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"Placenta" from the 90th Annual Polar Bear Swim in Vancouver.

Today the sea washed onto the heavens, and back again. Water was everywhere. Those who came out were as wet as those who went in. There was no respite. Her water broke. Today we were all Polar Bears.

The City of Vancouver might not host the snow and ice as well as other Polar Bear swims, but the wind and rain swirling off the Pacific can be mighty fierce. Yesterday, on New Year’s Day, the Vancouver Park Board put on another successful edition of the historic Polar Bear swim. The official tally of participants has yet to be released but last year they numbered 1588. Like then, the brave souls, and raindrops nearly the size of Hawaiian pineapples, came out in large numbers. I’d like to thank each and every one of the participants for the challenging opportunity to take their photograph. I had a blast and hope you did, too. Happy New Year!

Please view The Water Broke.

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photograph, waxy photography 2010, event photography, new year's day, polar bear swim, vancouver

"Coffeet" from the 2008 Elite Men's BG Triathlon in Vancouver.

…while optical confusion makes photographs more interesting as art, it also reflects something fundamental in human experience. Because we become expert at making sense of visual situations early in life, we may assume that encounters with things we can’t readily assimilate are fairly rare.

But if you think about it, there is almost always a gap in time — however infinitesimal it may seem — between seeing and comprehending. That moment just before we file a perception away into a conventional category, when our senses and minds are fully alert to what lies before us — that is the sweet spot of art.

via New York Times, “In Photography, What Puzzles the Eye May Please the Mind

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Edward Burtynsky’s exhibit at the Surrey Art Gallery opens today. A Canadian photographer and 2005 winner of the prestigious TED prize, Mr. Burtynsky uses a large format camera to document the human force on the landscape and create surreal, otherworldly, and sometimes unrecognizable imagery. The photographs are beautiful in their ugliness.

Several of his images are posted below with many more available at Burtynsky’s website and The Charles Cowles Gallery. Unfortunately, these small’ish web versions don’t do much justice to his work, and given the artist’s eye for details, a visit to Surrey is more than worthwhile. A few of these pictorial nuggets are visible in the video below from Burtynsky’s visit to CBC’s The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.

Burtynsky’s film, “Manufactured Landscapes,” won Best Documentary at the 2007 Genie Awards. I’ve got it in my hands and I’ll watch it before visiting the show next weekend. The exhibition is part of Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad programming.

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Edward Burtynsky: An Uneasy Beauty – Photographs of Western Canada
January 17 – March 22, 2009
Exhibition reception: January 24, 2 – 4pm
Film Screening: February 1, 2:30pm
Artist Talk: February 12, 7pm

Surrey Art Gallery
13750 – 88 Avenue
Surrey, BC Canada V3W 3L1

Edward Burtysky's Rock of Ages # 1

Edward Burtynsky's Oxford Tire Pile No. 7

Edward Burtynsky Homesteads #29

Edward Burtynsky's Tailings #1

Edward Burtynsky's Nickel Tailings No. 35,

Thanks to The Scale Gallery for alerting me to the exhibit.

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