Thursday, May 30, 2013

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?

2 comments:

sage said...

We love to watch plans come together--large projects that require all kinds of crafts and skills remind us that we are dependent on one another.

Snaggle Tooth said...

I always hate the noise n mess of construction. At least up there it's quiet n you can see the whole thing going on. nice view in a cool place.