Saw prints by Burtynsky today - DPChallenge Forums

02/04/2007 04:53:44 PM · #1

If you've never heard of Edward Burtynsky...check out this link.

I visited a small gallery today and saw several prints of his work. They are absolutely incredible.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

02/04/2007 05:17:48 PM · #2

bump

PhantomEWO

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

02/04/2007 05:23:18 PM · #3

Maybe no much response because his photo on his web site look more like documentation of industrial operations or industrail journalism. Not a lot of impact as far as people or emotion or great landscapes. I'm sure there a 100 people here at DPC that could match.

NOW, the actual gallery pints may be much more impressive with size, colors, contrast and impact. Real hard to make a judgement from me off his web site. Good but nothing really outstanding. No flames just kinda normal looking on web page.

kdkaboom

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

02/04/2007 05:42:37 PM · #4

i think they're amazing. the tires...the tires!

pcody

Canon PowerShot G6

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

02/04/2007 06:38:42 PM · #5

wow. I loved the China folder and the Quarry folder and the Breaking ground folder. What I liked was that each essay was a conversation about how man alters the world around him. Yet man is such a small thing compared to nature and the world.

Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Aspherical ED Super Wide Angle Zoom

02/04/2007 08:58:33 PM · #6

Originally posted by PhantomEWO:

The prints I saw were huge. Several were 5 feet wide, at least. The level of detail and the composition was very effective.

I spent ten minutes with each print, just soaking up the details, and then I stepped back and enjoyed the overall impact.

It's true that the web-site doesn't convey the power of the images. I think they can be best enjoyed in large print format.

JPR

Sony Alpha a55

02/04/2007 09:10:30 PM · #7

I honestly wasn't impressed at all. Sure, a few were alright but purely due to the amazingly photogenic tire graveyards. I found myself imagining the incredible images that I would be looking at if a photographer with a better eye and more editing skill had been in the same locations. Making something big and putting it in a gallery does indeed make it art (it seems) but it doesn't mean I have to think it's any good. I mean, seriously, imagine what visual treasures would be created if jjbeguin or arngrimur or xion (to name a few photographers here at DPC) went to these places...

02/04/2007 11:42:50 PM · #8

Originally posted by JPR:

I know what you mean. There are many very talented photographers on this site. But surely a necessary component of the art...is actually going and doing it. Being there, as the important actions are taking place.

And for that to happen, the artist must engage the subject...understand it...make some kind of contact with it...even if it's only an intellectual contact.

Burtynsky's been doing this work for many years, and he not only shoots the photos, he researches the political, social and economic factors at work.

I'd love to see some of the artists on DPC take up their cameras, and use their considerable skills to document something important...something that might actually enlighten, rather than entertain or titillate.

Don't get me wrong...I enjoy titillation as much as the next guy...and pretty pictures, with a myriad of subjects, turn me on. However, we have at our disposal an important communications tool.

The convergeance of digital photography with the immediacy and ubiquity of the World Wide Web empowers us to tell powerful stories in almost limitless ways.

I'm waxing philosophical, and becoming a little idealistic. In reality, I doubt I'd ever be able to gather the energy or courage to travel to remote locations (some of them dangerous), just to shoot some photos. I admire anyone who does it at all, let alone does it well.

Please add to the discussion.