Digging into the future

Leaving its mark
Shanghai, China
May 2012
Click here for more Thematic messiness

By definition, construction sites are messy places. There's a purpose to the messiness, of course, and a certain temporariness to it all. At some point, the muddy earth will turn to landscaped perfection, the exposed rebar replaced by finely finished, sleekly shaped surfaces. When the ribbon is finally cut, memories of what it took to build this place are almost universally relegated to history, dusty photos tucked away in a rarely opened album or archive.

None of this makes construction sites themselves less compelling. I find them endlessly fascinating landscapes of change, places that overwhelm the senses and challenge us to think about what could - and eventually will - be. Sure, they'll leave a layer of caked mud on your car if you get too close, but who among us hasn't hung around the perimeter fence and simply stared in?

I kind of dug (sorry) this scene as soon as I saw it. I know the digger is huge, but the high angle made it look like a kid's toy. As I tripped the shutter, I wondered if the machine's operator ever wondered about the things he creates.

Your turn: Why do construction sites appeal to us?