J. Henry Fair ~ The Difference Venue Makes

Crime and Punishment, 2010 (Oil from BP Deepwater Horizon spill
on the Gulf of Mexico.) Photograph © J. Henry Fair.

Roberta Smith published this smart review in The New York Times the other day of work by J. Henry Fair. I especially appreciate the contrast she draws between the works shown in the gallery and those that appear in Fair's forthcoming book.* Smith looked closely and did her job well. Fair is clearly a remarkable photographer and his work seems interesting. It fits into an emerging "genre" of work relying on aerial views to create forceful views of environmental mayhem. (I've posted here several time before about photographers working on similar projects.) But the selectivity that Smith notes is telling.
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* J. Henry Fair. 2011. The Day After Tomorrow: Images of Our Earth in Crisis. New York: powerHouse Books.

Oil from the Air

Oil Spill #10, June 24, 2010. Photograph © Edward Burtynsky.

Oil Spill #13, Mississippi Delta, June 24, 2010.
Photograph © Edward Burtynsky.