Lost MeFi link to Mining Pictures

April 13, 2005 4:10 PM

I can't find a link to some photography that I swore I saw on MeFi in the past few years. The pictures are aerial photos of huge mining operations, in Montana, I think. The photographer's site talks about finding beauty in pictures of huge monstrous mines and other ecological monsters. I think it refers to the idea of "reclamation"--reclaiming the messed up areas as something beautiful. Googlefu not working.
posted by Mid to media & arts (13 comments total)

Might it be this guy?
posted by pmbuko at 4:22 PM on April 13, 2005

Or this site = ecorestoration in montana?
couldn't find it in MeFi but your description fitted google images more easily
posted by peacay at 4:27 PM on April 13, 2005

That's it!

That was fast . . . I now feel dumb.

If anyone's still playing at home or otherwise interested, I think there was a neat on-line gallery somewhere.
posted by Mid at 4:28 PM on April 13, 2005

pmbuko...that copper mine is HUGE. Google aerialmaps are terrible at that place.
posted by peacay at 4:38 PM on April 13, 2005

Actually, the maps of the area are quite good.
posted by pmbuko at 5:05 PM on April 13, 2005

Ah yeah. I guess I was a bit stumped for direction or orientation at low res. Thanks. (still an awesome great hole in the ground)
posted by peacay at 5:43 PM on April 13, 2005

I also found this gallery of the Berkley Pit in Butte Montana from various year. The Berkley Pit was once the largest open pit copper mine in the States. This page has some interesting info on its flooding status.
posted by Staggering Jack at 5:52 PM on April 13, 2005

That's various years. Argh.
posted by Staggering Jack at 6:01 PM on April 13, 2005

The satellite maps really lets you see how the Berkley Pit dominates the town of Butte, MT. The gray part is where the pit has filled with water. If you zoom in, you can also see some of the headframes (for tunnel mines) that surround the pit!
posted by event at 6:02 PM on April 13, 2005

Another photographer who does similar work is David Maisel -- see "The Lake Project" and "The Mining Project."
posted by lisa g at 6:50 PM on April 13, 2005

Different, but sort of related, is the work of this photographer. Beautiful stuff, I think.
posted by Mid at 7:04 AM on April 14, 2005

The Berkeley pit was also the long-time home of a very strange dog, "The Auditor". The story of the Auditor would make a great FPP if there was more than just a couple newpaper articles on the web.
posted by 445supermag at 1:14 PM on April 14, 2005

OMG. Look at that dog. This would be an awsome FPP. BTW, it looks like Auditor died in 2003.
posted by Mid at 2:43 PM on April 14, 2005