Wolfe's photographic mission is multi-faceted. By employing artistic and journalistic styles, he documents his subjects and educates the viewer. His unique approach to nature photography is based on his training in the arts and his love of the environment.

The son of commercial artists in Seattle, Washington, Wolfe graduated from the University of Washington with bachelor's degrees in fine arts and art education. Just three years after graduation, he published his first book, Indian Baskets of the Northwest Coast.

Wolfe's travel schedule soon had him on the road more than at home. Over the course of his 21-year career, he has worked on every continent and in hundreds of locations. Wolfe now spends nearly nine months of the year traveling and shoots over 2,000 rolls of film annually.

Hailed by William Conway, President of the Wildlife Conservation Society, as "the most prolific and sensitive recorder of a rapidly vanishing natural world," Wolfe has taken an estimated one million images in his lifetime and has published 41 books.

Named 1998 Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photography Association and 1996 Photographer of the Year by Photo Media magazine, Wolfe is consistently praised for his vision and control of subtle color differences and lighting. Magazines the world over publish his photographs and stories, magazines such as Smithsonian, Life, Outside, and National Geographic in the U.S. and Sinra and GEO (Japan), GEO (Germany), Terre Sauvage (France) and BBC Wildlife (England). Wolfe has also ventured into the world of television production with On Location with Art Wolfe, Techniques of the Masters and American Photo's Safari.

In 1999, Wolfe will release four new books, including Alaska his second book in a series covering different West coast regions,and Tribes: Völker, Farben, Rituale, Water: Worlds Between Heaven and Earth, and Journey Through Northern Rainforests, a book for young readers. Wolfe released nine books in 1997, including Primates, Rhythms from the Wild and Tribes. Marking a major new direction for Wolfe's work, Tribes documents the facial ornamentation and ceremonial rituals of indigenous peoples around the world.