The Canadian photographer, Edward Burtynsky asks global questions about industrial costs on the natural world and how we are changing our planet. Working closely with several large companies, his images provoke feelings of wonder tinged with a sadness embedded deep within the destruction and ever-present changes taking place within the photographs.
A large section of his book is shot in China where the scale of the images intensifies. Burtynsky uses very small apertures (f45/f64) on a large format 4x5 camera for amazing detail and depth of field to capture everything in the field of view, for example warehouses half a kilometre in length. In both contextual and compositional terms, as here i think the two are divided, i believe his work sits somewhere between Peter Bialobrzeski's and Andreas Gursky's as the idea of transformation is present plus they also have tonal and vantage point similarities.
The image above is taken at the Three Gorges Dam on the in China. The largest h.e.p dam in the world will be the main source of power for the Shanghai District yet a total of 2 million homes including 3 entire cities have had to be "moved" for both it and the reservoir it creates. By moved, the Chinese government mean paying the locals to demolish their own homes and relocate locals to specially built cities tens of miles away. Personally, i think this is a great oxymoron to photograph, the push for clean power and sustainability is undermined by the human costs of moving.
The book - Manufactured Landscapes describes the series well. It is a very honest book without the slightest feeling of pretentiousness often found when ideas of globalisation and exploitation of natural materials arises. He's documents what he see's and this style reminds me of Winogrands images, showing the world for what it is with a vision for what it may become.
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