A quarry picture from Edward Burtynsky.
Canadian artist and photographer, Edward Burtynsky, was lauded by the New York Times for his pictures of copper mines.
The large panoramic aerial photos by Burtynsky capture the awesome scale of big open pit mines:
Open-pit mines are wounds we’ve inflicted, and the wonderment they excite easily becomes tinged with pangs of remorse or dread. Burtynsky calls that storm of feeling ‘‘a reversal of the sublime. In the beginning, ‘the sublime’ meant us in fear of nature,’’ he explains. We would look up at a thundercloud or mountain, or across a heavy sea, and be ‘‘awe-struck or powerless. But fast forward to the Industrial Revolution, and 150 years after that, and now we are the awesome and fearsome force that’s reshaping the planet.’’
The Ukrainian-born Burtynsky has received the Order of Canada for his work.
He grew up in St. Catherines. His father worked at General Motors who tinkered with photography at night. Edward Burtynsky caught the photography bug and later studied graphic arts and photography at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, Ontario.
See more of Burtynsky’s work here.
Picture of Edward Burtynsky
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6 Comments
Restless Boomers
Great photos and excellent, thoughtful commentary.
Squirt
Yes, wonderful photos. But each to his own concerning the commentary. While I have seen and walked through many open-pits, I don’t have any pangs of remorse or dread. I must not be sensitive to the sublime.
Sudbury Yahoo
Gee, I wonder what materials went into making his camera and every other piece of technology he uses?
Manco Capac
Take away the metals in his equipment and cell phone and computer and he wouldnt be making photos of the wounds we inflicted on the planet. His photos would look would like like a sketch of a carbon pencil on papyrus.
Graciela Maria
mining is basic……
rayban
I guess he does not take pictures of natures remorseless destruction of landscape or rivers or species . The earth is violent , unforgiving place full of natural distruction . We are the nicest part of it .