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Finding beauty and humor in horror

Photo: Edward Burtynsly's photo, 'Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA', which shows the mess of gas stations, fast food restaurants, and gift shops by the highway exit at Breezewood, PA.

Click the photo to see the horror at full size.

The photo above was taken by landscape photographer Edward Burtynsky, whose pieces are generally about nature transformed through industry. The photo, titled Breezewood, Pennsylvania, USA. was taken in 2008 and is from a collection titled Oil. He describes the inspiration behind Oil this way:

I began to think about oil itself: as both the source of energy that makes everything possible and as a source of dread, for its ongoing endangerment of our habitat.

There’s a certain beauty to this photo, which I stumbled across via Twitter, and you can even find humor in the responses to it. My favorite is this one:

One reply on “Finding beauty and humor in horror”

The name sounded familiar. Breezewood has been a transportation nexus since the 18th century. It was probably as ugly back then as it is now, though we’d probably consider the 18th century ticky tacky quaint by modern standards. It is currently the connecting town between the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-70. The authorities wanted to build a connecting highway, but the local merchants would have none of it.

It’s also a good place to rent a bicycle and take a ride on the old Pennsylvania Turnpike. That road was decommissioned as a highway decades ago and is now a bicycle and hiking trail. For more on this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/i-vacationed-at-the-east-coasts-quintessential-rest-stop-its-more-inviting-than-it-looks/2017/08/10/a38ba58c-76d0-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?utm_term=.b6287ab208e4

P.S. I love the comment saying it looks like someone turned off Adblock.

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