James Balog is an avid mountaineer and the author of eight books. His 2018 award-winning film The Human Element was screened worldwide. Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) is the most extensive photographic study of glaciers ever conducted, and his documentary Chasing Ice won an Emmy and an Oscar nomination. His photographs are in dozens of public and private art collections and extensively published.
"James Balog, a photographer best known for his remarkable
time-lapse glacier photos, has been chasing the climate story for
decades. A new book compiling his work, The Human Element, is due
out later this year." —THE NEW YORKER
"James Balog's new book The Human Element is a magnum opus destined
to be a photographic classic. It is a profound statement by a force
of nature on the forces of nature.” —DENNIS DIMICK, FORMER EDITOR,
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
“A collection of visually arresting, powerful, historical-marker
photos of ‘the Anthropocene’ by one of the celebrated naturalists
and photographers of our time. Physically the book is large, very
heavy, and beautifully produced. It is like a museum exhibition,
captured between covers. Since people don’t need printed
dictionaries any more, you’d want to put it on a dictionary
stand—both so you don’t have to hold it, and so you can carefully
leaf through its hundreds of arresting images. However you can see
this photographic record of our time—in this book, in the gallery
exhibits that should resume someday, or otherwise—you should make a
point of doing so. This is a beautiful, and alarming, and
motivating portrait of our era.” —JAMES FALLOWS
“An epic and triumphant achievement that reveals the decades-long
arc of a career of a master photographer and concerned
naturalist—as well as his deep commitment to chronicling the
adverse and ever-accelerating impact of humanity’s toll on our
precious planet.” —DAVID FRIEND, VANITY FAIR
"Your magnum opus is clearly a landmark accomplishment, offering
forceful reasoning for urgent action! ... You deserve endless
credit from the rest of us hapless humans for devoting your life
and your astounding talent to ringing the alarm bell with a sharp
call to action.” —ELIZABETH BROUN, DIRECTOR EMERITA, SMITHSONIAN
AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
"This is epic and so filled with wisdom and heart. I cannot believe
that one human created all of this and also can't begin to imagine
what it took to create it. This is your life, and a profound
statement about our world.” —AMI VITALE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER
“The Year’s Best Photo Books. Whether it's power stations pumping
out smoke or a blazing forest, the environmental photographer
James Balog offers a harrowing look into the impact humans
have on our planet. With its hurricane-crumpled
homes, tsunami-swallowed freighters and even playful doodles
of tyre tracks on salt flats, this book can easily make a
reader feel small. Yet it also inspires with its reverence and
wonder, from the slow ache of ancient woodland and its gnarled
sculptures, to the smoke-blackened faces of
firefights up close.” —THE TIMES (LONDON)
"This book is a masterpiece." —MAJOR GARRETT, CBS NEWS CHIEF
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
“Balog’s hefty new book, The Human Element, presents an
anthology of his words and pictures from a lifetime of bearing
witness to human impacts on the planet.” —INSIDE CLIMATE
NEWS
"Best Illustrated Books of the Year. Hugely important, this book
bemoans the effects of climate change on our shrinking natural
habitats. Balog's photographs range from shots of flowing lava to
power stations issuing vast plumes of smoke, from flooded streets
to burning forests and some amazing endangered species. Who would
have thought that such destruction could be made so beautiful?"
–DAILY MAIL UK
“12 books on climate and the planet for the holidays. These books
meet this fraught moment with confidence, vision, reflection, and
imagination. Another COVID year behind. Another COVID winter
ahead. A 26th global climate meeting just adjourned. In
Washington, the more aggressive climate and social justice bill,
‘the budget reconciliation bill,’ still in the balance. And
records, oh so many records, broken–for fire, for rain, and for
temperatures. Are there books that can meet this moment? Books
that can lift burdened spirits over the holidays? Yale Climate
Connections has identified a dozen. [The Human Element]
transforms anxiety into wonder and will, with compelling
visualizations. Wrap one up for a relative or a friend. Or for
yourself.” —YALE CLIMATE CONNECTIONS
Ask a Question About this Product More... |