»Eye knows what Eye likes

Unlike Muybridge, who added eccentric touches to the spelling of his name, Burtynsky seems very grounded with his photography. Does this make the work eye candy?

Edward Burtynsky, who self-published a book about the construction of China's Three Gorges Dam, is the winner of the fourth and final Roloff Beny Photography Book Award. The award-winning photographer's Before the Flood takes home the $60,000 prize. The book details the upheaval caused by the building of the dam, the world's largest hydroelectric engineering feat to date. The predominant theme to the photos is how industry transforms nature. Burtynsky's photos have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including Canada's National Gallery, which recently featured a two-decade retrospective of his work. Established in the memory of the late, world-famous, Alberta-born photographer Roloff Beny, the award is being replaced by a new scholarship program for post secondary photography students across Canada.