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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Center for a Better Life - Jin Jiang Joy

From Center for a Better Life:



Jin Jiang Joy, a textile company founded by American conservation photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum, is exploring photographic imagery derived from nature and applied to fine fabric, personal items and home accessories. Ketchum’s organic, intricately patterned creations are abstracted from his huge library of photographs. This artist believes working from pictures of nature infuses his designs with energies and rhythms no drawing could replicate or convey. He also thinks that such images bring nature’s energy into the urban environment, thus promoting more positive personal surroundings.

California-born Ketchum views his designs as permeated with the vibrant colors of Pacific Rim cultures. But he also employs colors and color relationships that promote positive energy in order to resonate with certain body chakras to stimulate joy, clarity and overall health. “Launch,” the high-quality 22" x 72" lustrous silk scarf shown here has been produced in a signed, limited edition of 200. The identical pattern is printed on 50 flat-black silk crepe shawls with fringe ends. Each retails for $250 USD. The astounding luminosity of the colors and the subtlety of hues have been faithfully reproduced by a 16-color printing process – close to the limit of what current technology allows.

Named by Audubon magazine as one of the 100 people who have helped to “shape the environmental movement of the 20th Century,” Ketchum is probably most recognized for using his landscape photography as a kind of “visual journalism” to advocate conservation. His images and strategies have helped lead national media campaigns to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay salmon, Alaska’s Tongass rainforest, New York’s Hudson River and California’s San Simeon ranch properties, among many others.

For more information about Robert Glenn Ketchum and his conservation projects, please go to www.robertglennketchum.com. To purchase the scarf shown above, or the shawl, please call +1.310.406.0401. All major credit cards are accepted.

To Read the Entire Post, click here


Big volcanic eruptions in Guatemala, Ecuador http://ht.ly/1RCeC rgk volcano

volcanoes & climate change

Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

Following up on my previous posting repeated below, two volcanoes erupted this week in South America. One was in Ecuador. The other in Guatemala shut down the capital city, covering the roadways with ash, and closing the international airport.

Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

Personally I view the National Academy of Science (NAS) as very cautious and relatively conservative about their public statements, so I was especially alarmed to read the article I posted last week from the LATimes regarding the NAS’s most recent warnings regarding the acceleration of effects from climate change.

Here is some other recent science of note: NASA announced that satellite monitoring indicates Antarctica is rising very slowly now that the weight of glacial ice is melting off of it. This is a geological phenomenon known as isostatic rebound and it is common to small islands in the Arctic, it is just no human has ever experienced it at the scale of the entire south pole... the largest continent on the planet.


So, first question being asked: 1) How much ocean will be displaced, as that will affect inundation levels elsewhere in the world. Scientists have begun to research this. 2) The question not yet asked is, if the largest continent on the planet is moving around, and it is connected to all of the plates, don’t you think the plates would move as well. Correspondingly, if that were true, it would seem there would be a lot more big earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occurring because of Antarctica’s “movement”.


If you were to 'Google' all earthquakes above 6.0, and all volcano eruptions in the last two decades, you will see a considerable upswing in both that begins to occur during the last 20-years, about the same time the ice began to unweight the continent.


I am no scientist, I am just sayin’… this is interesting, and I think it is much bigger than we know….

Read the LATimes article, 'National Academy of Sciences Urges Strong Action to Cut Greenhouse Gasses' here

Friday, May 28, 2010

...partisan politics...

I come from a Republican family, and although I do sometimes vote Democratic, I have always tried to vote for the candidate I thought had the most environmental good sense REGARDLESS of party. Of late, my disgust for the partisan politics of the current Republican elite infuriates me so much, I would like to see most of them removed from office, even if to be replaced by other Republicans that actually want to get something accomplished.

In particular, at a moment of crisis in America, with the economy teetering on recovery/no recovery, and the Gulf fishery being killed by an environmental disaster, the mostly Republican judicial committee wants a special investigator to look in to the job offer the Obama administration made to a PA candidate. Are these guys kidding? These guys must all smoke pot because their short-term memory has apparently been lost. Presidents throughout history have done this dozens of times and no one wasted political energy or funds on any previous “investigations”. The precedent has been set for YEARS!!!!

This committee would do better to get off their spiteful asses and get engaged in solving real problems rather than spending federal money and time to pursue a ridiculous agenda that has no illegal implications whatsoever. Scary to think they are a “judicial” committee when they seem to have so little grasp of law and precedent.

#rgk

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Oil Related Health Problems in the Gulf



Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

Yesterday, I ran a post from the news about how workers cleaning up the Gulf oil spill are beginning to experience health problems especially lung related ones. The history of this is very clear. In California during the Santa Barbara spill and in Prince William Sound (AK) where volunteers cleaned up after the Exxon Valdez ran aground, many, many workers reported ill effects. Many of them have had permanent damage and are still sick.

My good friend, marine biologist Riki Ott, Ph.D., has written a couple of books about the Exxon Valdez oil spill and its aftermath. They should be required reading, so pick them up: ‘Not One Drop – Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill’, ‘Sound Truth & Corporate Myth$: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill’


Before I have blogged about the food chain being poisoned by the oil spill, and it will be, but just as importantly, everyone that has contact with this mess will suffer in some way.

ONCE HURRICANE SEASON STARTS THESE POLLUTANTS AND THE AIRBORNE PARTICULATES THAT COME WITH THEM WILL BLOW ASHORE AND RAIN DOWN ON STATE AFTER STATE, CROP AFTER CROP, WATER SOURCE AFTER WATER SOURCE CONTAMINATING EVERYTHING THEY TOUCH.

All of the Southeast will be affected. More frighteningly, so will their water and food sources. In the future, I WANT the government to mandate food labeling that will tell us from what body of water the seafood catch comes, because anything from the gulf will be dangerous to eat for decades. Perhaps this will also be true for the land-based foods crops once these toxins start to blow onshore. This oil spill disaster is going to be much larger and more dangerous than anyone realizes once the damage and the legacy of it play out over time.

#rgk

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

In Memory of Steve Baron

Yesterday, I was contacted by associates who told me that Steve Baron died quietly in his home in New York.

Steve Baron was a mentor and friend, and I will greatly miss his dry humor and his remarkable skills. Steve and I knew each other for more than 25-years and it is Steve’s press management that helped to produce 8 of my 9 Aperture books. For those of you that may not realize this, when Aperture was a great powerhouse of photographic publishing, Steve oversaw the printing of all their publications. He was, indeed, a press master! Personally, I believe it was his attention to quality printing that made Aperture the publishing house it is noted as being.

At the time, Aperture prided itself on working with their artists, so if we chose to participate in the printing proof, we were invited. That means that the artist travels with the Production Manager to the location of the printing (in our case either Italy or Hong Kong) and then begins several days, perhaps even weeks, of constant press proofs as the signatures of the pages roll off. These signatures generally get printed every 4-6 hours around-the-clock, which means that the artists and the PM are “on-call” at ALL times. Needless to say, after several days of this pace, sleep is marginal, coffee is king and everything said is just a little funny.

Steve and I weathered macho Italian pressmen and unusual Chinese food together for many, many days, and did it all while having a wonderful time. Steve was also teaching me what I know about the press and quality control, and oh yes, we produced some beautiful books along the way.

Steve always seemed to me to be the calm at the eye of the storm. Regardless of the Aperture politics, the press failures, the language/communication issues, and the breakdowns in production that normally occur along the way, Steve was always calm and on top of it, resolving it in timely fashion and then laughing about it after the resolution.

I have many Steve Baron stories, but the one that says the most occurred in Italy when we were on press with Northwest Passage. The printing was difficult because of all of the whites and subtle colors and one of the signatures was truly awful. When we complained about having it all reprinted the Italian pressmen went crazy, basically telling us that we did not know what we were talking about, and as the artist, surely I did not know enough to be critical of their work. Steve pushed back and offered to take the book off the press and go somewhere else. Then the Italians calmed down and agreed to re-work the signature. Once they did, it was significantly better and the rest of the printing went on without incidence. When it was all over, the union pressmen had a small party for us in which they presented us with their union t-shirts, a great compliment to both of us.

Thank you Steve for the amazing books and for helping me to make a difference with how the public receives my words and ideas. Thank you for being a great friend and mentor. Thank you for tempering my dealings with Aperture, and most of all, thank you for making me a photographer that better understands the connection between his imagery and the way that it is applied in other mediums. You were the best, and your amazing legacy is all the books and artists you befriended and advanced with your amazing skills and patience. You will be missed!

#rgk



Tuesday, May 25, 2010

RGK Photo of the Week: 'Arctic'




RGK Photo of the Week: 'Arctic' http://ht.ly/1PLdN rgk photo earth

Acceleration of Effects From Climate Change



Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

Personally I view the National Academy of Science (NAS) as very cautious and relatively conservative about their public statements, so I was especially alarmed to read the article I posted Wedneseday from the LATimes regarding the NAS’s most recent warnings regarding the acceleration of effects from climate change.

Here is some other recent science of note: NASA announced that satellite monitoring indicates Antarctica is rising very slowly now that the weight of glacial ice is melting off of it. This is a geological phenomenon known as isostatic rebound and it is common to small islands in the Arctic, it is just no human has ever experienced it at the scale of the entire south pole... the largest continent on the planet.

So, first question being asked: 1) How much ocean will be displaced, as that will affect inundation levels elsewhere in the world. Scientists have begun to research this. 2) The question not yet asked is, if the largest continent on the planet is moving around, and it is connected to all of the plates, don’t you think the plates would move as well. Correspondingly, if that were true, it would seem there would be a lot more big earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occurring because of Antarctica’s “movement”.

If you were to 'Google' all earthquakes above 6.0, and all volcano eruptions in the last two decades, you will see a considerable upswing in both that begins to occur during the last 20-years, about the same time the ice began to unweight the continent.

I am no scientist, I am just sayin’… this is interesting, and I think it is much bigger than we know….

Read the LATimes article, 'National Academy of Sciences Urges Strong Action to Cut Greenhouse Gasses' here

Friday, May 21, 2010

THIS WEEKEND: Venice Art Walk & Auctions, May 22-23, 2010




"Confused by Butterflies," Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

Plan to attend the Venice Art Walk & Auctions, May 22-23, 2010. It's the greatest art festival in Los Angeles, hands-down. All major artists in L.A. are there, many of whom exhibit new work. It's better than going to a museum in that you can see & bid on all the magnificent art in a relaxed, casual environment!

Be sure to check out my new digital piece, "Confused by Butterflies" which will be available for auction. All proceeds benefit the Venice Family Clinic, a very worthy establishment that I've proudly supported for over 25-years!

Let's hope for sunny weather so we can all enjoy the days & the art even more!

Hope to see you there.

~RGK

May 22-23, 2010
Charity Auction: "Confused by Butterflies"
Venice Art Walk & Auctions
Art & Architecture Tours, May 22-23
Venice Art Walk & Auctions, May 23
Westminster School
1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
+1.310.392.9255 general inquiries

#rgk

Thursday, May 20, 2010

National Academy of Sciences Urges Strong Action to Cut Greenhouse Gasses



Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum


I view the National Academy of Science (NAS) as very cautious and relatively conservative about their public statements, so I was especially alarmed to read the article I posted yesterday from the LATimes regarding the NAS’s most recent warnings regarding the acceleration of effects from climate change.


Here is some other recent science of note: NASA announced that satellite monitoring indicates Antarctica is rising very slowly now that the weight of glacial ice is melting off of it. This is a geological phenomenon known as isostatic rebound and it is common to small islands in the Arctic, it is just no human has ever experienced it at the scale of the entire south pole... the largest continent on the planet.


So, first question being asked: How much ocean will be displaced, as that will affect inundation levels elsewhere in the world. Scientists have begun to research this. The question not yet asked is, if the largest continent on the planet is moving around, and it is connected to all of the plates, don’t you think the plates would move as well. Correspondingly, if that were true, it would seem there would be a lot more big earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occurring because of Antarctica’s “movement”.


Google all earthquakes above 6.0, and all volcano eruptions in the last two decades, and you will see a considerable upswing in both that begins to occur during the last 20-years, about the same time the ice began to unweight the continent.


I am no scientist, I am just sayin’… this is interesting, and I think it is much bigger than we know….


Read the LATimes article, 'National Academy of Sciences Urges Strong Action to Cut Greenhouse Gasses' here

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

An Evening to Say 'NO' to the Pebble Mine



Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

Last night, Robert Kennedy, Jr., native spokesperson Bobby Andrew, and myself presented images of southwest Alaska and Bristol Bay and spoke about the impact of the Pebble mine to 400+ members of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Beginning with a meet and greet at NRDC's 'green architecture' offices in Santa Monica, the party then walked three doors down the street and into the Laemelle theater for the presentation. My images are part of my new hi-rez keynote portfolio and this was the first time I had put them up on such a big screen. It was hard for me to tell just how they looked from the podium, but anytime the audience gasps, it is probably a good thing.

Bobby Andrew made it clear that the Native villages oppose the mine and Robert Kennedy said that to build this mine which would knowingly and eventually poison the fishery was a criminal act and the mine would not be built if he had anything to say about. It is great to have so many people coming on board with these positions and emotions. I have been trying to generate public interest and political traction around the issues in Bristol Bay for 12-years and it is wonderful to have so many new allies that think this mine plan is a travesty.

NRDC and their membership bring a whole new realm of national interest to this battle Welcome aboard all, it is great to have you. Hope you enjoyed the evening. I certainly did.


#rgk

Friday, May 14, 2010

RGK & Bobby Kennedy, Jr. Say 'NO' to Pebble Mine in Special NRDC Event

With the oil spill disaster in the Gulf ongoing, one of the few remaining U.S. fisheries will be wiped away for decades, poisoned by the residue of petrochemical contaminants that will remain in the rocks, shellfish, bottom feeders and their predators for generations! My 12-years of work to protect Southwest Alaska and the salmon fishery of Bristol Bay are all the more pertinent now. Here is the latest...


Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

The coalition of groups working together to protect the salmon fishery of Bristol Bay and to stop the Pebble mine continues to grow. Earlier this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) declared Bristol Bay one of their Biogem Campaign targets and brought their large national membership into the debate.


To better inform their Los Angeles membership, NRDC is hosting a special night at the Laemmle theater complex in Santa Monica, Tuesday, May 18, at 7 p.m. Bobby Andrew, a Native Alaskan tribal spokesperson will discuss the historic use of the bay and Southwest by Native cultures and the current opposition among the villages to the development of the Pebble mine. Then I will do a keynote slideshow / lecture that will reveal Southwest to most of the viewers for the first time and take them through the habitat from the summits of the ranges to the spawning beds at the bottoms of the streams and rivers. There will be several specific images of the actual mine site, and a comprehensive view of all the national parks, state parks and national wildlife refuges. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. will close the evening offering commentary as to why we need to be engaged in this distant but important struggle to keep industrial development out of these wild lands.
I have worked with NRDC since the early '80's and am very excited to have the power of their membership onboard. We, as a people, are weighing the value of an established renewable resource industry (the fishery), against the impact of an extraction industry (the Pebble mine). As this is the last great fishery on the planet, I hope we will have the foresight to understand the complete system that is already in-place and operating so well. As a whole, we have done very badly protecting our other coastal fishery resources (witness the current oil spill in the Gulf coast fisheries that will impact it for the rest of our lifetimes). Southwest/Bristol Bay is a chance to proceed in a more enlightened way for the long-term good of the fish and the other species they sustain... including us! Trading this clean food resource for an eventual taxpayer subsidized Superfund toxic clean-up site just to further the wealth accumulation of international gold speculators would be a travesty.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Friday Nights, G2, Abbott Kinney, Food Trucks - Oh Yeah!

Photograph compliments of LA Weekly

Summer is coming and the nights are warm with the twilights lingering until 9pm at the beach in Venice. If you have not visited this weekend scene, you need to. On Friday night, Abbott Kinney Blvd. throws a party, so to speak. With many good restaurants, clothing shops, pharmacies and galleries in place, the nightlife began to build over the last few years. Now, the infamous cruising food trucks all line up in the parking lot of the Brigg bar. In one block you have 10 or 12 great eateries, one of the areas most historic bars, one of the best pharmacies, and the spectacular G2 Gallery that puts up amazing shows and gives their profits to environmental causes. How good is that. Myself, Florian Schulz, Frans Lanting, Jack Dykinga, and Michelle Westmoreland, all Fellow iLCP* photographers have work up at G2 presently, ...and Florian's opening last Friday was a terrific event that actually had to bring out the 'velvet rope' because so many people were in attendance.

#rgk


* International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP)

Monday, May 10, 2010

Bravo Florian Schulz!


Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

Kudos to my friend, Fellow iLCP photographer, Florian Schulz, for the great show about the Arctic that he currently has up at The G2 Gallery on Abbott Kinney Blvd. in Venice, CA.

Kudos also to Patagonia and Earthjustice for supporting his work and circulating this exhibit.

It is important that we understand the Arctic more completely before we do something irreversible to the habitat such as Big Oil has just done to the Gulf states. In fact, plans for exploratory oil drilling -- ala the Deepwater Horizon rig -- continue to move forward, and could begin as early as July in the Arctic Ocean's Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

The window for public comment on where we will drill for new oil fields in the future is during the next three weeks.

Let YOUR congressmen and Senators know you think it is a bad idea to risk the Arctic, one of the richest ecosystems on the planet, until the industrial exploiters can PROVE they can respond.

Also, Please Call a "Time Out" on Arctic Oil and Gas Activities via Earthjustice.


#rgk


Monday, May 3, 2010

The G2 Gallery: Robert Glenn Ketchum & Florian Schulz solo exhibits

"Navigating the Dark Wood of Error", Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum

If you find yourself in Los Angeles between May 4 - June 20, please stop by The G2 Gallery in Venice, CA to see my small solo exhibition, "Robert Glenn Ketchum: A Life in Photography".

In addition, my good friend and fellow International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) photographer, Florian Schulz, will also be exhibiting at The G2 Gallery, "Florian Schulz: Visions of the Arctic" during the same time, May 4 - June 20, 2010. Florian, I wish you the best of luck and hope to see you there!

The G2 Gallery is wonderful in that they donate all proceeds from art sales to environmental causes!

The G2 Gallery has generously given their studio space for my show in honor of American Photo magazine (AP) designating me as the first conservation photographer ever to receive the Master Series distinction.

It is my intention to have the show focus on the battle to save Bristol Bay and STOP THE PEBBLE MINE, so many of the photographs will be of that part of Southwest Alaska.

In addition, I will be showing one of my newer digital pieces, "Navigating the Dark Wood of Error".

I look forward to seeing you there!

~RGK

May 4 - June 20, 2010
Solo Exhibit: "Robert Glenn Ketchum: A Life in Photography"
Solo Exhibit: "Florian Schulz: Visions of the Arctic"
The G2 Gallery
1503 Abbot Kinney Road
Venice, CA 90291
+1.310.452.2842
www.theg2gallery.com

#rgk

Orvis Supports No Pebble Mine

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