Yukoner Paul Nicklen piles up photo awards

Yukon photographer Paul Nicklen has had a lot to celebrate this month even without Christmas.

The Christmas 2010 issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine named Nicklen one of the world's 40 most influential nature photographers; he is featured in the cover story in the January 2011 issue of Photo Life magazine; and earlier this month, Up Here named him Northerner of the Year.

Earlier this year, Nicklen won first prize for nature photography in the World Press Awards, and he had two images selected for inclusion in the International League of Conservation Photographers' 40 Best Nature Photographs of All Time auction.

The awards are recognition that his photos are telling important stories, Nicklen said.

"There's so many photographers out there, and I started in that realm, too, of just taking pretty pictures and making a living from it, and after a while that started to leave me feeling very empty," Nicklen said. "I went into photojournalism and you realize the power of telling stories with your camera and with your words and creating a difference."

Nicklen grew up on Baffin Island in Nunavut, studied marine biology at the University of Victoria for four years and then worked as a wildlife biologist in the Northwest Territories for four years.

He now lives just outside of Whitehorse, but he travels the world, taking photos and writing for National Geographic.

He's passionate about the wildlife he photographs and feels his images are a way of helping to preserve what he loves.

"Recently, we influenced Parliament to vote against oil tankers in the Great Bear Rainforest on the B.C. coast because a team of photojournalists went in there this summer," he said. "We've been working on a lot of different campaigns."