ShipBreaking

November 28, 2003 4:09 PM

ShipBreakingThe photographer Edward Burtynsky captures some dramatic images of ShipBreaking. The Perils of this industry were first highlighted in a Pulitzer prize winning series of articles by the the Baltimore Sun. Today, these ship graveyards still pose serious environmental issues as highlighted by this shipbreaking weblog maintained by Greenpeace.
posted by vacapinta (10 comments total)

It's funny you should post this, as I was just thinking of another series of photographs he did of quarries earlier today (which are also in that site you link.)

Thanks for posting them!
posted by atom128 at 4:32 PM on November 28, 2003

And now that I've looked further, here is the exact photograph I was thinking of!
posted by atom128 at 4:35 PM on November 28, 2003

I love Burtysnsky. More here.
posted by Hackworth at 4:44 PM on November 28, 2003

These are great.
posted by majcher at 6:06 PM on November 28, 2003

Thanks for this excellent post, vacapinta. What an interesting photographer to discover - all his works are of quite an amazing scale - the series on Three Gorges Dam is impressive. His photo essays reminded me of a visual John McPhee - he often writes on topics I think I have little interest in, but he presents them so well, I am soon enthralled.

Also, the shipbreaking topic is one that had really not crossed my radar - fascinating yet troubling series.

This post is a good example of why I read MetaFilter -finding topics/sites I would probably never have found on my own.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:30 PM on November 28, 2003

Excellent post, amazing photographs — hauntingly beautiful.

And don't do yourself a disservice, madamjujujive, I have a feeling that with your site-finding skills eventually you'll find everything worth finding on your own ;)
posted by filmgoerjuan at 9:01 PM on November 28, 2003

wow. thank you madamjujujive! Coming from you, that is a high compliment.
posted by vacapinta at 3:08 AM on November 29, 2003

[this is good]
posted by plep at 8:59 AM on November 29, 2003

Impressive photographs, makes a change from photographs highlighting mans construction might.
posted by si at 11:32 AM on November 29, 2003

I think the Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado was the first to photograph these shipbreakers in Bangladesh. Unfortunately not many pictures from the series in his incredible book Workers are online.
posted by gravelshoes at 12:38 PM on November 29, 2003