The Great Acceleration: Human-Altered Industrial Landscapes, with Edward Burtynsky

07/03/2025Link0

Industrial expansion has left an indelible mark on our natural world, fundamentally altering landscapes and ecosystems for the sake of material progress and modern convenience. This transformation has created an environmental challenge of unprecedented scale. In today’s show, we’ll connect the dots between the raw materials that make up our planet and the industrial forces visually altering our contemporary landscape in a chat with a photographer who’s documented these profound global changes firsthand for the past 50 years.

Above Photograph © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Applying visual principals rooted in abstract expressionist painting, Edward Burtynsky has explored a wide range of photographic tools in his image making—from large format film to high-res digital cameras mounted to the most sophisticated of drones.

Included among our many discussion topics are his distinctive approach to translating a 3-D landscape to the flat plane of a photograph; his various methods for capturing aerials using either a helicopter, fixed wing aircraft, or various types of drones; and the early business epiphany that led him to open a photo lab as an income stream, rather than work as a camera for hire.

As Burtynsky shares during our chat, about the connection between nature and industry: “You know, materials are an incredibly key part of modern society. And yet we need to go to sources in nature, where these materials are found. And I'm just reconnecting a reality that we still live in a material world, and our cities are built of molecules that came from somewhere, and I’m taking you to those places that are vast and huge.”

Guest: Edward Burtynsky

Natural Order #33, Grey County, Ontario, Canada, 2020
Natural Order #33, Grey County, Ontario, Canada, 2020
Polyfoam Resurrections, Deer Bust, Denver, Colorado, USA, 1982
Polyfoam Resurrections, Deer Bust, Denver, Colorado, USA, 1982
Pivot Irrigation #8, High Plains, Texas Panhandle, USA, 2012
Pivot Irrigation #8, High Plains, Texas Panhandle, USA, 2012
Mines #13, Inco - Abandoned Mine Shaft, Crean Hill Mine, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, 1984
Mines #13, Inco - Abandoned Mine Shaft, Crean Hill Mine, Sudbury,…
Chino Mine #3, Silver City, New Mexico, USA, 2012
Chino Mine #3, Silver City, New Mexico, USA, 2012
Drone Preparation, Burtynsky in Lagos, Nigeria, 2017
Drone Preparation, Burtynsky in Lagos, Nigeria, 2017
Salt River Pima and Maricopa Indian Community / Suburb, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, 2011
Salt River Pima and Maricopa Indian Community / Suburb, Scottsdale,…
Shipyard #19, Qili Port, Zhejiang Province, China, 2005
Shipyard #19, Qili Port, Zhejiang Province, China, 2005
Shipbreaking #49, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2001
Shipbreaking #49, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2001
Shipbreaking #23, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2000
Shipbreaking #23, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2000
Modjo-Hawassa Expressway #1, Alem Tena, Ethiopia, 2018
Modjo-Hawassa Expressway #1, Alem Tena, Ethiopia, 2018
China Recycling #22, Portrait of A Woman in Blue Zeguo, Zhejiang Province, China, 2004
China Recycling #22, Portrait of A Woman in Blue Zeguo, Zhejiang…
Telephones #21, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 1997
Telephones #21, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 1997
Manufacturing #7, Textile Mill, Xiaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, 2004
Manufacturing #7, Textile Mill, Xiaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, 2004
Silver Spark Apparel #1, Hawassa Industrial Park, Awassa, Ethiopia, 2018
Silver Spark Apparel #1, Hawassa Industrial Park, Awassa, Ethiopia, 2018
Highway #5, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2009
Highway #5, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2009
Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA, 2008
Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA, 2008
Edward Burtynsky in Belridge, California, USA, 2003
Edward Burtynsky in Belridge, California, USA, 2003
Nickel Tailings #34, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, 1996
Nickel Tailings #34, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, 1996
Burtynsky on the Bonneville Salt Flats, USA, 2008
Burtynsky on the Bonneville Salt Flats, USA, 2008
Edward Burtynsky: The Great Acceleration Book Cover
Edward Burtynsky: The Great Acceleration Book Cover
Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Episode Timeline

  • 2:58: Burtynsky’s early interest in abstract expressionist painting combined with the magic and rituals of composing images with a large format camera.
  • 5:28: Planning for aerial views, the shift from using a minerals map in the past to Google Earth today, plus Burtynsky’s shooting preferences between a helicopter and a drone and shooting open air.
  • 10:22: Burtynsky’s approach to translating a 3-D landscape to the flat plane of a photograph.
  • 17:17: The planning and research behind Burtynsky’s work vs the need to pivot in the field.
  • 19:45: Adapting to technology over a 50-year career, and how it’s shaped Burtynsky’s process—from large format film to high end digital on a drone.
  • 23:16: Episode Break
  • 23:59: Burtynsky talks about permissions to access mines and industrial sites and how this has changed over time.
  • 31:44: A wrong turn on the highway in 1981 and the photos that led Burtynsky to an epiphany about human-altered landscapes.
  • 35:48: Burtynsky talks about forming his photo lab Toronto Image Works as a ballast to provide income in printing for other photographers while pursuing personal fine art photo projects.
  • 43:38: Burtynsky’s retrospective exhibit at the ICP in New York, his thoughts about the future of technology, plus recent collaborations with a young artist working in Artificial Intelligence.

Guest Bio

Edward Burtynsky has spent more than 40 years bearing witness to the impact human industry on our planet. Regarded as one of the world’s most accomplished contemporary photographers, Burtynsky’s work is included in the collections of more than 80 museums worldwide and featured in major exhibitions around the globe.

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1955, Burtynsky’s early exposure to a nearby General Motors plant and ships navigating the Welland Canal in his hometown captured his imagination, helping to formulate his ideas about the scale of human creation he would later capture in photographs. These images explore the collective impact we as a species have on the surface of this planet. A select list of Burtynsky’s many distinctions include the inaugural TED Prize, the title of Officer of the Order of Canada, the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award for Art, a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship, and the World Photography Organization’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award. Burtynsky currently holds nine honorary doctorate degrees, and in addition to his work in photography, he was a key production figure in the award-winning documentary film trilogy Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark, and ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch. All three films continue to play in festivals around the world.

    

Host: Derek Fahsbender

Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman

Senior Producer: Mike Weinstein

Executive Producer: Richard Stevens