Ed Burtynsky Exhibition

This weekend I took the opportunity to visit the newly-opened Photographers' Gallery in London (which I have been aching to visit - to get a good 'photography fix' - since it closed last year) and wasn't disappointed. The gallery is superb; much more spacious than the cramped building it had been 'shoe-horned' into after moving from its previous location near Leicester Square (although I must admit to having an affection for the old venue, if nothing more than my own nostalgia). The bookshop (my favourite place in the world) is bright and airy, and the print-sales area is now much more accessible alongside the bookshop (although you would still need a small mortgage to afford the prints on sale).

Importantly, the Burtynsky exhibition, which the gallery had chosen for its reopening, was truly monumental and rather apt for the occasion.

It's difficult to describe how wonderful these images are in print - to view them in a large scale and as a 'whole' within the gallery setting was both pleasurable and (importantly) educational; especially in the guidance that Burtynsky has offered through his thought process (covering oil's Extraction, Detroit, Transportation and End-of-Oil categories). My favourite image (which was extremely difficult to choose amongst so many outstanding images) was a portrait of a shipbreaker titled 'Shipbreaking 23 (Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2000)', the composition of which is exceptional. Altogether, an inspirational visit.