The photographer Edward Burtynsky has made a career of photographing the inputs and outputs of industrialized societies: production, consumption, and waste. There is an excellent film, called Manufactured Landscapes, documenting his work—if you can rent it, it’s worth watching. If not, have a look at the following selections of his photography at http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/: China (manufacturing, recycling), Ships (ship breaking, ship recycling), and Oil (extraction, transportation). Post your reactions to the 106 Wall.
natashap, 
midara, 
yitailiu, and 22 others are discussing.
jonl 12:26 pm on March 12, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I know the photography we were suppose to comment on is China, Ships and Oil but I went through them all. Most pictures, as sad and appalling as the thought that they exist, is quite artistic and I think looks beautiful (ex tailing pond shots and the marshland in the oil spill). Unfortunately, they do exist somewhere in the world. Some shots of Bangladesh and the ship breaking/recycling looks beautiful but it’s a disturbing thought that that’s the end of something we’ve thrown away. I think it is a good reminder for us that when we throw something away, it doesn’t just disappear just because we don’t see it.
Joyce Lin 7:59 pm on March 14, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I have actually been introduced to Burtynsky’s work before through this video: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/edward_burtynsky_photographs_the_landscape_of_oil.html (it’s a super short 3 min overview of the objective and ambitious intentions behind the work presented by Burtynsky himself!) I never followed up on looking into more of his photographs after watching that video, so I’m happy this opportunity came up.
What I really like about Burtynsky’s photography is that he plays so much with scale. He focuses in on objects at a large scale which allows us audiences to consider things at a scale that we operate on on a daily basis (ex. the trash we produce). However, he also zooms out to the landscape at a smaller scale and this allows us to see a bigger picture that may be beyond our immediate horizons. Those are very foreign and alien images we are unfamiliar with, and yet we feel connected to them because in the back of our heads we think thoughts such as “this is where my trash ends up after I throw it out”. We have become very disconnected to landscapes beyond our urban and suburban realms, it’s true, and yet these horrific environments are still fascinating because they remind us that as individuals, we truly do contribute significantly to the whole.
Burtynsky’s work is also appropriate for the message he is trying to communicate and that is the impressive ability of humans to create as well as our frustratingly unsustainable ways of being that leads to destruction. I think the photographs of China’s Old Industry are most fitting for this reaction I have. When I look at the photos, they’re incredibly ghost like and empty but at one time, I know those abandoned factories and structures were the promises of a brighter future and places of employment and where activities that will eventually lead to a city’s growth occurred. Photography is perfectly suitable for these narratives because they produce instantaneous images. These images are honest and yet they never provide timeless truth. The photos can last forever, but the image they present is only the truth captured when the shutter clicked. And I think that’s a very humbling thought to how we behave and go about in development. Something that is remarkable or even revolutionary today may only be remarkable or revolutionary today, and not tomorrow.
That’s certainly the case when we consider the story of oil that we’ve looked at in the last week and especially with the landscape of the tar sands, which Burtynsky has also photographed. I saw this trailer for the documentary Petropolis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdFT3bZtnok a few months ago and I think it also uses scale very strategically. When I watch the documentary, it gives me thoughts about the future much like Burtynsky’s photographs do.
msmith92 1:43 pm on March 15, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I have previously been introduced to some of Burtynsky’s work and I think it is so interesting because of the contrast between the beauty of the photos yet how shocking and awful many of the things he is depicting actually are. Many of these photos seem like they are from another planet as they aren’t generally everyday sights. While we are aware of the destruction of the planet, this really puts a scale on it. For instance, the photos from the China manufacturing collection are shocking due to the extreme scale of these operations. Even though we all know that many of the products we buy are manufactured in China, I would bet that most of us wouldn’t have imagined the scale of this as depicted in these photos. I think tat Burtynsky’s work is important because of its extreme visual impact. They simultaneously draws you in because of their visual intrigue and draw attention to what we as humans are doing to the landscape.
paige 4:41 pm on March 18, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
These photographs are beautiful in a shocking sort of way. They don’t disguise anything, they show human impact for exactly what it is. The message behind these photos is hard to ignore. They bring up the many issues that come along with human impact on the world.
youngblutt 6:23 pm on March 18, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
The photos really show the scale and magnitude of our industrial age. They are at once awesome and disturbing. I kept thinking about how difficult it must be for a worker to breathe in these settings. All of the object’s seem to emit a haze of micro-particles. Like jonl, I was most drawn to the ship-breaking in Bangladesh. Perhaps because of the relative size of the constructs versus the size of the people on the ground. Interestingly, all of the photos depict locations and processes that civilians equally aren’t supposed to see and don’t want to see.
bgibson 10:47 am on March 19, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I agree that the photos do a great job of demonstrating “scale and magnitude,” I think that comment does an excellent job of succinctly describing my reaction to the photos. Like you and jonl I found the ship-breaking photoseries fascinating, I also thought the urban mines series was quite interesting, especially considering the scale (and magnitude). I would suggest checking out the picture of the massive burning tire pile.
emilym 11:08 am on March 19, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think that Burtynisky’s work really demonstrates what the real inputs and outputs of our globalized industrialized world are. As others have said, the scale and magnitude of Burtynisky’s photos really are mind-blowing. We all know that the things we consume have to come from somewhere and end up somewhere after we dispose of them, but we rarely see the real effects of our consumption habits within the confines of our cities. The photos are eerily beautiful and horrifying at the same time and send a clear message about how we are affecting out natural landscape.
sharonshi 9:36 pm on March 19, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Like the above comments, I do believe Burtynisky’s work exemplifies the inputs and ouputs of a city. I especially liked his photo labled “Exhibitions”. The intersection of highways really shows the viewer the multidimensional aspects of transportation and how inputs and outputs actually arrive in the city. Burtynisky takes the simple things (such as highways) we take for granted everyday and makes them seem larger than life. As one who enjoys photography, the site was absolutely a joy to explore. Thank you.
jenniefrench 5:50 pm on March 20, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I agree with the above. Burtynisky’s photography gives us the chance to really consider the inputs and outputs of a city. Photos as an art form are so moving because we know they are real. Half the stunning effect comes from the photographer’s skill – but the rest is all reality. I found old industry fascinating because while superficially it shows the decay of machines and what is human built, to me it also showed our disrespect, our capacity to abandon, and the longevity of man made objects. Imagine if all humans just disappeared – how long would it take for the earth to reclaim our cities and buildings? And how much permanent damage, from chemicals etc, are we inflicting?
lcoulthard 11:24 am on March 21, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I was really taken with the “transportation” section of the Oil photo-gallery. The various pictures Burtynsky has uploaded of the freeway on/off ramps are a great depiction of the dependence our society has on oil. The freeway spans a great distance and is packed with cars traveling to and from the city. It isn’t hard to just imagine the cars as barrels of oil shooting along a pipeline, the road. Further down in this same gallery, Burtynsky shows us pictures of Volkswagen car lots in both Texas and in China. The lots are expansive across a wide distance, and filled with Volkswagen cars. What gets me is that this is barely even a fraction of the cars being produced each year to be added onto the road. One other gallery of Burtynsky’s that I found particularly interesting was the manufacturing one in China. I know from a different class I am taking roughly some of the wages and hours that Chinese laborers work in these factories. I find it extremely sad that, for people who are conquering eight-hour days or even longer with wages that are abysmal by Western standards, these workers are not being given the opportunity to even sit while they work (judging by these photos) and in the cases that they do, the chairs are stools and lacking any sort of back rest. This is a strange argument to put forward, but it was the first thing that struck me when I saw the China photos.
tsung 2:40 pm on March 21, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Burtynsky’s photos are not only captivating but also, they simply depict the input and outputs of our world. I believe the three sets of photos China, Ships and Oil all share one common perspective. We humans tend to get the most use out of something and afterwards, we dump it somewhere or leave it when there is no use for us. In an industrialized world we live in, once we exhaust all the resources and finishing exploiting what will bring us profit, we move on in search of something else to exploit. What really captivated my attention was Burtynsky’s Ship Breaking collection. All those ships were once a vita vehicle for the transportation of our goods. Now they are no longer in use, they simply lay there occupying a potential vast natural space. Citizens of Bangladesh dig through the wreck and this makes me think of Cronan’s article when he talking about “Wilderness Experience.” Class privilege seems to be an indicator as to who gets to enjoy the vast natural space and from one of his photos, I would ask why would we dump our trash there and take away their privilege to enjoy a certain space? Needless to say, Burtynsky’s photos are depicting a sad reality and although we often neglect it, we need to embrace it.
jaydee 7:38 pm on March 21, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think that the photo that I had the greatest reaction to was the photos of the nickel tailings. My first thought was “there is no way that this is water!” The photo seems to provide a stark contrast to what we think of as a natural river. It’s as if the colors are inverted from what they are supposed to be. To me this photo represents the way human society has manipulated and perverted nature for our own personal use. It almost seems like a river of lava carving a path of destruction, as it destroys the land around it, just like human activity.
sampethick 3:45 pm on March 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
This movie was a little hard to watch. Burtynsky’s photographs are so innovative and unique and they obviously have a clear message; “if we destroy nature we destroy ourselves” (Burtynsky). I really liked what he said about how his art isn’t to try and glorify what is happening all around us with regards to waste and manufacturing and these things, but he uses his photos to show people “that this is what it is” (Burtynsky). This movie shed a much different light on things than anything I’ve really seen before, we’ve talked about it but this really gave a good visual of the darker side of what globalization is doing. For example one thing that jumped out at me while watching the film is that the director chose to incorporate a lot of grey into the film. I think that this was probably to set a certain mood for the viewers, kind of like is scary movies when they put creepy music at the scarier parts to make it even scarier. In this case the mood was dark and depressing. I also liked how Burtynsky pointed out the connectedness of things. Like how without carrying ships there would be no globalization, and how even the smallest things are connected to this, such as the metal in his camera, and the gas he stopped to put into his car on the way to where he was taking his photos.
It’s kind of like what I learned doing the oil we eat blog assignment. It’s just so hard to get away from fossil fuel consumption in the world we live in today. The tiniest things that we don’t even think about at all contribute to the destruction of our environment. I really admire Burtynsky’s idea to photographically document these things because we live in a society where we could talk about this kind of thing all we want and it might have an impact, but the impact is far greater when people can actually see what is going on. It’s different to see things rather than just hear about them. Maybe it kind of makes it more real.
brenden 4:54 pm on March 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I found this pictures extremely interesting. It’s very unique how Burtynsky can turn things that so “ugly” into works of art. The pictures really shed light on the parts of the world that we ignore in our daily lives. We are all to happy using and consuming the items derived from oil and shipped by massive ocean vessels, yet we rarely take time to reflect upon the origins of items and their impact on the environment. One section of these photos that I found particularly interesting were the pictures of the SOCAR oil fields in Azerbaijan. These pictures really captivate humans impact on the environment and show how little care individuals have for the environment in certain countries. The pictures show the remains of what was likely once a thriving oil field. What remains now are the skeletal structures of tools used in oil extraction and pools of water and oil which have contaminated the environment. In one of the pictures, there are even a pile of bones (hopefully animals :|) but it shed light on the issue of animals re-entering this environment once humans have left and likely been killed by drinking contaminated water. It’s really unfortunate that the actions of soem can have such a negative impact on the environment.
nytsuen 8:18 pm on March 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
His photography is very interesting and in some way, it is very simplistic. Burtnsky captures exactly what is happening without any other embellishments. It is very truthful and honest which is why I really appreciate the beauty in them. When I was looking through the photos, I also realized that I am very unfamiliar with these events and environments. This might be a reflection of how unaware we are of everything outside the cities. I will admit that I’ve never really thought twice about where our waste goes. Without thinking twice, we flush the toilet and everything we throw into the garbage, a truck comes and picks it up. These photos put everything into perspective and show how much effort, work and processes that happen in order for a city to sustain itself. However, it does so in an unsustainable way which is evident in these photos. My favourite photos were the recycling ones. Burtnsky captured photos of recycled rubber, aluminum, phone dials and wire and turned it into art. The colours and the randomness of the items capture my eye and is kind of abstract.
Keaton Briscoe 10:07 pm on March 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I found the photography by Burtnsky to be very interesting. The photos strongly impact the way in which you understand really what we as humans are doing. The photos dont really “beat around the bush” but show what something is for what it really is. I also agree with what was said above that the photo’s really exemplify the inputs and outputs of a city.
erikaw 5:57 pm on March 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
This is the way everyone should be introduced to consumption! The visual aspect is captivating. Awareness if brought forward by the in depth yet straightforward text that goes along with the photographs. And thanks for sharing the video Joyce Lin! It was great to hear an explanation of how his work is set up.
alyumam 11:55 pm on March 24, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I find very clever how Burtynsky in his images and film does not put many references and/or judgement. The only information he gives, other than the visual description, is the place his images come form. I think this is an initial as well as perhaps one of the most ‘natural’ ways to realize new landscapes; in this case the manufactured ones.
The images are overwhelming, they let us observe and realize how oil extraction or ship recycling modify the environment.
Once again it seems we are disconnected from images our daily life is involved. In this case, our sense of sight seems to come very handy to bring us back to reality.
eddietastic 10:46 pm on March 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I really enjoyed his photography not in the sense that i was looking at something that was clean and beautiful however it had an air which was hauntingly beautiful. In addition i felt like the images shed a light on China in a way which not many other mediums has because of the concentration on the negative aspects of pollution.
phoebe 6:30 pm on March 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Burtynsky’s photos are simply beautiful. Although they depict images of everyday life the contrast between the far-off shots and the close-ups was very effective. Some of the images, such as the endless spiralling highways made the world seem like an image of a sci-fi, super-efficient future; while images of the abandoned ships and garbage with few people appeared like the end of the world.
hannahepperson 7:36 pm on March 27, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
While I experienced a lot of the same reactions to Burtynsky’s work, the most dominant of my thoughts was – this is why Art is so important! There is a kind of fluidity and subjectiveness that is expected from the artist and inherent in his or her work. Finding means of expression through different mediums is an integral part of the human experience, and pries open for broader discussion these tightly wrought worlds of meaning. Like many of you mentioned, there is a certain profundity and movement in Burtynsky’s visual/visceral explanation of the ‘inputs and outputs.’ Through the medium of photography, he puts into motion what words seem capable only of suggesting. I think it’s worthy of note that Burtynsky’s ‘formal’ education was in graphic art and photography … he’s not a politician or an economist or a businessman … and yet there is a kind of deeply intelligent and affective logic inherent in his work, made obvious by the resonance that his work has had on those who have engaged with his photography and films.
congo96 5:23 pm on March 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Crazy you never think about it but I guess everything has to go somewhere.. Not all of it looked so bad thought the oil pipes going through the forest in Alberta looked peaceful like an harmony between industrialization and nature. And the intricacies of the highways in LA were impressive. The electronic deposits in China were probably my least favourite it was just ugly and depressing thinking about how people live off recycling waste with all its dangers for so little money..
yitailiu 6:23 pm on March 30, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
In the pictures of manufacturing factories and the worker dormitories , everything seems to be planned in order to be closely packed into the available spaces. This “orderly sense” of the factory photos is implying how much our consumptions in industrialized societies rely on mass production. Of course, with this large amount of inputs, the outputs are also enormous. Looking at Burtynsky’s photographs of the recycling sites is very different from just looking at the waste from one household, it makes people realize that every piece of garbage contribute to those piles of recycling materials and landfills.
midara 10:42 pm on April 5, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I think that Burtynisky’s photos are shocking but real in a way that the scale of industrial leftovers are overwhelmingly big. While in the China section, I see the large scale of labour intensive work with enormously large factories, I have a feeling that I am watching how materialism is driving all the industrial workers working. It is almost impossible to ignore, but we often forget that everything dumped is produced in such a large scale, and everything dumped has to have their own destination to end up with.
natashap 9:22 am on April 13, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
The thing that impressed me most about all these pictures is the scale. It’s pretty easy to think when you buy a product just about that one product and not about how many of them were actually produced – the factories and factory workers home seemed never-ending which makes sense considering the West’s appetite for goods also seems never-ending.
And the shipbreaking and recycling was also interesting – those ships are so huge and yet they have a limited lifetime. It makes you wonder about other huge things that will no doubt need to be torn down/removed eventually as well – giant skyscrapers and arenas, airplanes, etc.