Happy 40th Earth Day! You're why Tongass old-growth stands, & whales are especially happy in Laguna San Ignacio. http://tinyurl.com/22qb797

Photograph © Robert Glenn Ketchum

I am humbled to announce that American Photo (AP) has honored me as the first conservation photographer ever to receive the Master Series distinction.

In twenty years of publishing, American Photo has only designated four other photographers with the Master Series feature. I would like to thank AP, not only for honoring me as the fifth, but by extension also honoring the community I represent, those of us who have found their visual library drawn from nature.

My work was always my personal response as an artist to the real world circumstances that concerned me. I have understood from the earliest days of my career that we all exist because our habitat supports us, so I chose to use my work in support of that habitat.

All I have accomplished has been through an amazing network of associates whom I cannot thank enough for informing, advising, and correcting me. Whatever understanding of the issues my pictures and books contain, it is due to scientists and authors who befriended me and helped me to understand and see my subjects in more complete ways.

The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) now exists to further the relationships between images and science in the hopes that we can help to communicate the complex environmental issues confronting us all in ways that are credible and clear. Among this distinguished group of iLCP friends and Fellows are what I believe to be some of the most significant artists of our time. These photographers have been the public's witness to what is quite literally a changing world, not just the ever-changing parade of pop culture.

Thank you AP for acknowledging us all. And, thank you to my friends and fans that understood what I was doing and have supported me through 40-years of work.

You are part of the reason Tongass old-growth stands, and the whales are especially happy in Laguna San Ignacio. Now if we can just prevent development of the Pebble mine in Southwest Alaska and preserve the last and largest salmon fishery in the world, Bristol Bay!

Stick with me, the ride is not over.