Stephen Wilkes

Artist, Filmmaker, Photographer

Stephen Wilkes is a photographer and National Geographic Explorer known for his groundbreaking imagery that blends documentary storytelling with fine art. Since opening his studio in New York City in 1983, photographer Stephen Wilkes has built an unprecedented body of work and a reputation as one of America’s most iconic photographers, widely recognized for his fine art, editorial and commercial work. His photographs are included in the collections of the Fenimore Museum, George Eastman Museum, James A. Michener Art Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Dow Jones Collection, Griffin Museum of Photography, Jewish Museum of NY, Library of Congress, Snite Museum of Art, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Museum of the City of New York, 9/11 Memorial Museum and numerous private collections. His editorial work has appeared in, and on the covers of, leading publications such as the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Time, Fortune, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and many others. Wilkes’ early career interpretations of Mainland China, California’s Highway One, and impressionistic “Burned Objects” set the tone for a series of career-defining projects that catapulted him to the top of the photographic landscape. In 1998, a one-day assignment to the south side of Ellis Island led to a 5-year photographic study of the island’s long abandoned medical wards where immigrants were detained before they could enter America. Through his photographs and video, Wilkes helped secure $6 million toward the restoration of the south side of the island. A monograph based on the work, Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom, was published in 2006 and was named one of TIME magazine’s 5 Best Photography Books of the Year. The work was featured on NPR and CBS Sunday Morning. In 2000, Epson America commissioned Wilkes to create a millennial portrait of the United States, “America In Detail,” a 52-day odyssey that was exhibited in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Day to Night, Wilkes’ most defining project, began in 2009. These epic cityscapes and landscapes, portrayed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours capture fleeting moments of humanity as light passes in front of his lens over the course of full day. Blending these images into a single photograph takes months to complete. Day to Night has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning as well as dozens of other prominent media outlets. With support from the National Geographic Society Wilkes expanded the project to include America’s National Parks in celebration of their centennial anniversary, global bird migrations, and Canadian species and habitats at risk. His Day to Night series has been exhibited in the United States and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the National Geographic Museum(2018), The National Museum of Wildlife Art (2019), and the Fenimore Art Museum( 2023). Day to Night was published as a monograph by TASCHEN in 2019 and reprinted in 2023. Wilkes’ work documenting the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy has brought heightened awareness to the realities of global climate change. He was commissioned by the Annenberg Space for Photography to revisit New Orleans in 2013 after documenting Hurricane Katrina for the World Monuments Fund. His photographs of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy were exhibited in the 2014, Sink or Swim, Designing for a Sea of Change exhibition. Wilkes' directorial debut, the documentary film Jay Myself, world premiered at DOCNYC in November 2018. The film is an in-depth look into the world of photographer Jay Maisel and his move out of his 35,000 sq. foot building at 190 Bowery. Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired the North American rights. Wilkes traveled to Union Glacier in Antarctica in 2021 to direct a short film on the capture of the total solar eclipse as an immersive experience for Sphere in Las Vegas. In 2023 Wilkes Day to Night photographs were exhibited at Palazzo Blu in Pisa, Italy. Wilkes was a featured speaker at Festival Delle Scienze, Roma, speaking on documenting the effects of climate change through his photography. Despite his intense dedication to personal projects, Wilkes continues to shoot advertising campaigns for the world’s leading agencies and corporations, including: Netflix, Rolex, Apple, American Express and Nike. Wilkes was born in 1957 in New York. He received his BS in photography from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a minor in business management from the Whitman School of Management in 1980. Wilkes, who lives and maintains his studio in Westport, CT, is represented by Robert Klein Gallery, Holden Luntz Gallery, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Jackson Fine Art, and ArtitledContemporary, The Netherlands.

Doing what you love, art and science, discovery, and sustainability.

The power of beauty can change the world.

Art, Journalism, Photography

Speaker at the TED Dream conference 2016 & Ted Countdown summit 2020

Cooking & baking, cartooning, character voices