A few years back I met an amazing individual as a volunteer with the Wildlife Conservation Network. His name is Pablo Garcia and he had created an organization in 2009 called "The Global Penguin Society" with the goal of protecting penguin species around the globe. I found him to be a passionate advocate for a bird I have personally fallen in love with from my many travels to South America and Antarctica. Is is hard not to be totally enamored by these beautiful, charismatic creatures of the Southern Hemisphere.
Pablo's story and the efforts he has made is really quite amazing including the creation of Patagonia Azul, or Blue Patagonia, a UNESCO biosphere reserve in Argentina which I hope to visit AND photograph one day! In the meantime, Pablo has used my images in his presentations and also in scientific publications of which I am incredibly proud of.
Pablo recently became the recipient of the "Indianapolis Prize for Conservation". The Indianapolis Zoological Society selected him, the first winner from South America, from a pool of 51 nominees and six finalists. He will receive an unrestricted $250,000 grant for his efforts to protect penguins and their habitat. Here is the article and a short video clip where several of my penguin images were featured.
