Spotlight Series on Local Artists: Interview with local photographer, Annette Wilke

Starting this month, I will begin a series of interviews with local artists. The focus will be on how they incorporate art in their life or how travel inspires their art.

Annette Wilke is a local photographer who recently took a trip to Antarctica.

How long have you been an artist? I started photography in high school as a yearbook photographer and editor. After HS, I documented mostly events and people until I moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1997. Surrounded by dramatic landscapes and abundant wildlife, I became a devoted travel, landscape, and wildlife photographer.

Have you always enjoyed photography? I love photography because it is a combination of science and art. The camera is a tool. Exposure, composition, and lighting are artistic choices controlled by the photographer. More recently, inspired by artists that I have met on my photography excursions, I have started glass-on-glass mosaics and painting with watercolor.

What are your favorite subjects to capture and why? While a beautiful landscape with dramatic or moody lighting is always welcomed, my favorite subject is a wild animal or bird in good lighting, in its natural environment, and doing something interesting or interacting with another animal. It is very challenging to get all these elements together and have the camera settings right when the moment happens.

What inspired your trip to Antarctica? Primarily, there are some species that only exist in the Southern Hemisphere or Antarctic region, notably penguins and albatrosses. Secondly, many of my best photography experiences have been in the most remote and uninhabited places. Antarctica is the most remote, uninhabited, and undisturbed continent in the world.

What activities did you engage in? All the cruise excursion ships to Antarctica have scientists on board conducting scientific data collection. Passengers are encouraged to assist through Citizens Science. Our ship participated in cloud studies, bird and seaweed surveys, and photographed snow algae (a new phenomenon). I helped document whales in the region and had the honor and privilege to upload over 30 humpback whale flukes to Happy Whale, a global database that identifies and tracks wildlife. More than half of the whales had not been previously documented.

What inspired you artistically? My goal was to photograph five species of penguins, whales, and albatross. The dramatic backgrounds and lighting, especially in Antarctica and South Georgia were unexpected. Mountains, icebergs, and deep blue water combined with fog, snow, and the angle of the sun were both inspiring and challenging. Instead of creating close-ups of wildlife, I wanted to capture more of the environment in which they live.

Do you plan your travel around where you want to take pictures? Sometimes, I am interested in a specific species that would determine the time and place like coastal bears during salmon spawning which would lead me to Katmai National Park, Alaska, in August. I would like to go to Greenland and Iceland for the landscape opportunity with wildlife as a secondary subject.

You can see Annette’s work at www.annettewilkiephoto.com . Amy Mower is a local artist and lifelong Beaverton resident. She is passionate about the future of the arts in our community.