Class 8: Edward Burtynsky

If the weather is good we will dart outside to the park or Howland Avenue and expose the pinhole cameras.

After, we will continue our exploration of the artistic principles of photography, combining that with some thinking about the impact of technology in general on our global society. One of the learning outcomes of this course is an understanding of how communications technology impacts our environment. Jennifer Baichwal’s 2006 film Manufactured Landscapes follows Toronto photographer Edward Burtynsky on a trip to China, where he disturbingly and beautifully capture the relationship between humanity, industry and the environment.

As you are watching the film analyze some of the images you see. Identify 3 different artistic principles Burtynsky uses in his photographs

As a graded assignment you are to prepare the following: Write a 250 word reflection, in proper paragraph format, on your blog. Your reflection must contain the following:

  1. 3 examples of artistic principles in the photographs. You must identify 3 different principles and use at least 3 different photographs. Describe the principle and to what effect Burtynsky uses it in detail.
  2. Conclude your reflection with a discussion of your response to the film. Feel free to talk about the techniques the filmmaker uses in this portion of your blog post.
  3. Class your blog post: Manufactured Landscape: Reflection (I will deduct a point if you do not do this).

The response will be marked out of 10 and graded in the “Tasks” category of the grade book for this course. It is due Sunday by 10 pm on your blog.

I know it might be hard to remember what you see. You can search up the film on Youtube and watch portions of it there, or check out some of the photos on Edward Burtynsky’s site. Do not copy the images and insert them into your blog post. Simply describe the image.
Go to <>. On the left, under “Works”, click “China”. Choose from any of the galleries, but try to pick an image you saw in the movie.


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