohen’s book Identity examines a series of subjects and what makes them unique as individuals. The monograph is compromised of 50 portraits, to which each person Cohen poses the question, “What makes you unique as an individual?” The hand-written answers are displayed on the facing page, giving each portrait a personal touch.

Stephen Wilkes’ images appear in the May 3rd issue of Fortune.

Credits:
Publication: Fortune
Photo Editor: Mia Diehl, Lauren Winfield
Senior Producer: Ben Baer (CNN Money)
Producer: Anastasia Anashkina (CNN Money)
Photography: Stephen Wilkes

Links:
Watch the video at Fortune Magazine
More from Stephen Wilkes

On the closing night of the international ANDY Awards, a charity art auction was held with all of the proceeds benefiting Brad Pitt’s Make it Right foundation. The foundation is dedicated to rebuilding lives and homes in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward with sustainable means. Bernstein & Andriulli artists generously donated many fine pieces of art for the auction.

The International ANDY Awards were established by The Advertising Club of New York, honoring creativity in advertising worldwide. The jury panel consists of internationally renowned creatives hailing from all types of backgrounds, including Shepard Fairey of Studio Number One and Vivian Rosenthal of Tronic Studio this year.

Make it Right was established by Brad Pitt when he toured New Orleans’ two years post Hurricane Katrina and found that the Lower 9th Ward was still decimated. Its goal is to complete 150 homes, complete with native landscaping, micro-farms, rain gardens, and building new streets. Currently, 14 homes have been completed with another 19 under construction.

Works for sale included an original mixed media piece “Lotus Ornament” by Shepard Fairey, a rare, limited edition silkscreen of Sir Peter Blake’s “Sgt Pepper’s” Beatles album, and a photography print of Stephen Wilkes “T.V. in the Sand” from his time in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Wilkes “T.V. in the Sand” is part of a series that was for the World Monument Foundation.

Says Ty Montague, Chief Creative Officer, Co-President of JWT North America, and chairman of the 2010 ANDY Awards, “The amazing work provided by Bernstein & Andriulli artists was integral to the success of our charity auction benefiting the Make it Right Art Foundation.”

Begin bidding on the Make It Right Charity Art Auction
Learn more about Make It Right
View the winners of the ANDY Awards

Full list of participating B&A artists below:

Am I Collective
Andrew Bannecker
Benjamin Wachenje
Brian Grimwood
David Eustace
David Holmes
Esther Pearl Watson
Fernanda Cohen
Gary Baseman
Harriet Russell
Hellovon
ilovedust
Jackie Parsons
Jeremyville
Jessie Ford
Jitesh Patel
Josh Cochran
Kai and Sunny
Louisa St. Pierre
Mark Thomas
Mark Todd
Michael Turek
Nathan Fox
Nishant Choksi
Paul Oakley
Peter Horridge
Sergio Kurhajec
Shepard Fairey
Sir Peter Blake
Stan Chow
Stephen Bliss
Stephen Wilkes
Tatiana Arocha
Tes One
Thomas Simpfendoerfer
Tristan Eaton
Yuko Shimizu

Bill Schwab states, “The American dream is a powerful force and it’s not just a dream – it is a reality for those of us who decide to participate in it.” Schwab is creative director/art director at The Gate Worldwide. He and David Bernstein, ECD/writer, created the latest campaign for State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management business of State Street Corporation. Stephen Wilkes photographed the accompanying images of the campaign.

SSgA is one of the largest ETF providers globally marketed under the SPDR® ETF name and also delivers investment strategies and integrated solutions to clients worldwide across every asset class, investment approach and style.

Schwab notes that the first wave of immigrants may not have lead glamorous lives, but their labor enabled the next generation greater opportunities. He continues, “America’s original investors made incredible sacrifices to give their children a better life, the harder they worked and the more they ‘made it’, the stronger and more successful the United States became. The dream is elegantly stated in the headline for SSgA’s newly launched campaign, “Invest in America, your grandparents did.”

Stephen Wilkes draws from this heritage of the American people in photographing the new campaign, which celebrates America’s original investors – the immigrants that journeyed to America in search of new beginnings with little or next to nothing save for the shirts on their backs. With their hard work and persistence, they are responsible for establishing the foundation of everything that America is today.

The prominent American perspective reflects the nature of the product being sold. This particular campaign features the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Averagesm ETF which is a product that seeks to tracks the price and yield performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index of 30 blue-chip U.S. stocks that is the oldest and most widely known index of the U.S. markets.

The campaign images take the viewer back in time. They show families stepping onto American soil for the first time, surveying the new land. They are portraits of men, women, and children, unsure of what to make of their new home; and they depict laborers going about their everyday life, working hard to work towards their future goals.

The sepia tones and rough edges give an antiquated feel on the surface, but what further accounts for visual authenticity is Wilkes’ use of 19th century lenses that he had specially designed to fit onto his cameras. The depth of field, amount of light, focus, and motion blur of the retrofitted lenses are akin to what one would have seen from actual photographs from that time period.

But the campaign goes further than simply recreating historical documentation; they are about making an emotional connection with the viewer. By drawing on the common thread of almost all Americans – the passage of immigrants through Ellis Island – the campaign reaches deeper into the roots of people living in America today.

Wilkes and Schwab are no strangers to Ellis Island, which made this campaign special to both men. Wilkes had spent five years photographing an abandoned hospital complex on the island where immigrants with questionable health and contagious diseases were kept. The project was so inspiring it convinced Congress to raise $30 million to rehabilitate the island complex and declare it a protected historical monument. Even more poignant, Wilkes’ mother had also gone through Ellis Island at the age of nine years old, making the journey by herself.

For Schwab, the campaign also hit a personal note. Prior to the campaign, he had gone back to Europe to the village where his family lived before they moved to America. Both the photographer and the creative director understood the irrevocable commitment of moving to America and did extensive research on the time period, drawing from the photographs of Lewis Hine and the paintings of Thomas Eakins.

Reflects Wilkes on revisiting Ellis Island, “There is an incredible magnetic force that this country has on people, and I think there’s a palpable sense of that when you stand on the island.”

Look for the campaign in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Money, and Kiplinger’s.

-Helen Shih

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Client: SSgA
ECD/Copywriter: David Bernstein
CD/Art Director: Bill Schwab
Producer, Art Buyer: Jean Wolff
Production Manager: Charlie Katz
Account Director: William Moclair
Photographer: Stephen Wilkes
Producer: Bette Wilkes
Compositing and retouching: Xajide Arts

On and around 12/12/2009, photographers around the world such as Stephen Wilkes donated their time, equipment, and expertise to take pictures of people who otherwise would not have the finances for professional portraits. Founded by Jeremy Cowart, 2009 was the debut year of the “Help-Portrait” movement.

Initially faced with cynics,  Cowart counters on the Help-Portrait website: ”I love seeing a 53-year-old man dance in front of the camera because he’s never had his photo taken. I love taking the very first photo of a 5-year-old child and being able to give that to his mother. Lastly, I love knowing that photographers are getting to experience all of these moments themselves.”

Help-Portrait is an open movement where anyone can become involved. In New York, Heart Art co-founders Celeste Holt-Waters and Audrie Lawrence spearheaded ten city-wide events. The duo reached out to numerous photographers, producers, photo assistants, studios, equipment rental houses and charitable organizations to ensure that Help-Portrait reached as many people as possible. ”[Help-Portrait] is meant to unite and benefit the community by joining people together in the spirit of giving back to the community and a love of photography,” said Holt-Waters.

Portraits

This Saturday, Stephen Wilkes took portraits at Lasker Rink in Central Park. Wilkes worked with iMentor, a community program that matches 1200 public high school students in four boroughs with 1200 adult volunteers from all over the city. The students come from primarily low-income, Black and/or Latino, and/or recently immigrated youth, who attend under-resourced schools and have no family history of college attendance. The mentor and student pairs work together towards the goal of college and career. The results speak for themselves, as the mentees boast a 89% graduation rate from high school, versus their peers who graduate at 55%.

The photo studio set up at Lasker Rink

iMentor works with 14 schools and hosts one event for each school every month. This month’s party was extra special as participants were able to leave with a souvenir portrait. Two by two, mentors and their mentees filtered into the pop-up photo studio at the rink  to smile and pose for Wilkes’ camera, some of them with their ice skates still on. Of the 260 mentors and mentees invited, around 200 were able to attend. Splashlight generously donated the equipment that Wilkes used for the event.

Stephen Wilkes looks over portraits, the pictures attendees took home, and Wilkes behind the camera

Says Wilkes on the impact of photography, “A portrait has the power to not only show the world who we are , but also to inspire the individual who is photographed. It can be a window into the individual who’s photographed to see themselves in a whole new light.” In the portraits, the connection between mentor and mentee is evident. “I sensed a feeling of love and respect between all of the people I photographed, and I felt immediately this is what I needed to capture.”

Concludes Holt-Waters, “We had an overwhelming response from the number of photo industry professionals willing to donate their time and resources. We learned a lot from this year’s productions and also made some really amazing friends. Next year I think that Help Portrait could be a world larger and reach a lot more people. I hope that this becomes a yearly event and grows each year.”

-Helen Shih

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Events in NY included but were not limited to:
-Stephen Wilkes photographed mentors and their students for iMentor at Lasker Rink in Central Park
-Spencer Heyfron photographed family portraits at Excellence Baby Academy in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn
-Evan Kafka and Sheri Manson photographed homeless animals waiting for adoption
-Evan Y. lee and David photographed portraits of Gilda’s Club members
-Philip Mauro photographed Santa portraits at Father’s Heart Ministry Soup Kitchen
-Steve Giralt, Rod Goodman and Mary Dail opened their studios in midtown from 9-5 and flyers were distributed to encourage people to drop in at their convenience
-Kareem Black shot documentary video footage at the events mentioned above

Links:
-If you would like to become involved, learn more at the Help-Portrait website
-Heart Art: an arts organization by Celeste Holt-Waters and Audrie Lawrence
-View Stephen Wilkes‘ portfolio

Special Thanks To:
“…all of the photographers and volunteers who donated their time, expertise and resources to the project. And a big thanks to all of the organizations who welcomed us into their communities and let us meet and photograph them. Additional HUGE thank you to the chef at Father’s Heart Ministries!”
-Celeste Holt-Waters

Additional Thanks:
Stephen Wilkes
Bette Wilkes
Bryan Liscinsky
Josh Dick
Jennie Ross
Agatha Maciejewski
Splashlight

Steuben Glass has made functional and fine art glass products for over 100 years in New York. Their involvement in the arts has lead them to collaborate with artists such as Isamu Noguchi, Miro, and Georgia O’Keefe. The Madison Avenue flagship store houses an expansive gallery that is now showing the work of Stephen Wilkes.

For five years, Wilkes photographed the hospital complex on Ellis Island where immigrants with questionable health and contagious diseases were kept. Some eventually joined their families across the Hudson River, while others perished before they could reach their new life.

Wilkes’ photographs are of abandoned rooms with peeling paint and empty hallways overtaken by plant growth. Since his time on the island, the hospital buildings have been renovated and the signs of the past have been removed. Visit the exhibit Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom to get an eye-opening look into what was once the gateway to America, captured in time.

Stephen Wilkes, Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom
The Steuben Gallery
667 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10065
Showing now until January 4th, 2009

Robert Nachman, Creative Director of Steuben Glass, talks about the impact of Stephen Wilkes’ work, the importance of history, and more.

Hospital extension, women’s ward

How did you first learn about Stephen Wilkes?
I first saw Wilkes’ work at Photo LA several years ago when he just started to do the Ellis Island photos and I’ve always been a personal fan of it. When I moved to New York in 2005 I discovered Brian Clamps Gallery, Clamp Art. We approached Brian of doing the exhibit because we thought it would fit in really well with what Steuben is doing in terms of our involvement in the arts.

What is it about Wilkes’ work that you think resonates with viewers?
I think just on a visceral level, it’s the beauty of the colors and forms… so on one hand you have the beauty of the imagery, the colors, the forms, the textures, and the light – it’s so gorgeous. But you also have this wonderful evocative equality of the history [of Ellis Island] which we all sort of know. I have family that went through Ellis Island, so knowing what that place was and seeing what it looks like now, it brings up all this emotion of this important place that’s been lost in time.

Psychiatric Hospital, wall study with light switch

How has the response been to the show?
For the people that aren’t familiar with it, there’s a two part unveiling for them where they first look at the pictures, and then when they realize what it is they are completely taken aback. For those who are familiar with it or have read the sign, they are also taken aback by the experience itself. I think that the size of the images are breathtaking and people have a strong reaction to it.

Also, everyone has their favorites which is true of most exhibits. Even though there’s a range of shots – exterior, interiors, one is just a wall – there are still wonderful details. For example, there’s this one room with a tiny mirror hanging above the sink and the Statue of Liberty is reflected in it (Tuberculosis Ward, Statue Liberty, Island 3). And then when they see it everyone goes “oh my god!” and there’s this wonderful process of discovery.

L to R: Tuberculosis ward, Isolation ward

What is the lasting impression that you think the show leaves?
I think the most memorable image by far is the cover of the book, the light is so beautiful and with the foliage it looks jewel-encrusted. The whole show evokes the imagination of a place lost in time, like Miss Haversham’s house crawling in vines in Great Expectations or when the kids return to Narnia and find everything in ruins, but the amazing part is that Ellis Island is actually real. It’s just a wonderful emotive experience that you go through when you explore the show. If you have been out to Ellis Island since the renovation, to see these images of complete dilapidation and then to learn how it has been brought back to life again, there is so much that future generations can learn.

Definitely. Ellis Island remains a living monument in American history. Stephen Wilkes’ photographs takes viewers on a journey through a past that will never be seen again. Thank you for your time Robert.

-Helen Shih

Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom is now on view at Steuben Gallery on 667 Madison Avenue, New York, NY until January 4th. View more work by Stephen Wilkes.

A vine covered corridor, the cover of the book

Nurse’s quarters

The Autoclave

Isolation ward

For more than two decades Stephen Wilkes has been widely recognized for his fine art and commercial photography. With numerous awards and honors, as well as five major exhibitions in the last five years, Wilkes is a leading contemporary photographer. His latest retrospective exhibition featuring documentary projects opens at the Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe this Friday. Pictured above is a photograph from his time spent traveling in China capturing images of the rapidly transforming nation.

Stephen Wilkes Retrospective
October 2 – November 22, 2009
Monroe Gallery
112 Don Gaspar
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone: (505) 992-0800

Discussion with Stephen Wilkes on Friday, October 2nd from 5-6pm
Opening Reception Friday October 2nd from 6-7:30pm