John Davies

“I am not so much interested in entertaining an audience or providing vehicles for escape but in delivering a highly crafted detailed image conveying a sense of reality. A reality that shares a recognition of aspects of urban living. But importantly, making images of a landscape that attempts to question our acceptance and perception of the inevitable consequences of living in a post imperialist society and within a post industrial landscape".  John Davies - November 2011.

Born in County Durham, Davies’ images ooze Northern grit; self processed and mainly in black and white, they show an atmospheric study of Britain’s industrial landscape.

A lover of  images in which industry and nature come together, I am drawn to Davies’ shot, ‘Agecroft Power Station, Salford’, taken in 1983. The impact is twofold; however thoughts about the strange placement of a football pitch in the shadow of the power station are overshadowed by the startling vastness of the cooling towers.

 

 Most of Davies’ work seems to create a narrative about the transformation of British industry. The monochrome finish draws attention to the elements of design in his images; as shown below, these images are a mass of rhythm, pattern, curve and reflection, all working together to bare the realities of urban living.

 Soup Kitchen/Arms Houses

 Stockport Viaduct

Runcorn Bridges

http://www.johndavies.uk.com/abiog.htm

Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky is known for his large-format photographs of industrial landscapes and his work can be seen in museums all over the world. He often positions himself at high-vantage points over the landscape using elevated platforms and helicopters.

Burtynsky’s ‘Shipbreaking’ series is part of a decade long project entitled ‘Oil’ and documents the industry of dismantling and recycling ships in Bangladesh. India based Tasveer Journal describes the set as one of Burtynsky’s most poignant and increasingly significant in light of today’s environmental insecurity. The series not only shows where these enormous oil tankers come to die but also highlights the dangerous conditions in which the dismantlers work.

Using a desaturated colour palette, Burtynsky succeeds in creating images which are both beautiful and emotive. Many of the images have the appearance of a giant graveyard, evoking feelings of the end of the world.

These images represent the kind of sentiment I am aiming to represent with my ‘Elements of Design’ assignment, taken at a small shipyard on the banks of the Humber Estuary.

 

 

"[we] come from nature.…There is an importance to [having] a certain reverence for what nature is because we are connected to it... If we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves." – Edward Burtynsky