From dawn til dusk: World’s most famous views are captured during day and night in mesmerizing shots

Some of the world’s most beautiful views have to be seen both in the light of day and caked in the shadow of the night to be truly appreciated – but unless you plan on staying in one place for eight hours, that is not easy to do.

But a new edition of a stunning photography book captures breathtaking landmarks and locations from around the globe as the scene shifts from day to night in a single image to create a ‘living, breathing account’ of distinct landscapes.

Amazing sights from Trafalgar Square in London and the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the spectacle of elephants, zebras and bison gathering at a watering hole on the African Serengeti during a drought, have the whole range of the day captured in just one photo.

The book, Day To Night by award-winning photographer Stephen Wilkes, which retails for £60 from publisher Taschen, presents 60 epic panoramas from Venice to Vietnam which were created between 2009 and 2002.

The publishers say: ‘If you were to stand in one spot at an iconic location for 30 hours and simply observe, never closing your eyes, you still wouldn’t be able to take in all the detail and emotion found in a Stephen Wilkes panoramic photograph.’

American photographer Stephen Wilkes has merged hundreds of different images from the same spot to create a ‘living, breathing account’ of distinct landscapes. If you look hard enough in this image, you can spot a couple embracing amid the flux of pedestrians in London’s Trafalgar Square

Wilkes captured the historic moment of the inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington DC in 2013

Gondoliers take to Venice’s Grand Canal in 16th-century-style boats and garb for the annual Regata Storica. Wilkes took the image in 2015

Animals gather around a watering hole in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, during a drought. Wilkes said to capture the image, he spent 26 hours hanging out by the spot in 2015

Each image in the book is composed of more than 1,500 exposures taken at a fixed angle from dawn til dusk by American photographer Wilkes.

After taking the shots, he then ‘distils’ the visual information in his studio by painstakingly composing selected frames into a single image.

Incredible sights in the book also include the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, the Grand Canyon, Stonehenge, Trafalgar Square in London and Times Square in New York.

Wilkes even waited more than two years to gain permission to photograph Pope Francis celebrating Easter mass in the Vatican, ultimately producing a vivid tableau in which the pontiff appears 10 times.

The book also features extraordinary details—works of art in their own right that highlight the stories contained within each image.

A bride makes her way through Central Park; in Rio de Janeiro, surfers come and go while a man holds a sign reading ‘No more than two questions per customer.’

‘It is exactly these small stories, these details, that draw people into the photographs,’ says Wilkes. Once discovered, these mini narratives lend each composition a personal, candid feel.

He even captured historic moments, as in 2013 Wilkes photographed the inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington DC with the help of the secret services.

Wilkes said: ‘Five days before the Inauguration I received a call from the office of the Inauguration committee that they wanted to meet with me. I happened to be in Washington DC and I literally ran over to their offices. I was so excited when they told me I had been granted permission to photograph the inauguration of Barack Obama. When photographing his second inauguration I was positioned in a 50-foot scissor lift centered above The National Mall. The lift truck driver had to be vetted by the secret service as did I and my team.’

Wilkes spent 18 hours capturing Paris’s well-trafficked Champs de Mars and the Eiffel Tower perched from a 40-foot-high lift truck. He said: ‘I photograph from locations and views that are part of our collective memory. Working from a fixed camera angle, I capture the fleeting moments of humanity and light as time passes then select the best moments from 1,500 images’

A magical shot showing Stonehenge in all its glory. Wilkes said of the image: ‘Late in the afternoon, I noticed people dressed in elaborate, 18th-century gowns inside the circle. The clouds had almost begun to replicate the physical structure of Stonehenge. All of these things came together in the most magical way.’

The photographer had always wanted to visit Iceland, and was compelled to take photos at the Blue Lagoon in 2019 because of its unique geothermal water which effectively creates ‘free energy’

Wilkes spent 18 hours capturing Paris’s well-trafficked Champs de Mars and the Eiffel Tower perched from a 40-foot-high lift truck.

He said: ‘I photograph from locations and views that are part of our collective memory. Working from a fixed camera angle, I capture the fleeting moments of humanity and light as time passes then select the best moments from 1,500 images.’

Wilkes pictured animals including elephants, zebras, and bison gather around a watering hole in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, during a drought.

Wilkes said to capture the image, he spent 26 hours hanging out by the spot in 2015. He mused: ‘All of these competitive species shared one watering hole, and they never so much as grunted at each other. They seemed to understand the act of sharing.’

Also in the book is a magical shot showing Stonehenge in all its glory, which shows people in beautiful 18th century gowns in the circle.

Wilkes said of the image: ‘Late in the afternoon, I noticed people dressed in elaborate, 18th-century gowns inside the circle. The clouds had almost begun to replicate the physical structure of Stonehenge. All of these things came together in the most magical way.’ 

A bride and groom can be spotted in the foreground of this image capturing the Manhattan skyline. Wilkes took the shot from Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2016

Wilkes photographed the Pont de le Tournelle in Paris from day to night, showing rowers gliding across the water

Day to night photo of the Ban Gioc-Detian Falls on the Quây Sơn River which straddles the the border of China and Vietnam

Day To Night by award-winning photographer Stephen Wilkes, which retails for £60 from publisher Taschen, presents 60 epic panoramas which were created between 2009 and 2002

The photographer had always wanted to visit Iceland, and was compelled to take photos at the Blue Lagoon in 2019 because of its unique geothermal water which effectively creates ‘free energy’.

Of the landmark, Wilkes said: ‘Iceland has always been on my list of must-see places, with its otherworldly landscapes, gorgeous snowy views, and of course the northern lights. What drew me to the Blue Lagoon is the fact that it has a unique combination of geothermal water from a nearby plant, creating essentially free energy, along with its byproduct of therapeutic waters which create heated pools such as the Blue Lagoon.

His desire to represent a living space in a still image is typified by the photo of Trafalgar Square in London where, if you look hard enough you can spot a couple embracing amid the flux of pedestrians.

Stephen Wilkes’s work has appeared in prestigious magazines including Vanity Fair, Time, Fortune, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated and is included in the collections of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of the City of New York, 9/11 Memorial Museum and many more.

The photographer’s awards and honours include the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography and TIME Magazine Top 10 Photographs of 2012.

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