24 hours on Earth -- in one image

"Nature reveals itself to us in unique ways, if we stop and look at the world through a window of time," says photographer Stephen Wilkes. Using a special photographic technique that reveals how a scene changes from day to night in a single image, Wilkes exposes the Earth's beautiful complexity and the impacts of climate change -- from the disruption of flamingo migrations in Africa to the threat of melting ice -- with unprecedented force.

Nature reveals itself to us
in unique ways,

if we stop and look at the world
through a window of time.

Over the last decade,

I've observed endangered species
and habitats around the world,

using a photographic technique
that captures the passage of time,

literally from day to night,

all within a single image.

It has allowed me to witness

the fleeting moments
between wildlife and the natural habitat

as time changes
over the course of a single day.

In the Serengeti,
during a five-week drought,

I discovered a watering hole
and watched, for 26 hours,

diverse and competitive wildlife

calmly share our planet's
most precious resource:

water.

On Lake Bogoria in Kenya, I photographed
the great migration of flamingos.

This happens normally
during the peak of dry season,

but climate change has created
evening thunderstorms,

turning normally dry hills green

and creating freshwater streams
in which the flamingos joyously bathe.

Our planet is changing before our eyes.

But to witness that change

is also to witness the remarkable
relationships between all of nature,

to see the infinite beauty of it,

to learn how much bigger than us it is

and why it is worth fighting for.

In 2019, the Greenland ice sheet
was experiencing its largest melt

in recorded history:

200 billion tons of ice
liquified into the ocean.

When glacial ice melts,

caving icebergs release sediments
and particles into the seawater,

initiating our ocean's food chain.

Plankton feed on the sediment,

krill eat plankton,

and the humpback whales feed on the krill.

This photograph is the result
of witnessing with my camera

a 36-hour feast by humpback whales.

We assume that the greatest
threat of glacial melt

will be sea level rise,

which will certainly have
major impacts on coastlines

and populations around the world.

But within this image,

we discover that perhaps
the greatest threat from glacial melt

might be our ocean's ability
to feed itself.

Without ice,

the ocean food chain may break.

Creating this photograph
opened my consciousness.

I hope through your willingness
to look and see,

it may open yours.