Industrial landscape photos by Dave Bullock
Talented photographer (and coder!) Dave Bullock took a series of magnificent images of "Industrial Landscapes." Archival 13" x 19" and 17" x 22" prints are also available. Industrial Landscapes
Talented photographer (and coder!) Dave Bullock took a series of magnificent images of "Industrial Landscapes." Archival 13" x 19" and 17" x 22" prints are also available. Industrial Landscapes
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i find the HDR processing comical and off-putting. just my $.02
They're not all HDR, but mostly. And thanks for your opinion! =]
Well, I like the HDR. So that's one for and one against. ;)
I dig the LA River stuff. I used to live near that curiosity, and have fostered a love/hate relationship with it.
Yeah the LA River is beautiful in a nature covered-up-with-concrete kind of way. =]
Does the HDR thing have to be black & white? (pun intended)
I think it's great if you don't over-do it. There's a point where it transitions from making the image seem more-real to surreal. I find it to be a great technique right up to the point where it crosses that line. HDR is trendy right now though, so people tend to over-do it.
Incidentally, I especially like the 6th Street Bridge photos.
Nice photo. I live in Jersey City, surrounded by an industrial landscape that is more dead than alive. This post reminds me of the abandoned factories that lie between my home and Newark airport, with their rusted smokestacks jutting out into the sky. After a while, the steal starts to blend in with the natural landscape.
Thy'r nc pcs, bt @m nt sr why thy'r n Bngbng.
Thr's lts f prfctly gd phtgrphy gng n n th wrld, HDR r thrws..
Th Hnksy Std fr n !
They're nice pics, but I@m not sure why they're on Boingboing.
Why not? David posts about tons of artists/photographers. It doesn't all have to be steampunk or LEGO (even though it's also cool)...
You should see my HDR steampunk LEGO series.
They could almost be screenshots from Route Kanal in HL2. Overdone HDR really gets that videogame look. Whether you like is a matter of opinion. I find I often do.
These aren't THAT overdone, though - just a bit.
Captivating, beautiful shots. HDR works perfectly for these - so much heft, sweep and propulsion in these landscapes.
You should see my HDR steampunk LEGO series
Are there any HDR steampunk LEGO zombies? (I know: This could keep on going ;) )
BTW, I really like the one with the ominously low rain cloud and the rainbow. One of those 'Wish I had my camera moment'... except of course you did have your camera.
Thanks everybody.
=]
Very nice photos. If you look at industrial sites with the right kind of eyes, they do sometimes have a great deal of beauty. Ever look at an oil refinery all lit up at night?
These photos remind me of one of my favorite coffee-table books, Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes. Tons of photos like this, plus good explanations of just what all that stuff does. Great geeky reading.
b.
If you like this style of photography, you might be interested in some of Xavier Nuez's stuff - I saw it at the Ann Arbor Art Fair a few years back. He uses long exposures in low light settings to take pictures of alleys, abandoned buildings, etc...
http://www.nuez.com/
(I should also point out I don't know Xavier or have any reason to promote his work other than I thought it was cool... he's just one of many artists whose work makes me think, "I wish I had more money so I could buy this stuff.")
DAVE BULLOCK: As one industrial photographer to another: Nice set! Kudos for keeping them large on your site too. =D
Gilbert Anonymous says:
It looks like a suburb on Baron Harkonnen's homeworld of Giedi Prime.
Thanks, yeah that was one thing I wanted to do with my photo portfolio was to show them large. I was inspired by the Boston Globe and Alan Taylor's Big Picture column, which totally rocks:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/
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Indeed! Big Picture is absolutely fantastic.
I think my second favorite is the picture of the old aqueduct-style bridge with smoke hanging overhead. The one I love is the picture of the Hoover Dam spillway.
I recently shot some photos in the same location (Vernon, California) that many of these pictures are shot. I thought a lot about the best way to represent the atmosphere of that area and the conclusion I came to was digital photography, especially more conventional digital photography (the HDR, hyperrealistic look, and also the more dynamic angles used by Mr. Bullock) is completely the wrong avenue to go down for stuff like this.
You're shooting industrial wasteland. It's a dirty and grimy place. I think you need to use a less crystal clear medium, some sort of film, that doesn't carry the overly-real-to-the-point-of-looking-artificial look of digital. Also I think compositionally the appropriate way to shoot it is to use more straight vertical and horizontal lines and less diagonals. Diagonals make a photo look dynamic, and this is just not a dynamic place. It's a desolate place. It's a wasteland.
Different people have different emotional responses to places. It seems a bit limiting to suggest that there can be only one possible way of filming something.
Thanks for your feedback GRUBEN. I appreciate your point of view, although I disagree with everything you wrote. I don't know what could be more dynamic than Vernon, a thriving industrial city with roughly 20 residents and thousands of business constantly changing, growing and/or decaying.
The point of my work is to showcase the beauty of the industrial "wasteland" as you call it. The juxtaposition between the clouds, plants and water and the man-made structures screams beautiful to me.
I'd love to see some of your recent photos.
=]
ZEPTO: Man you have some amazing photos on your site, man. Great work, keep it up!
@BRIANEISLEY: Thanks for the recommendation, I'll add it to my amazon wishlist and eventually buy it and find somewhere to place it in my overstuffed bookshelf.
Dave Bullock makes great photos!
5-6 years ago there have been a boom of Industrial Landscapes photobooks in Japan...
I enjoyed your pictures, made me think of the Bernd and Hilla Becher exhibit recently at the Getty.
Gruben: most of the time I think you're right about the grime. That said, the HDR style that Dave did really pleased me. Especially since it seems so different than the usual industrial photos _because_ of the hyper-realism. When an artist makes me look at a (to me at least) very familiar theme with new eyes I get quite excited. Which is the point of art, I think.
The HDR thing has the potential to be very tiresome in this context very quickly though. Perhaps not as quickly with Dave since the shot composition is so good.
Remainds me of some half life 2 places hehe... really cool photos!!
I love it. Industrial Landscapes = LA River XD
Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the feedback. I'm eagerly awaiting some good clouds coupled with some free time so I can shoot more in and around Downtown Los Angeles.
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