Edward Burtynsky's 2013 shot of the Kumbh Mela pilgrimage that draws millions of people to wash away their sins in the Ganges River.
Image ©Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto / Howard Greenberg & Bryce Wolkowitz, New York
Q&A: Photographer Edward Burtynsky Talks New H20 Documentary 'Watermark'
Watermark includes footage and images of the huge dam built on the Yellow River in China's Henan province.
The photographer's image of rice paddies in China's Western Yunnan province. Many families share the terraces, and water guards work to ensure that no one is diverting water unfairly.
A Burtynsky image of unspoiled waters in British Columbia, Canada. "A full 50 percent of human use of water is to grow food for the animals we eat," says Burtynsky.
Sprawling abalone farms support a school, restaurant and villagers in a huge floating island. Burtynsky explains: "There's one where 25,000 people live there. You get out to these fish farms and there’s a school, kids and a restaurant. It's like a small village, but it’s on the water."
One of China's massive hydroelectric projects.
Watermark's DP filming in China's Fujian province. "When we were going to China, we didn’t want to say “drone.” “Toy remotes,” we called them, which sounded less ominous," says Burtynsky.
Helicopters and drones helped give Burtynsky a bird's-eye view of the world's varied — and voracious — use of water. "There's a unique kind of system where the whole camera is gyro-stabilized, always paying attention to the horizon line and oriented itself to the horizon line," says Burtynsky. "It will still keep an absolutely steady bead on the horizon line so the camera doesn’t jump around."
"The sooner we get rid of the geopolitical boundaries, we are a species of seven-something billion. It’s a finite planet," says the Watermark director. "We’ve gone way past the interest of what nature can provide and now we’re chewing down into the capital, and how much more can we chew into the capital without getting a bad reaction?"
