Project 42 - man-made landscape

The first image is one that is well known to many of us and normally we would consider it a 'natural' landscape. Yet there is plenty of evidence that it is almost completely man-made. The fence in front of the image and the walls that divide up the scene are indicators of the product of the work of man. There is very little countryside in the United Kingdom that has not, in some way, been impacted upon by human beings over the centuries and it is often difficult to distinguish between what is natural and what is man made.

The second image was taken looking across Loch Eil in Scotland. It is included because the majority of what can be seen is the work of man. The Loch itself is a natural water feature but the boat is evidence of the presence of man. Perhaps not so obvious is the fish farm on the opposite side of the Loch and may not be noticed apart from the buoys and stage. However the main reason for taking this image is the far bank. Whilst the evidence of working is obvious where the forest has been cleared the reality is that everything from the waters edge to the tree line is man-made. Large swathes of Scotland have been forested to support the timber industry and whilst this may look natural at first glance the lack of variety in the trees and plants is a giveaway.

The final image is the 'obvious' landscape clearly showing the effect of man's wish to extract what is deemed to be valuable. Here the buildings and the adjacent quarry with its pile of broken or crushed rock can leave little doubt. However nature has a way of taking back land that has been abandoned by man and it is easy in some cases to not see that the landscape is man-made. 

General

This was an interesting exercise because of the need to find examples of man made landscape that on first glance was not self-evident such as farm land that looks, and probably has been, there for hundreds of years. We too often take for granted that something is natural because it is so familiar to us and apparently unchanging. We assume that it has been like that before man made his mark upon the earth.