John Weller is a critically acclaimed photographer, writer, and filmmaker whose work has appeared in Outdoor Photographer, American Photo, and National Geographic, among other publications. He started The Last Ocean with ecologist Dr. David Ainley in 2004. Carl Safina is founding president of the Blue Ocean Institute at Stony Brook University. Audubon Magazine named him among its "100 Notable Conservationists of the 20th Century."
“The Last Ocean uses images as the hook to pull us more deeply into
the science, lore and heroic history of [Antarctica]. John Weller
is alarmed but never preachy. It helps that he is as fine a writer
as he is a photographer. His sometimes lyrical narrative is the
perfect companion to his pictures, which capture life on the ice,
but also beneath it.
Weller alerts us to a new, growing threat to the Ross Sea, where no
commercial fishing had occurred until 1996. What Weller does
beautifully is to convey the “known knowns” of his subject, while
always reminding us of what is not known, and will not be known
until decades or centuries from now. The Ross Sea Project works
doggedly to expand the boundaries of that knowledge, as do many
other international organizations and individuals. The ultimate
solution is to leave these waters alone. Ever the optimist, Weller
wants to be able to tell his grandchildren about “the moment when
the fishing nations gracefully withdrew their boats” to give nature
a chance to restore itself. Its recuperative powers are
astonishing, if only we give it a shot.
The world is a careless place. This book will open your eyes, first
to the beauty of a world that lies beyond your sight. And more
important, to the possibility of sustaining that far-off world
that, in turn, sustains us." ~ The New York Times
“Most of us will never see the wildest intact marine ecosystem on
earth, Antarctica’s Ross Sea. Which is why Boulder, Colorado,
photographer and filmmaker John Weller has spent the better part of
a decade shooting there, to illustrate what would be lost to
warming seas and overfishing. The results of that dedication are
out now, in the form of the activist documentary The Last Ocean and
a photo book of the same name. The book is worth a spot on your
coffee table: a foreword by ecologist Carl Safina adds gravitas,
and the photos are urgent and wild.” ~Outside Magazine
“The Best Photo Books of The Season: Antarctica’s Ross Sea teems
with penguins, seals, whales, and Seussian deep-sea creatures who
live at the edge of that austerely majestic continent—a world
captured in the hallucinatory photos of John Weller, who has
devoted himself to saving this last unspoiled ocean from
exploitation.” ~Elle Magazine
“John Weller, a conservation photographer and founder of Last
Ocean, an advocacy group for the conservation of the Ross Sea, has
a new photo book, The Last Ocean: Antarctica’s Ross Sea Project. It
is a visual journey through one of the last pristine ecosystems on
Earth—the Ross Sea. Hoping to preserve one of the most
healthy open-ocean ecosystems left on the planet, Weller uses his
images to show the stunning beauty of one of the few places still
untouched by humankind. The documentary, The Last Ocean also has
been released about Weller’s work and conservation efforts to
protect the Ross Sea.” ~The Washington Post
“Weller presents a message that is willfully hopeful, but not
naive. He believes that we can change the course of history, and of
course we can. We always have, and we do so daily. Let this book be
not a memorial, but a signpost on the road to the recovery of the
ocean. And of course, a celebration of one of the most beautiful
places in the world.” ~Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue
Ocean and The View From Lazy Point
“Impassioned by his experiences on the dunes and armed with a new
understanding about the necessity of conservation, John was primed
to embark on what would turn out to be a decade-long project in
defense of one of the last great places on earth. The culmination
of his efforts is a new book, The Last Ocean…He says, “The Ross Sea
story is not just about a fish, or the incredible organisms that
live in the edge of the world. This is our story—the story of our
struggle to become sustainable…” ~Outdoor Photographer
“At the edge of Antarctica, shielded by great expanses of thick sea
ice, the Ross Sea is one of the coldest, remotest and most
inhospitable places on earth. Yet it is also one of the planet's
last relatively untouched ecosystems, sheltering large numbers of
Adélie and Emperor penguins, Weddell seals, orcas, minke whales and
other creatures. All that began to change in 1996, when commercial
fishing fleets started harvesting Antarctic toothfish from the
frigid, nutrient-rich waters at the bottom of the world. Weller, an
accomplished photographer and writer, co-founded the Last Ocean
Project in response, an organization devoted to protecting the Ross
Sea as a pristine nature reserve. This book documents his research
trips to the region in soulful, meditative prose and haunting,
otherworldly imagery.” ~Scientific American
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