Works
  • Stephen Wilkes Photograph Day to Night Times Square
    Times Square, NYC, 2010
  • Stephen Wilkes Photograph Day to Night Washington Square
    Washington Square Park, NYC, 2009
  • Stephen Wilkes, Four Seasons, Central Park, Spring, 2024
    Four Seasons, Central Park, Spring, 2024
  • Photographs by Stephen Wilkes Day to Night Series Park Avenue Taxis Yellow Cabs
    Park Avenue, NYC, 2011
  • Photographs by Stephen Wilkes Day to Night Series Regata Storica Grand Canal Venice
    Regata Storica, Venice, 2015
  • Photographs by Stephen Wilkes Day to Night Series London Thames River
    View from The Savoy, London, 2013
  • Stephen Wilkes Day to Night bears in river by mountains available at Gilman Contemporary
    Grizzly Bears, Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada, 2018
  • Stephen Wilkes, Lesser Flamingos, Lake Bogoria, Kenya, 2017
    Lesser Flamingos, Lake Bogoria, Kenya, 2017
  • Stephen Wilkes photograph Bears Ears National Monument Utah available at Gilman Contemporary
    Bears Ears National Monument, Utah , 2022
  • Stephen Wilkes photograph grizzly bears in alpine lake B.C. Gilman Contemporary
    Grizzly Bears, Chilko Lake, B.C, 2022
  • Stephen Wilkes photograph cattle montana ranch Gilman Contemporary
    J Bar L Ranch, Montana, 2022
  • Stephen Wilkes photograph polar bear Manitoba Canada view at Gilman Contemporary
    Polar Bears, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, 2019
  • Stephen Wilkes Greenland Icebergs available at gilman contemporary
    The Great July Melt, Ilulissat, Greenland, 2019
  • rockefeller center stephen wilkes photo day to night
    Rockefeller Center, NYC, 2013
  • Stephen Wilkes photograph caribou in Canada purchase at Gilman Contemporary
    Northern Mountain Caribou, The Yukon, Canada, 2023
  • Stephen Wilkes photograph wood bison elk island buy at Gilman Contemporary
    Wood Bison , Elk Island, Edmonton, CA, 2022
  • southbeach miami stephen wilkes day to night
    South Beach, Miami, 2020
  • Stephen Wilkes photograph Fagradalsfjall Volcano Iceland
    Fagradalsfjall Volcano, Iceland, 2021
  • pont de la tournelle paris stephen wilkes photo
    Pont de la Tournelle, Paris, 2013
  • central park stephen wilkes photography
    Four Seasons, Central Park, NY, 2024
  • flat iron building stephen wilkes day to night
    Flat Iron 9/11, NYC, 2010
  • Photographs by Stephen Wilkes Day to Night Series nanatucket Brandt Point Lighthouse
    Brant Point Lighthouse, Nantucket, 2022
  • stephen wilkes varanasi ganges river photograph day to night
    Varanasi, India, 2016
Overview
Stephen Wilkes

In a world where humanity has become obsessively connected to personal devices, the ability to look profoundly and contemplatively is becoming an endangered human experience. Photographing a single place for up to 36 hours becomes a meditation. It has informed me in a unique way, inspiring deep insights into life’s narrative, and the fragile interaction of

humanity within our natural and constructed world.

-Stephen Wilkes

Stephen Wilkes (b. 1957, New York) is a photographer and National Geographic Explorer known for his innovative fine art, editorial, and commercial work. Since opening his New York studio in 1983, he has become one of America’s most iconic photographers. A 1998 assignment at Ellis Island led to a five-year study of its abandoned medical wards, culminating in Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom (2006), one of TIME’s 5 Best Photography Books of the Year. His work helped secure $6 million for the island’s restoration. In 2000, America in Detail, a 52-day cross-country project for Epson, was exhibited nationwide. 

 

Wilkes’ most defining work, Day to Night, began in 2009, capturing cityscapes and landscapes from a fixed vantage point over 30 hours, blending thousands of images into a single frame. Day to Night is a 14 year personal journey to capture fundamental elements of our world through the hourglass of a single day. It is a synthesis of art and science, an exploration of time, memory, and history through the 24-hour rhythms of our daily lives. The series, featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in major media, expanded with National Geographic Society grants. It has been exhibited at the National Geographic Museum (2018), National Museum of Wildlife Art (2019), and Palazzo Blu, Pisa (2023). The TASCHEN monograph was published in 2019 and reprinted in 2023. 

 

Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Exhibitions