Ed Burtynsky - one thumb up, one down?

[paulr]

For someone with a grant you really have a lot of time on your hands

Why would you criticize someone for reading/writing about photography in a photography forum?

Personally, I'll waste time reading blogs and blabbing in places like this as long as I'm gainfully employed and have bosses who don't look over my shoulder too much.

Photography cuts into weekend time and sleep time, not online B.S. time.


As far as Burtynsky goes, I've always felt luke-warmish about his work. Which is less compelling than disliking it as much as Tim does. There are individual images that I find striking, but his bodies of work mostly remind me of other people's work ... people who did it before him, and who also seemed to be exploring something with a little more depth. Burtynsky seems to mostly cop the superficial aspects. But I haven't seen enough to dismiss him outright. I'm open to seeing more and maybe getting surprised.

[Martin Miller]

"...his bodies of work mostly remind me of other people's work ... people who did it before him, and who also seemed to be exploring something with a little more depth"

Who do you have in mind, Paul?

[paulr]

I see precedent in both the color 'new topographics' work of guys like Misrach, and of course in the struthsky school of gigantic, color, sometimes cynical work. It's not that any of this stuff is identical to Burtynsky's ... but I just can't find much that's nuanced or of interest that B. brings to the table. My reactions to his work are mostly second hand ideas and second hand emotions.

[tim atherton]

"...his bodies of work mostly remind me of other people's work ... people who did it before him, and who also seemed to be exploring something with a little more depth"

Who do you have in mind, Paul?

I have a copy of The Independent magazine tucked away somewhere from about 1983 that has photographs of the Carrera marble quarries that are very similar to Burtynsky's work - I'm pretty sure it was by Luigi Ghirri who is also instrumental in the New Colour Work movement.

Which isn't to suggest any kind of copycat, because of course like many places, it could just be that everyone who goes there basically takes the same photographs

While I didn't particularly like his methods of searching out content (he doesn't do it himself), the end results can be, in some cases, stunning. He's also a very good speaker, and if you have the opportunity to go to one of his presentations, you should attend.

I made that point I think - I actually found him much more interesting to lisen to for two hours.

[Martin Courtenay-Blake]

This is an interesting debate...thanks Tim for kicking it off. Hope you don't mind the following rant...just gotta get it off my chest.

Like a number of people Ed Burtynsky's work leaves me totally cold. In fact I can see almost nothing of interest in at all. It all appears as simple record shots of ruined landscapes. Now I'm not saying that someone should not be out there with a camera taking these pictures it's just that I really believe they should be kept in a folder in a basement for historians or archeologists of the future looking for dull record shots of the three valleys or whatever for inclusion in a learned thesis or academic publication.

Should these pictures be enlarged to such huge proportions, hung in prestigious galleries to critical acclaim from the gliterati and celebrated as great art. Personally I think most definately not. We are regretfully living in a time when any photograph enlarged to wall filling proportions can be called art and I'm sure we have all seen the incredible amount of rubbish afforded this accolade over the past twenty years or so. This brings us into the "is it art" debate. In the case of Burtynsky's work again I feel no. It is record photography purely and simply. It is not even reportage and it would be a great pity if this was in any way associated with the work of the great reportage photographers. To see a real portrait of blasted landscapes just look at Sebastian Selgado's work on miners in South America for example.

Clearly Ed Burtynsky has been working on this "body of work" for a considerable part of photographic career. This too does not necessarily make it anything special. What is there to say that a person who produces poor work when he first picks up a camera will not still be doing so the day he dies, perhaps three decades later.

I'm sure Mr Burtynsky has a whole raft of great reasons as to why he takes the photographers he does. I'm sure, as do all photographers whom aspire to be regarded as artists, he could spend many an hour explaining these reasons and go into great depth the meaning behind each and every image. Photography is a purely visual medium...if an image cannot tell you everything it is supposed to itself, to excite, shock, awe or even wonder when viewed by an observer on it's own then it has failed.

Strangely, whilst I may appear very critical of Ed Burtynsky's work there is something in it that I want to like. The images are very cold, perhaps deliberately so but the personal response I mostly feel about many of the images is "So What" when it could so easilly be "Wow". Perhaps if these photographers concentrated in producing great photographs rather than pretending to make great art things would be different.

Martin

Tim - keep on blogging, Your site has introduced me to much work I would otherwise not have seen...Cheers.

[tim atherton]

This brings us into the "is it art" debate. In the case of Burtynsky's work again I feel no. It is record photography purely and simply. It is not even reportage and it would be a great pity if this was in any way associated with the work of the great reportage photographers. To see a real portrait of blasted landscapes just look at Sebastian Selgado's work on miners in South America for example.
.

though you could also say the same about Atget...

[Donald Brewster]

Tim, you might have been thinking of Joel Leivick. He ultimately published a book, Carrara: The Marble Quarries of Tuscany, with the Stanford University Press in May 1999.

[tim atherton]

Tim, you might have been thinking of Joel Leivick. He ultimately published a book, Carrara: The Marble Quarries of Tuscany, with the Stanford University Press in May 1999.

thanks donald, I hadn't seen those. The ones I'm thinking off were colour though and quite similar to the Burtynsky ones (now I'm going to have to go to the garage and see if the box with the old mags is still there or got thrown out....)

[bob carnie]

I am a fan of Ed Burtynsky and his work. I have been fortunate enough to see his work over a long period of time, and as well walk up close to his images on many occasions.
His steadfastness to his approach and as well the look of his prints have been consistant for over twenty years. He has been producing shows every year and I respect this commitment to his art.
The last two shows that I saw were here in Toronto . One was a retrospective show with up to 100 images that was very well recieved. Unlike others that commented on other threads about this show , I did not like the images taken at theship breaking yards in Bangledesh , and I think it was because that paticular site has been photographed to death, and somehow did not fit in with my idea of Eds work.
The last show I did see was the contact festival show of his work from China. *Wow* is the word in my opinion and I say keep on bringing on this type of work Ed.
Burtynsky has consistantly year in year out produced work of a very high level and expertise that I think many here would love to achieve.
He definately is one great photographer in my opinion , and I think time will prove this to be true.

[Brian K]

I like Burtynsky's work, but I get a sense of emotional detachment in it. He's seeing something in the scene but I don't get his POV of it. I don't know if he approves of what he's seeing or trying to show the world the horror of our defacement of this planet or fascinated with the ant farm like manner in which humans can act ( granted his work is usually devoid of any people). There's a coldness to his work. They're still lifes without the life.