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James Balog (pronounced ''BAY-log''; born July 15, 1952) sometimes referred to as Jim Balog, is an American photographer whose work explores the relationship between humans and nature. Since the early 1980s, Balog has photographed such subjects as endangered animals, North America's old-growth forests, and polar ice. His work aims to combine insights from art and science to produce innovative interpretations of our changing world. Balog's best-known project explores the impact of climate change on the world's glaciers. In 2007, he initiated the
Extreme Ice Survey The Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), based in Boulder, Colorado, uses time-lapse photography, conventional photography and video to document the effects of global warming on glacial ice. It is the most wide-ranging glacier study ever conducted using gro ...
, the most wide-ranging ground-based photographic glacier study ever conducted. '' National Geographic'' magazine showcased Balog's ice work in June 2007 and June 2010, and the project is featured in the 2009 NOVA documentary ''Extreme Ice''See
Extreme Ice
'.
as well as the 75-minute film ''
Chasing Ice ''Chasing Ice'' is a 2012 documentary film about the efforts of nature photographer James Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) to publicize the effects of climate change. The film was directed by Jeff Orlowski. It was released in the United Sta ...
'', which premiered in January 2012. Balog's book ''Ice: Portraits of the World’s Vanishing Glaciers'' summarizes the work of the Extreme Ice Survey through 2012. In January 2016, Balog began production on a feature-length documentary film, exploring the environmental effects of the Anthropocene. Released as ''The Human Element'', the film debuted in April 2018, co-presented by Green Film Fest, part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. Balog has received many awards for his work. In 1996, he became the first photographer ever commissioned by the
U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...
to create a full set of stamps.James Balog
National Geographic
He is the author of seven books, including ''Extreme Ice Now: Vanishing Glaciers and Changing Climate: A Progress Report'' (2009), ''Tree: A New Vision of the American Forest'' (2004), and ''Survivors: A New Vision of Endangered Wildlife'' (1990), described as a conceptual breakthrough in nature photography. He is a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He lives in Boulder,
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
, with his wife, Suzanne, and his daughter.


Background

Balog was born in Danville, Pennsylvania, the child of a white father (whose great-great-great-great grandparents were originally from Hungary, with the name being spelled Balogh) and a Cherokee mother. His interest and fascination with nature originated in his early childhood in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. While working on his undergraduate degree in communications at
Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
, he became an avid adventurer. He made frequent trips to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the
wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
rivers of Maine, and later larger climbing expeditions in the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
and Himalayas, along with first ascents in
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. As his outdoor adventures evolved, Balog increasingly felt a need to document his experiences. He began carrying a camera on his trips and teaching himself photography. While working on a master's degree in
geomorphology Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or ...
at the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of C ...
, he honed his photography skills during frequent climbing trips. In order to pursue a more direct connection with the natural world, he decided to switch from science to nature photojournalism. He began with a series of documentary photography assignments for magazines such as ''Mariah'' (the predecessor to '' Outside''), '' Smithsonian'' and '' National Geographic'', work he continues today. Later, he moved into self-directed projects, many of which would ultimately lead to large-format photography books. Balog's work has appeared in ''National Geographic, The New Yorker, Life, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, Audubon, Outside'' and numerous trade publications such as ''American Photo, Professional Photographer'' and ''Photo District News''. He was a contributing editor to ''National Geographic Adventure''. Assignments and personal projects have included documenting the aftermath of the 1980 eruption of
Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United ...
, the 2004 tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia, Hurricane Katrina's collision with the U.S. Gulf Coast, and the 2010 ''
Deepwater Horizon ''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion ...
'' Gulf oil disaster.


''The Human Element''

THE HUMAN ELEMENT is a 2018 documentary film directed by Matthew Testa and produced by Olivia Ahnemann. SYNOPSIS: "We humans are a force of nature. At the same time human activities alter the basic elements of life – earth, air, water, and fire – those elements change human life in turn. In this drama, blending art and science, we follow photographer James Balog as he explores wildfires, hurricanes, sea level rise, a struggling coal mining community, and our changing air supply. THE HUMAN ELEMENT highlights Americans who are on the front lines of climate change, inspiring us to re-evaluate our relationship with the natural world."


''Chasing Ice''

''
Chasing Ice ''Chasing Ice'' is a 2012 documentary film about the efforts of nature photographer James Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) to publicize the effects of climate change. The film was directed by Jeff Orlowski. It was released in the United Sta ...
'' is a 2012 documentary film directed by Jeff Orlowski about the efforts of Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey to publicize the
effects of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea leve ...
. It was released in the United States on November 16, 2012. The documentary includes scenes from a glacier calving event that took place at Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland, lasting 75 minutes, the longest such event ever captured on film. Two EIS videographers waited several weeks in a small tent overlooking the glacier, and were finally able to witness of ice crashing off the glacier. The film received the 2014 News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Nature Programming.


Notable projects

Extreme Ice Survey. The
Extreme Ice Survey The Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), based in Boulder, Colorado, uses time-lapse photography, conventional photography and video to document the effects of global warming on glacial ice. It is the most wide-ranging glacier study ever conducted using gro ...
(EIS) tells the story of a planet in flux. With methodology that combines time-lapse imagery with conventional photography and video, EIS, now in its second decade of field operations, is the world's most extensive ground-based photographic glacier study to date. Over a million time-lapse frames reveal the extraordinary retreat of
glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...
and ice sheets due to climate change, providing scientists with vital insights on glacier dynamics. As of January 2018, 28 cameras were shooting at glaciers in Greenland, Iceland,
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
, the Alps, Antarctica, and the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
of the U.S.; previously, as many as 43 cameras had been in the field at once. The cameras shoot year-round, every half-hour of daylight. EIS supplements the time-lapse record by occasionally repeating shots at fixed locations in Iceland,
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, the Canadian province of British Columbia, Mt. Everest, Mt. Kilimanjaro and the French and Swiss
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
. A feature-length film, PBS documentary, ''National Geographic'' book, National Public Radio and numerous magazines and newspapers have shown the EIS team. In addition, EIS spreads the word of climate change and shrinking glaciers through public talks, a touring exhibition and displays in public venues, including Denver International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, and Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. EIS has appeared before Congress and in multimedia presentations at science and policy conferences around the world. ANIMA series. Seeking to challenge humankind's ancient cultural perception about its place in the world, Balog paired
chimpanzees The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative the ...
with a diverse range of humans and photographed a series of portraits. The artwork draws on insights from a variety of fields, including visual arts, environmental philosophy and Jungian psychology. ANIMAA web page about it i
here
asks readers to imagine a healthier, more integrated relationship between humans and nature. Holga series. Starting in 1997 and continuing intermittently through the present day, Balog has continued a series of photographs made with a Holga camera, a toy appreciated for its low-fidelity aesthetic. Balog enjoys working with the imperfections in the exposures, such as vignetting and blur, and makes it part of the finished "look." makes them part of the pieces. He actually wants the camera to produce little defects that will inspire new creative revelations. Survivors series.A web page about it i
here
Balog tried to change people's perception of endangered
wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted fo ...
by altering the context in which the animals were viewed. Instead of capturing his subjects in nature with a telephoto lens, he photographed them in non-natural settings, often against white backdrops, to emphasize their vulnerability. Techno Sapiens series. Balog explored the increasing dependence of ''Homo sapiens'' on technology in his series "Techno Sapiens".A web page about it i
here
.
Its images range from techno-fashion portraits to photographs depicting people's techno-habitats. Balog used a variety of techniques to create images that illustrate the changing features of human nature, as well as humankind's increasing detachment from the natural world. The duality of the pictures, a tension between beauty and horror, mimics the ambivalence most people feel for technology. Tree series. For the Tree series,A web page about it i
here
Balog wanted to photograph some of world's tallest trees in their full grandeur, but he realized that his subjects were far too large to capture in a single frame. He devised a multi-frame approach of photographing the trees from the top down. The method was inspired by some of the lunar landing pictures from the NASA missions during the 1960s. Balog climbed each tree, and then photographed it in sections as he rappelled downward. Later, he created digital mosaics by stitching the images together using computer imaging software. Some images required up to four days of shooting, plus as many as six weeks of computer work to assemble the final composition. The tree images eventually became a 2004 book, ''Tree: A New Vision of the American Forest''.


Style and inspiration

Balog's work has primarily evolved as a combination of art, science and environmental documentary. He views his imagery as exploring the "contact zone" between man and nature. David Holbrooke's 2006 documentary film ''A Redwood Grows in Brooklyn''Se
A Redwood Grows in Brooklyn
.
explores his thoughts about art, nature and perception.
I’ve basically devoted my career to looking at the relationship between humans and nature. I want to do what I can to shift human understanding of who we are and what we are and how we should relate to all the rest of what’s on this planet. I want to crack through the veneer of the illusions that surround us and see inside reality more purely than you normally get to see. That’s the real witchcraft and voodoo of this artistic process we’re in. I hope that the work helps people to think and see differently—and ultimately, we can only hope, behave differently.Icons Online: James Balog
(interview). ''Photo District News'' (undated).
Balog views photography as a form of visual evidence that can influence people's perception of the world around them:
I’ve believed for a long time that photographers are like the antennae of civilization. We are an integral part of the sensing mechanism of the human animal. We are out there feeling in the darkness, trying to see what’s around us and reveal what hasn’t been revealed before. Not all photographers work that way, but to me that’s one of the central elements of photography. I would like to think that passionate, involved photographers would be looking at the world and trying their hardest to speak about the important things that are going on today.
Among his many artistic influences Balog counts
Irving Penn Irving Penn (June 16, 1917October 7, 2009) was an American photographer known for his fashion photography, portraits, and still lifes. Penn's career included work at '' Vogue'' magazine, and independent advertising work for clients including Is ...
, Richard Avedon,
Carleton Watkins Carleton E. Watkins (1829–1916) was an American photographer of the 19th century. Born in New York, he moved to California and quickly became interested in photography. He focused mainly on landscape photography, and Yosemite Valley was a ...
, William Henry Jackson, Edward Weston, Robert Adams,
Eliot Porter Eliot Furness Porter (December 6, 1901 – November 2, 1990) was an American photographer best known for his color photographs of nature.Amon Carter MuseumEliot Porter collection guide. Retrieved September 12, 2008. Early life and education Porter ...
, Eugene Smith and Cornell Capa. Outside photography, he draws inspiration from the entire range of arts, including music, literature, painting, filmmaking, sculpture and architecture. Balog's photographs vary between very clean, simple representations of his subjects and more impressionistic interpretations that illustrate his unconscious feelings about a scene. He tends to alter his treatments and techniques based on emotional responses to a subject and the circumstances surrounding his shooting. Early in his career, Balog concentrated on man's direct impact on nature, producing a series on nuclear missile silos in the agrarian landscapes of the American West. In his first book project, ''Wildlife Requiem'', Balog examined the killing of animals for sport. Published in 1984, ''Wildlife Requiem'' shocked the photography establishment with its brutally graphic images.
In a lot of my work I’m trying to make a commentary about humans encroaching on nature through their presence. But I’m not so naïve as to think that my own presence is not an impact on the animals and plants and landscapes that I happen to enter. What I can do as a photographer, hopefully, is to help everybody else see their impact in a way that maybe they hadn’t before.


Select awards

* The Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) Special Photography Content Creator Award, Dubai, UAE, 2018. * Hood Medal, The Royal Photographic Society, UK, 2014 * Duke University LEAF Award, 2014 * Sam Rose '58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Environmental Activism, 2014 * David Brower Conservation Award, American Alpine Club, 2014 *
Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography The Ansel Adams Award for Photography, formally called Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, named in honor of United States, American photographer Ansel Adams, is a photography award administered by the Sierra Club. The award "honor ...
, 2013 * American Geophysical Union Presidential Citation for Science and Society, 2013 * Wirth Chair Sustainability Award, University of Colorado * University of Colorado Campus Sustainability Outstanding Alumni Award, 2013 * NANPA Environmental Impact Award, 2013 * Planet In Focus Film Festival Eco-Hero Award, 2012 * Photography Person of the Year, ''PhotoMedia'' magazine, 2011 * The 16th Annual Heinz Award with a special focus on global change, 2010 * Fine Outreach For Science GigaPan Fellow,
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technolog ...
, 2010 * Missouri School of Journalism's Honor Medal for Distinguished Service, 2010 * First-ever recipient of the International League of Conservation Photographers Award, 2009 *
Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute's stated aim is the realization of "a free, just, and equitable society" through seminars, policy programs ...
’s Visual Arts & Design Award, 2009 * NANPA Outstanding Photographer of the Year, 2008 * Rowell Award for the Art of Adventure, 2007 * First Prize, Science & Technology Photography,
World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...
Contest, 1996 * Leica Medal of Excellence for Photographic Books, 1990 * First Prize, Nature Photography,
World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...
Contest, 1986


Books

* ''Wildlife Requiem'' (International Center of Photography, New York, 1984) * ''Survivors: A New Vision of Endangered Wildlife'' (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1990) * ''Anima'' (Arts Alternative Press, Boulder, Colo., 1993) * ''James Balog’s Animals A to Z'' (Chronicle, San Francisco, 1996) * ''Animal'' (Graphis, New York, 1999) * ''Tree: A New Vision of the American Forest'' (Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 2004) * ''Extreme Ice Now: Vanishing Glaciers and Changing Climate: A Progress Report'' (National Geographic Books, Washington DC, 2009) * ''Ice: Portraits of the World's Vanishing Glaciers'' (Rizzoli, 2012) *''The Human Element: A Time Capsule from the Anthropocene'', (Rizzoli, 2021) ISBN 084787088X


See also

*
Conservation photography Conservation photography is the active use of the photographic process and its products, within the parameters of photojournalism, to advocate for conservation outcomes. Conservation photography combines nature photography with the proactive, ...


Notes


References


External links


James Balog Photography

Extreme Ice Survey
a program o
Earth Vision Institute

GettingThePicture: Our Changing Climate

Chasing Ice





''Photo District News'' Masters Series


* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balog, James 1952 births American photographers Living people Nature photographers Boston College alumni Sierra Club awardees