Feeling Wilkes

Stephen Wilkes is all about feelings.

He said that Ellis Island instantly made him "feel" something special once he stepped his feet on. "Photographers need to feel the souls," he said during the lecture, "To feel things, human energy, people. The best photos are the ones that have that power so that the voices come through the work."

Stephen Wilkes is all about lights, color, and...passion.

He hold a passion for people, for distinguish angles, for colors, for natural lights. Through his work in China, and on Ellis Island, the stories were being told through the images. "As photographer," he said, "The act of discovery is sometimes the light on the table."

Stephen Wilkes is all about seeing life through vantage points.

"Where you are in life is so special," he said. "sometimes hunt clouds the mind." Go out and shoot, and wait for a little bit. Things will reveal themselves to you.

A packed Rm 101 in Newhouse may say something about Wilkes, but his images told his stories, revealing who he is as a photographer and as a person.