A New Leaf
Photographer EMILY SHUR captures the curious arboreal legerdemain of disguised cell-phone towers
Everyone wants flawless cell service, but in the great NIMBY tradition, no one wants the damn towers within eyeshot. There are roughly 250,000 cell-phone towers in the U.S. today, and as our insatiable appetite for more and faster data transmission grows, that number is sure to multiply—along with the assault on both the landscape and our fragile aesthetic sensibilities.
But for photographer Emily Shur, beauty can be found in the oddest of places. In her photo series Nature Calls, she documents the eerie assimilation of technology in nature. You’ve no doubt seen them dotting the byways—trees that are a bit askew from their companions, slightly greener, a little less organic...just a tad too, well, perfect.
Look closely, though, and you’ll see the telltale mechanical bits—antennae, junction boxes, wires—peeking through the artificial foliage. Shur chose to approach her subject through the lens of classic landscape photography, because to her, it’s now life as we know it. “These cell phone towers,” she says, “have become the new classic landscape.”
Categories: City Landmarks / Design / Feature Story / Living Green / Photos / Pictorials / Technology
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Accessilbity has its limits.
Creation of devices that make accessibility possible is - as Mr. Shur shows - obviously unlimited.
The most striking in this pictures is the verve and at the same time the insiduosity with which these modern signposts are disguised from initially reckognizing human sight.
Another trompe l'oeil, another lie.
Information content transport via electromagnetic radiation won't ever be healthy. As consumers demand more in an ongoing fashion as it persists, growing clout behind these signals is the result of a vicious circle: buy what is comfortable, sell what brings money; both sides need to reassess!!!
Posted by: Markus | 07/05/2010 at 04:45 AM
Great photo article on these interesting radio towers. They also come in many other 'flavors' including cell towers camouflaged a rocks, church crosses, light houses, and even a bison! I have over 1,100 photos of cell towers and other communications sites online at http://cellularpcs.com/gallery/
Jonathan Kramer, Esq.
Kramer Telecom Law Firm PC
www.TelecomLawFirm.com
Posted by: Jonathan L. Kramer, Esq. | 07/05/2010 at 03:19 PM
Everybody wants to drive a car, but no one wants to EVER see a drilling platform.
Everybody wants immigration reform, but no one wants to see people sent home.
Everybody wants to talk on a cell phone and get great coverage, but they don't want to see an antenna.
Posted by: Jim Burks | 07/20/2010 at 06:57 AM
I don't want these things in my backyard, not because they are visually unappealing, but because of the health risk they propose.
Posted by: clvngodess | 07/20/2010 at 08:34 AM
I've never noticed a "tree tower" before, I'll have to look closer now.
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