"A Fracked Photograph"

Susan Phillips

Recent Stories

Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

May 22, 2012 | 12:10 PM

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Mark Graf

“Fracked”

A photograph of a rock surface becomes an artist’s abstract rendition of fracking. More from the New York Times:

Graf’s mineralogical abstract here is titled “Fracked.” Here’s part of Graf’s description of what he saw in this photographed rock slice:
I see a horizon, and a giant drilling well going into the Earth. Then below the surface, we have layer upon layer of geological formation, shifts, fault lines, water sources, connections and cracks throughout.
Depending on your views, you may see things becoming a bit of a mess below the surface. Of course red is a very powerful color, and creates one of the main graphical elements here. Red can be symbolic of so many things… death, blood, anger, evil, love, power, prestige, crime, or danger – depending on your cultural background. I think it is poignant how many of those words can be associated with our quest for energy sources.

For more on Graf’s work check out his blog post here.