Edward Burtynsky

[el wacho]

Dead Link Removed

anyone else enjoying this guy's work? quarries left me speechless the first time i saw them.

 

[david b]

rent this movie
http://www.mongrelmedia.com/films/ManufacturedLandscapes.html

 

[copake_ham]

Do you make platinum prints?

http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.2041633/k.97B6/Simon_Starling.htm

 

[Craig]

I got his Quarries book for Christmas, and its great. I also have his China book. When China came out he did a lecture series and he talked about each of the images, and then autographed copies of his books. It was very informative.

If you've ever seen any of his prints, he prints BIG! The ones I saw in a gallery show to accompany his lecture were in the order of 3x5 feet, with some being much bigger. He said that he shoots on 4x5, photoshops as necessary to bring out detail, and then prints on a Lambda machine. He owns a pro lab in Toronto, so he has lab rats to do the printing.

 

[david b]

In the movie, he is seen shooting with a Linhof, upside down !!!!

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

I had lunch with him for work in November. Quite a nice man, an engaging speaker, and he's become very respected in environmental circles. He's probably one of the most successful, if not the most, Canadian photographers in terms of visibility nationally and abroad.

I'll pass some photos of the event we organized where he was a guest speaker if anyone is interested.

 

[Richard Boutwell]

There is a wonderful talk by him on the TED Site. I had a new respect for him after watching the talk. He is really sincere, and refreshingly non-cynical, in what he does.

 

[Lol999]

I just came across him in this month's PhotoIcon magazine. His quarry pictures are breathtaking in their representation in scale whilst his shot of the ships graveyard in bangladesh(?) is excellent.

Lol

 

[HerrBremerhaven]

After seeing an exhibit of his images at MOPA a few years ago, I decided to get back into large format. At the time, he was mostly using a 4x5, and apparently most were printed from an enlarger. That exhibit ushered in his usage of Lambda prints, though honestly it was impossible to pick out the Lambda prints from those produced using an enlarger. Of course, owning your own lab probably puts is printing capabilities well above the average hobbiest.

He is definitely one of my favorite contemporary photographers. It might only be a matter of time before he is more highly recognized, on a level to equal Gursky, Wall, and a few notable others. If anyone gets a chance to go see an exhibit of his prints, they are quite amazing to see in person. Highly recommended.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography

 

[Videbaek]

I'd like to see his huge prints on show somewhere, given the chance. There's a legitimate reason for making the pictures as big as possible, I'm sure it really works. He knows what one of photography's greatest strengths is -- recording depth and sweep and detail with great accuracy -- and chooses his subjects wisely. I enjoy poring over detail-laden pictures of interesting subjects. The documentary and historical interest is strong. The Carrera quarry was a particularly good choice of subject. So many great statues are made of Carrera marble and it's great to see such lucid pictures of where the marble came from.

 

[Colin Corneau]

Here's another vote for the documentary made about his work, "Manufactured Landscapes".

The opening sequence is quite simply the most stunning I've ever seen in a film.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Just for the record, Ed uses a chromira printer for his work, he rented time on a sister labs Lambda before he bought his own device. Same device that I rented before we bought our Lambda.

Ed , is a down to earth, talented photographer with a good business sense. His dedication to the photographic projects he works on is an ongoing life project that I deeply admire.
He has helped out hundreds of photographers in the GTA with his openess and generosity and in Toronto is a very respected indivudual.
He is on the board of directors of Contact Photography Festival and donates time /space/ money to the local community to make this event a success.

He is represented by Metivea *sp* gallery in Toronto and I try to see every one of his shows. The last showing on images in China were spectacular.

all in all a great guy and dedicated large format photographer

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I finally got around to renting the Burtynsky documentary, Manufactured Landscapes, from Netflix. It's very much worth seeing. The DVD includes a selection of stills with Burtynsky's commentary that is very interesting.

That scene where he's using the Technika upside down is completely normal, by the way. If you're photographing from an elevated vantage point, as he often is, and you want front drop, the easiest way to do it is to mount the camera upside down using the tripod screw on top of the camera under the accessory shoe, because the zero position of the front standard only allows for rise when the camera is right side up. The back rotates 360 degrees, so it can be oriented normally when the camera is in any position. If I know I'm going to need front drop and don't plan on using the viewfinder that normally sits in the accessory shoe, I even mount a second QR plate on top of the camera.

 

[gr82bart]

http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_burtynsky_photographs_the_landscape_of_oil.html

Regards, Art.

 

[calceman]

He is great with a great theme that represents his life's work. His shots are showing another side of society that is scary and usually not known, like the giant factories, the ship graveyards where people do the dirty work.
Just received his newly released book, "oil", and I have to page through it yet.

 

[KenS]

I had the opportunity to see some of his prints in Calgary a few years ago. I am not sure if it is the 'demand' of galleries showing his work, but.... IMHO, I felt the prints were 'over-enlarged" to the point where they were not as 'sharp' as I would liked to have seen them at a reasonable viewing distance.

Ken

 

[Barry S]

I like Burtynsky, but I dislike the print quality in his latest show--Oil. The Oil prints also seem over-enlarged, but also over-sharpened and over-saturated. They have a very overdone digital feel--like someone turned Photoshop up to 11. I assume they were shot on film, scanned, processed and output to chromogenic prints, but I think some bad decisions were made with respect to size and processing.