James Balog

{{Short description|American photographer}} {{Multiple issues| {{COI|date=June 2018}} {{BLP sources|date=November 2012}} }}

{{Infobox person | name = James Balog | honorific_suffix = | image = James Balog Iceland.png | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|7|15}} | birth_place = Danville, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = | website = {{url|earthvisioninstitute.org}} | alma_mater = University of Colorado | occupation = Photographer }}

'''James Balog''' (born July 15, 1952) is an American photographer and the founder and director of Earth Vision Institute in Boulder, Colorado. In 2007, Balog founded the Extreme Ice Survey, a project that documents glacial melting.

Balog has photographed subjects such as endangered animals, North America's old-growth forests, and polar ice. In 1996, Balog was commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service to create a complete set of stamps.<ref name="natgeo2018">[https://web.archive.org/web/20170407122114/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/contributors/b/photographer-james-balog/ James Balog], National Geographic</ref> In 2024, Balog received an Honorary Fellowship from The Royal Photographic Society.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fidler |first1=Matt |title=Royal Photographic Society awards 2024 – in pictures |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/nov/12/royal-photographic-society-awards-2024-in-pictures |website=The Guardian |access-date=6 March 2025}}</ref>

He is a senior Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.<ref>{{cite web |title=ILCP search |url=https://conservationphotographers.org/search/u/balog |website=International League of Conservation Photographers |access-date=6 March 2025}}</ref>

== Early life and education == Balog was born in Danville, Pennsylvania. He has participated in climbing expeditions in the Alps and Himalayas, and completed first ascents in Alaska.<ref name="Haiki Summit">{{cite web |title=James Balog |url=https://www.halkisummit.com/speakers/james-balog/ |website=Haiki Summit |access-date=6 March 2025}}</ref>

While working on a master's degree in geomorphology at the University of Colorado, he developed his photography skills during frequent climbing trips. These trips inspired him to abandon his scientific studies to pursue nature photojournalism.<ref name="earth2014">{{cite web |last1=Cook |first1=Terri |title=Down To Earth With: James Balog |url=https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/down-earth-james-balog/ |website=Earth Magazine |access-date=6 March 2025}}</ref> He began with a series of documentary photography assignments for magazines such as ''Mariah'' (the predecessor to ''Outside''), ''Smithsonian,'' and ''National Geographic''.<ref name="natgeo2018" /> Later, he moved into self-directed projects, many of which would ultimately lead to large-format photography books.

== Extreme Ice Survey == In 2007, Balog initiated the Extreme Ice Survey, the most wide-ranging ground-based photographic glacier study ever conducted. ''National Geographic'' magazine showcased Balog's ice work in June 2007<ref>{{cite news|last=Appenzeller|first=Tim|title=The Big Thaw|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/06/big-thaw/big-thaw-text|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326015329/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/06/big-thaw/big-thaw-text|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 26, 2008|newspaper=National Geographic|date=June 2007}}</ref> and June 2010,<ref>{{cite news|last=Jenkins|first=Mark|title=Melt Zone|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/06/melt-zone/jenkins-text|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100521144642/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/06/melt-zone/jenkins-text|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 21, 2010|newspaper=National Geographic|date=June 2010}}</ref> and the project is featured in the 2009 NOVA documentary ''Extreme Ice'' as well as the 75-minute film ''Chasing Ice (''which premiered in January 2012).<ref>{{cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Lisa|title=Sundance: Colorado Represents|url=http://blogs.denverpost.com/madmoviegoer/tag/chasing-ice/|newspaper=Denver Post|date=January 24, 2012}}</ref>

== Documentary films ==

Balog's efforts to publicize the effects of climate change were the subject of the 2012 documentary film ''Chasing Ice'', directed by Jeff Orlowski.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.denverpost.com/movies/ci_22344422/chasing-ice-fails-bid-oscar-nomination |title='Chasing Ice,' documentary with Boulder ties, fails in bid for Oscar nomination |last=Collins |first=Mark |date=January 10, 2013 |work=Denver Post |access-date=11 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116023605/http://www.denverpost.com/movies/ci_22344422/chasing-ice-fails-bid-oscar-nomination |archive-date=16 January 2013 }}</ref> The documentary includes scenes from a glacier calving event that took place at Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland, which lasted 75 minutes, the longest such event ever captured on film.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2012/dec/12/chasing-ice-iceberg-greenland-video|location=UK|newspaper=The Guardian |first=Damian |last=Carrington|title=Chasing Ice movie reveals largest iceberg break-up ever filmed|date=12 December 2012|access-date=24 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.chasingice.com/reviews/media-reviews/#sthash.N8RaU1S5.dpuf|year=2012|access-date=24 January 2014|work=Chasing Ice|title=Media reviews|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209142252/http://www.chasingice.com/reviews/media-reviews/#sthash.N8RaU1S5.dpuf|archive-date=9 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Two EIS videographers waited several weeks in a small tent overlooking the glacier and witnessed {{convert|7.4|km3}} of ice crashing off the glacier.<ref name="Dudek">{{citation|newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |url=http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/featured/chasing-ice-pursues-chilling-evidence-of-climate-change-5j7v692-184339691.html#ixzz2rZWLhRsf|year=2012|access-date=24 January 2014|title=Chasing ice pursues chilling evidence of climate change|first=Duane |last=Dudek }}</ref> The film received the 2014 News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Nature Programming.<ref name="35th news/doc Emmy Awards winners">{{cite web |title=Winners Announced for the 35th Annual News & Documentary Emmy® Awards - The Emmy Awards - The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |url=http://emmyonline.com/news_35th_winners |website=emmyonline.com |access-date=11 June 2018 |archive-date=25 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525233412/http://emmyonline.com/news_35th_winners |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Balog's feature-length documentary ''The Human Element'', exploring the effects of humans on the environment, premiered at San Francisco Green Film Festival in 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=SFGFF co-presents: The Human Element |url=https://www.greenfilmfest.org/2018sfiffhumanelement1 |website=San Francisco Green Film Festival |access-date=6 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162050/https://www.greenfilmfest.org/2018sfiffhumanelement1 |archive-date=12 June 2018}}</ref>

''Chasing Time'', a 2024 American documentary short film directed by the first time filmmaker Sarah Keo and Jeff Orlowski, offers a reflective examination of time and mortality as it follows Balog and his team during the final phase of a multi‑decade project that has produced more than one million images. The short documentary also reunites Balog with the Emmy Award-winning team behind ''Chasing Ice''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.exposurelabs.com/chasingtime |title=Chasing Time |access-date=20 December 2025|website= Exposure Labs |language=en}}</ref>

== Bibliography == * ''The Human Element: A Time Capsule from the Anthropocene'', (Rizzoli, 2021) {{isbn|084787088X}} * ''Wildlife Requiem'' (International Center of Photography, New York, 1984) {{isbn|0-933642-06-7}} * ''Ice: Portraits of the World's Vanishing Glaciers'' (Rizzoli, 2012) {{isbn|978-0847838868}} * ''Extreme Ice Now: Vanishing Glaciers and Changing Climate: A Progress Report'' (National Geographic Books, Washington DC, 2009) {{isbn|978-1-4262-0401-2}} * ''Tree: A New Vision of the American Forest'' (Barnes & Noble Books, New York, 2004) {{isbn|978-1-4027-2818-1}} * ''Animal'' (Graphis, New York, 1999) {{isbn|978-1-888001-80-8}} * ''James Balog’s Animals A to Z'' (Chronicle, San Francisco, 1996) {{isbn|978-0-8118-1339-6}} * ''Anima'' (Arts Alternative Press, Boulder, Colo., 1993) {{isbn|0-9636266-0-4}} * ''Survivors: A New Vision of Endangered Wildlife'' (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1990) {{isbn|0-8109-3908-8}}

==See also== * Conservation photography

==Notes== <references group="n" />

== References == <references />

==External links== * {{official website|jamesbalog.com}} * {{TED speaker}} * {{C-SPAN|107970}} * [https://www.conservationphotographers.org/ International League of Conservation Photographers]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balog, James}} Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:American nature photographers Category:Boston College alumni Category:Sierra Club awardees