Burtynsky has created a number of different projects each of which is a typology of a different industrial scene shown within the surrounding landscape.  His website (Photographs — Edward Burtynsky, n.d.) shows these collections as individual typology collections that include Water, Oil, Mines and Quarries.

Each collection is strict to its typology.  It would have been possible to take a different route and have a collection portraying industry in general.  In fact in an exhibition at Laramie, Wyoming, this is exactly what he did  to create a collection published as ‘The Industrial Sublime’ (Edward Burtynsky: The Industrial Sublime | Art Museum | University of Wyoming, 2012).  

Looking at the website for this exhibition, I found that this weakened the images.  When presented in a typology form, I find myself looking in detail at each image and comparing the differences between the two.  Viewed as a mixed selection, I found that I studied them less, thinking that I understood the image was, for example, a pipeline and then moving on.

The collection, non the less, was interesting in terms of its relation to my assignment 1 (Wilkinson, 2021).  In my assignment, I wanted to show that an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) was still beautiful despite the presence of industry.  To that end, I captured the scenes in a classical manner of a picturesque scene but left the industry in frame.  My tutor commented that nature was just tipping the balance – I agree and that was my intent, the specific area was sliced out of the AONB designation.   Burtynsky takes a different approach, his aim is to show industry itself as the sublime element.  Whilst some shots do show industry in the context of nature, for example Fig. 1, others are much closer shot and show only the industry itself, for example Fig. 2.  A final category of Burtynsky’s images are those that are more political in nature, commenting on the impact that the industry of choice has had on the environment, for example Fig. 3.  

All three of these images are taken from Burtynsky’s collection Oil (Burtynsky, n.d.) for which he states “When I first started photographing industry it was out of a sense of awe at what we as a species were up to. Our achievements became a source of infinite possibilities. But time goes on, and that flush of wonder began to turn. The car that I drove cross-country began to represent not only freedom, but also something much more conflicted. I began to think about oil itself: as both the source of energy that makes everything possible, and as a source of dread, for its ongoing endangerment of our habitat.”  This is an interesting perspective, a collection that shows the wonder of the industry, its sublime nature in and of itself but also of it set in nature, but then also the other side of industry, its impact on that very same nature.  

Lastly, Fig. 4 is my last selected image which I included because it reminds me so much of Shore’s image from Uncommon Places which I show here in Fig. 5 for comparison purposes.  In both images it is the integration of the petrol stations with the rest of society that captures my eye.  In Shore’s case I don’t think that this is a political statement, more just a common American town scene.  In Burtynsky’s case I think it is that integration that he is commenting on, with petrol signs in and amongst other standard signs of a US town such as McDonalds and Taco Bell.  From this it shows how one can interpret an image differently depending on the other contexts available, in this case the fact that it is part of the wider set ‘Oil’.

Bibliography

Edward Burtynsky. n.d. Photographs — Edward Burtynsky. [online] Available at: <https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs> [Accessed 22 February 2021].

Uwyo.edu. 2012. Edward Burtynsky: The Industrial Sublime | Art Museum | University of Wyoming. [online] Available at: <http://www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum/exhibitions/archives/2012/edward-burtynsky/> [Accessed 22 February 2021].

Wilkinson, A., 2021. Assignment 1: Beauty and the Sublime – Tony’s LPE Learning Blog. [online] Landscape.tonys-view.com. Available at: <https://landscape.tonys-view.com/assignment-1-beauty-and-the-sublime/> [Accessed 22 February 2021].

Burtynsky, E., n.d. Photographs: Oil — Edward Burtynsky. [online] Edward Burtynsky. Available at: <https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil> [Accessed 22 February 2021].

Images

Figure 1. Burtynsky, E., n.d. Unititled. [image] Available at: <https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil> [Accessed 5 March 2021].

Figure 2. Burtynsky, E., n.d. Unititled. [image] Available at: <https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil> [Accessed 5 March 2021].

Figure 3. Burtynsky, E., n.d. Unititled. [image] Available at: <https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil> [Accessed 5 March 2021].

Figure 4. Burtynsky, E., n.d. Unititled. [image] Available at: <https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil> [Accessed 5 March 2021].

Figure 5. Shore, S., 1975. Beverly Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California, June 21 1975. [image] Available at: <http://stephenshore.net/photographs/uncommon/index.php?page=15&menu=photographs> [Accessed 30 January 2021].