Ilulissat Isfjord, Greenland

For more than thirty years, James Balog has broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of our planet’s natural systems. An avid mountaineer with a graduate degree in geography and geomorphology, Balog is equally at home on a Himalayan peak or a whitewater river, the African savannah or polar icecaps.

To reveal the impact of climate change, Balog founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), the most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted. The project is featured in the highly acclaimed documentary, Chasing Ice, which won the award for Excellence in Cinematography at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Balog has been honored with many awards, including, in recent years, an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Alberta, the American Geophysical Union Presidential Citation for Science and Society, the Duke University LEAF Award, the Sam and Julie Walters Prize for Environmental Activism, the International League of Conservation Photographers League Award, the Royal Photographic Society’s Hood Medal, and the Heinz Award. Balog lives with his wife and two daughters in the Rocky Mountains, near Boulder, Colorado.