Ian Coristine’s discovery and love affair with the 1000 Islands began during a random flight in 1992. He eventually bought an island, literally one in a thousand, with a natural harbor perfect for his plane. As the former Canadian distributor of Challenger ultralight aircraft, Ian had gained expertise in air-to-air photography. His ultralight allowed him to photograph the extraordinary region from a perspective available to very few, low enough to be intimate, yet high enough capture a sense of the labyrinth beyond.

Coristine's first book of photography, The 1000 Islands, was an astonishing success, selling out three large printings and becoming by far the most successful book about the place ever published. It is now a sought-after collectible. Water, Wind and Sky was released in 2005, followed by a third, The Thousand Islands, in 2006. The booklet, 1000 Islands, was published in 2007, winning a Premier Print Association Benjamin Franklin Award, the graphic arts industry's prestigious worldwide printing competition. His latest book was released in 2010, The very best of Ian Coristine's 1000 Islands, becoming his fifth bestseller, selected from over 5,000 international submissions to win his second Benjamin Franklin Award.

Coristine’s images have been featured in magazines around the world as well as in many other books about the region, including Parks Canada’s 125th anniversary book, Canada's National Parks, A Celebration. His work has been presented in several one-man exhibitions, at galleries in The Brockville Arts Centre in Ontario, and in New York, the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, and the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery in Canton.

DxO Labs of Paris, France, award winning publishers of revolutionary camera and lens correction software, selected Coristine from professionals around the world as one of their founding "Image Masters." The City of Brockville, Ontario nominated him for its Tourism Award in recognition of the attention his work has brought the region.

Ian Coristine is currently working on a sixth book, collaborating on his pictorial memoir with author Donna Walsh Inglehart (Grindstone, Breaking the Ring). One in a Thousand describes the challenges of acquiring Raleigh Island, the restoration of an abandoned cottage, and his adventures in the air and on the water as he discovered a new career.  One in a Thousand will be released as an IPAD app.