The World Photography Organisation has awarded Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky as the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography in the Sony World Photography Awards 2022. Widely regarded as one of the world’s most accomplished contemporary photographers, Burtynsky is best known for his sweeping images of industrial landscapes and the broader environmental crisis.

Over a dozen large-scale photographs will be presented as part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2022 exhibition at Somerset House, London, from April 15 to May 2, 2022. The selection, made by the artist, highlights key bodies of work and themes over his 40-year career. These include epic scenes from Anthropocene (2018), taking its name from the proposed term for our present geological epoch. This series offers an examination of human activity and the profound influence it has on the Earth and its systems.

The Outstanding Contribution to Photography honors a person or group of people that have made a significant impact on the photographic medium. As its 15th recipient, Edward Burtynsky joins a distinguished list of iconic names, including William Eggleston (2013), Mary Ellen Mark (2014), Martin Parr (2017), Candida Höfer (2018), Nadav Kander (2019), Gerhard Steidl (2020), and Graciela Iturbide (2021), to name a few.

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario in 1955, Edward Burtynsky received his Bachelor of Applied Arts in Photography and Media Studies from Ryerson University in 1982. Burtynsky is a recipient of the 2004 TED Prize honoring individuals who have shown they can positively impact life in a global context, as well as the ICP Infinity Award for Art (2008), the Rogers Best Documentary Film Award (2006), The Outreach Award at the Rencontres d’Arles (2004), and the Roloff Beny Book Award (2003). In 2006 he was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2008 he was awarded the ICP Infinity Award for Art. In 2018 Burtynsky was named Photo London’s Master of Photography and the Mosaic Institute’s Peace Patron. In 2019 he was the recipient of the Arts & Letters Award at the Canadian Association of New York’s annual Maple Leaf Ball and the 2019 Lucie Award for Achievement in Documentary Photography. In 2020 he was awarded a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship (2020) and in 2022 was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award by the World Photography Organization. Most recently he was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and was named the 2022 recipient for the annual Pollution Probe Award.