B&H Photography Podcast The Great Acceleration: Human-Altered Industrial Landscapes, with Edward Burtynsky
Industrial expansion has left an indelible mark on our natural world, fundamentally altering landscapes and ecosystems for the sake of material progress and modern convenience. This transformation has created an environmental challenge of unprecedented scale. In today’s show, we’ll connect the dots between the raw materials that make up our planet and the industrial forces visually altering our contemporary landscape in a chat with a photographer who’s documented these profound global changes firsthand for the past 50 years.
Applying visual principals rooted in abstract expressionist painting, Edward Burtynsky has explored a wide range of photographic tools in his image making—from large format film to high-res digital cameras mounted to the most sophisticated of drones.
Included among our many discussion topics are his distinctive approach to translating a 3-D landscape to the flat plane of a photograph; his various methods for capturing aerials using either a helicopter, fixed wing aircraft, or various types of drones; and the early business epiphany that led him to open a photo lab as an income stream, rather than work as a camera for hire.
As Burtynsky shares during our chat, about the connection between nature and industry: “You know, materials are an incredibly key part of modern society. And yet we need to go to sources in nature, where these materials are found. And I'm just reconnecting a reality that we still live in a material world, and our cities are built of molecules that came from somewhere, and I’m taking you to those places that are vast and huge.”
Guest: Edward Burtynsky
Episode Timeline:
- 2:58: Burtynsky’s early interest in abstract expressionist painting combined with the magic and rituals of composing images with a large format camera
- 5:28: Planning for aerial views, the shift from using a minerals map in the past to Google Earth today, plus Burtynsky’s shooting preferences between a helicopter and a drone and shooting open air.
- 10:22: Burtynsky’s approach to translating a 3-D landscape to the flat plane of a photograph.
- 17:17: The planning and research behind Burtynsky’s work vs the need to pivot in the field.
- 19:45: Adapting to technology over a 50-year career, and how it’s shaped Burtynsky’s process—from large format film to high end digital on a drone.
- 23:16: Episode Break
- 23:59: Burtynsky talks about permissions to access mines and industrial sites and how this has changed over time.
- 31:44: A wrong turn on the highway in 1981 and the photos that led Burtynsky to an epiphany about human-altered landscapes.
- 35:48: Burtynsky talks about forming his photo lab Toronto Image Works as a ballast to provide income in printing for other photographers while pursuing personal fine art photo projects.
- 43:38: Burtynsky’s retrospective exhibit at the ICP in New York, his thoughts about the future of technology, plus recent collaborations with a young artist working in Artificial Intelligence.
Guest Bio:
Edward Burtynsky has spent more than 40 years bearing witness to the impact human industry on our planet. Regarded as one of the world’s most accomplished contemporary photographers, Burtynsky’s work is included in the collections of more than 80 museums worldwide and featured in major exhibitions around the globe.
Born in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1955, Burtynsky’s early exposure to a nearby General Motors plant and ships navigating the Welland Canal in his hometown captured his imagination, helping to formulate his ideas about the scale of human creation he would later capture in photographs. These images explore the collective impact we as a species have on the surface of this planet. A select list of Burtynsky’s many distinctions include the inaugural TED Prize, the title of Officer of the Order of Canada, the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award for Art, a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship, and the World Photography Organization’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award. Burtynsky currently holds nine honorary doctorate degrees, and in addition to his work in photography, he was a key production figure in the award-winning documentary film trilogy Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark, and ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch. All three films continue to play in festivals around the world.
Stay Connected:
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- Host: Derek Fahsbender
- Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman
- Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein
- Executive Producer: Richard Stevens