Faculty Alum James Balog extends Extreme Ice Survey

James Balog is taking a leave of absence from the Photography at the Summit as his much-acclaimed Extreme Ice Survey project is extended for perhaps another three years. Photographing the world’s melting glaciers with 33 remote Nikon cameras (in all-weather housings devised by Balog), this combination of documenting real effects of global warming as well as showing the public what is happening. Balog, part of the U. S. delegation, showed a multimedia presentation at COP15, the U.N.’s conference on climate change in Copenhagen late last year. He is featured in an in-depth interview by Fred Ritchen in the latest issue of Aperture magazine.

Sports Workshop faculty member Mark Terrill Lauded

Los Angeles-based AP photographer Mark Terrill, a regular instructor at the Sports Photography Workshop for the past ten years is a consistent prize winner for his pictures. Now, he has won the top prize in the APSE sports photography competition — the Thomas V. deLustro Award for the best portfolio.

Jim Balog speaks at Winter Games Sustainability Summit

Jim Balog was a speaker and exhibitor of his Extreme Ice Survey project at the Winter Games Sustainability Summit presented the day before the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics. He has been named the Eco-Ambassador by Samsung Electronics in support of his efforts to educate the global community how climate change in empacting the panet. These are just the latest of the acknowledgements of his project which he outlined to participants at the Summit three years ago. Today, those remote Nikon cameras have been recording the world’s shrinking glaciers and iceburgs more than a year, producing amazing pictures. National Geographic television and Nova have produced an hour special on the project.

Strobing the Final Four, The End of an Era?

Sports Illustrated strobed its first NCAA Final Four in 1964 in Kansas City ’s Municipal Auditorium and five years later, began using big strobes at Final Fours for all the years since. The early days required huge Ascor strobes with four 1000–watt/second condensers with a quick charger on each of the four light clusters. As the tournament moved to indoor football arenas in 1962, the requirments for the long throws took the magazine back to large clusters of lights in the four corners. But until last year, those arenas were configured to use half the dome for basketball. Last year at Detroit’s Ford Field, the entire football arena was used and the high lifts used on one side disappeared. And the costs went up. Way up. Particularly when SI provided two additional sets of lights to pool with others who wanted time on strobes.

In the meantime, there were other changes beginning with cameras such as the Nikon D3s which make high quality possible without the strobes. And at the same time, new arenas are lighting from the same places as the strobes were placed in the ceiling providing light coming from the same directions — and looking much like strobe lighting.

Thus this year at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, there will be no strobes. The 41-year run has ended.

SI’s director of photography, Steve Fine, said it would cost $25,000 just to get power to the locations and the total bill to strobe the arena would top $50,000. SI will strobe some early round and regional games where the lighting isn’t good or in some cases, where there are already strobes in place.

But it is not just the cost that is potentially ending an era — the camera technology has advanced to the place strobes aren’t needed for high quality pictures.

Workshop Faculty regular James Balog attends UN Climate Change Conference

James Balog, a regular teacher at the Summit Workshops over the years, continues to attract attention with his latest project using 30 Nikon cameras in all-weather housings to record some of the world’s shrinking glaciers.  His previous projects, which he has described at the evening sessions at the Summit have included an ode to the world’s endangered species followed by an innovative book of portraits of the nation’s greatest trees.

Balog, founder and director of the Extreme Ice Survey, represented NASA and the U.S. State Department at the Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 15. Over the course of the 12-day conference, he has presented a total of six times—five times on behalf of NASA and once on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund—about the Extreme Ice Survey’s ongoing photographic documentation of stunningly rapid glacial retreat and the implications of these findings.

“I am profoundly honored to participate in this landmark climate change conference and to share our work with government officials, policy-makers and concerned citizens from all over the world,” Balog says. “NASA’s sponsorship is a tremendous vote of confidence in EIS and its mission.”

En route to COP 15, at the invitation of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, Balog spoke at an event in New York City at the home of Susan and David Rockefeller, Jr. and made a live appearance on CNN Newsroom. Since arriving in Copenhagen, Balog has appeared in footage shown on CNN’s American Morning and was featured Tuesday on CNN.com’s Opinion Section.

Workshop Exhibits Conservation Work at NMWA

A photographic exhibition of work from the Spring Photography at the Summit week are now on display in the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole as the workshop went green in a big way.

 Partnering with the International League of Conservation Photographers – a group of some 60 of the world’s leading photographers specializing in nature, wildlife and conservation issues – participants in the workshop joined with some 11 ILCP photographers to produce a RAVE (Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition) in an area south of Jackson in the Wyoming Upper Green River Valley.  This is an area in which existing oil and gas drilling could be expanded significantly to the detriment of wildlife.

 For three days of the Summit, workshop participants joined ILCP members in documenting both the beauty and uniqueness of the area and the impact initial drilling has had in one of Wyoming’s most beautiful valleys.  An opening of the exhibition of 40 pictures was hosted at the museum by Earthjustice, a national organization bringing leading attorneys to the issues involved in impacting some of America’s most unique and beautiful places.  Earthjustice president Trip Van Noppen joined The Wilderness Society’s Peter Aengst, museum president Jim McNutt, Summit organizer Rich Clarkson and the ILCP founder and executive director, Cristina Mittermeier in speaking at the opening.

 Eight workshop participants joined in the RAVE while others proceeded on projects of their own choosing during the workshop, which operated side-by-side with the RAVE project.  And to insure all participants in both projects were well supported, Nikon brought additional D3 digital cameras and long lenses for photographers to use during the week.

A sampling of the work can be viewed online in the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post online features:

Faculty Alum Frans Lanting honored for his Conservation Work.

Frans Lanting received the photographer of the year award at the big PMA Exhibition in Las Vegas this week.  He had just been awarded, by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, the Royal Order of the Golden Art, that country’s highest conservation honor.  Frans will be one of the faculty members at the May Conservation Photography at the Summit Workshop.  The PMA show is the largest photo equipment and professional marketing exhibition in the world.

Workshop alum selected for Time magazine’s Pictures of the Year

Among the photographers with pictures selected for Time magazine’s Pictures of the Year was Suzy Allman (a former student whose pictures now appear regularly in the New York Times), Lauren Greenfield (first a workshop student, later a faculty member), and faculty alumi Brad Mangin and Robert Beck of Sports Illustrated and Diana Walker. As Time hit the newsstands, director of photography MaryAnne Golon discussed the images on the ABC Evening News.

62nd College Photographer of the Year Announces Winners

The 62nd College Photographer of the Year competition showcases this year’s winning images in this online gallery. Take a look at a great collection of work by up and coming university photographers.

Grisly to Grizzly, a change of pace in Jackson

Cal McKitrick, a Vallejo, CA, Police Department forensic photographer, spent a week at Photography at the Summit this past spring to recharge his creative juices and maybe relaunch a career. Accustomed to taking only grisly photographs, he reveled in the chance to capture wonderful nature photographs all week, including a great sequence of a mother grizzly bear and cubs that garnered him some nice attention. He was recently interviewed by the Vallejo Times-Herald about his career, his time at the workshop, and his recent exhibition.

See the full interview (Inspiration from Nature article has been archived by the Times Herald, Article ID is 7306419 in the online archives, available for a small fee)