Industrial Wonderland

While perusing the latest National Geographic issue, we were caught by Toby Smith's snapshots of power stations around the United Kingdom, beautifully aglow against night skies.  Toby is a young UK photographer for Reportage by Getty Images who focuses on sustainability and environmentalism and we are looking forward to keeping up with his photographic journeys.

Toby explains his current project, Industrial Wonderland, "Dozens of stations dot the English countryside. Like many people who live here, I find them oddly beautiful: architecturally alluring icons of our past that burn fossil duels, polluting the present.  Since 2008 I've explored that double layer of symbolism by photographing them at night, using large format and long exposures to show the ceaseless production occurring on the fringes of our landscape - and consciousness...I want to document the issue and raise awareness, but let people form their own opinions.  All the power plants I've shot in this series are unsustainable, yet they still serve our ever growing needs. I aim to illuminate that complicated relationship between power generation and the environment."