By Kevin Raber
The Luminous Landscape

Prints, Studio and Color Lab

Kevin Raber and Edward Burtynsky discuss one of his prints

My interview with Ed Burtynsky continues with this final segment.  This is the part I enjoyed the most as Ed and I talk about his prints and why and how he makes such big prints.  For Ed, it’s all about the print.  As he explains when looking through the viewfinder he is composing for the look.  But, when the print is made the magic comes alive as the most minute details become visible. 
I call it immersive imaging and for me, it is where the viewer looks at a large print from a distance and then finds something of interest and moves closer and closer to the print discovering new things in the print along the way.  Ed calls it the six-inch test.  The bottom line -Ed’s prints need to be viewed large and inspected close up. There are treasures to be seen in his photographs.

All of Pt. III here.

By Kevin Raber
The Luminous Landscape
 

Ed's Camera Gear

Continuing my interview with Ed Burtynsky, we talk about every photographer's favorite subject, cameras. Ed shares with us his evolution of camera systems from 4x5 and 8x10 film to the Hasselblad 100 mega-pixel digital camera. Much of Ed’s work is shot from high altitude, and he has a few stories about how that is accomplished. You’ll also hear why during the film days Ed decided to shoot his work with color negative film. He shares his evolution of color printing and how he went from a hybrid color workflow to his eventual full digital workflow.

Ed’s projects are related to man's effect on our world. One of his most noted projects is one about water. I have included links below to clips of the watermark project. These short clips and the film itself will get you thinking. The same as his Landscape Of Oil project.

All of Part II here.