Analysis of the Elements

The elements of this photograph can be used to convey an argument of nature versus man’s machine. The entire scene is a gray color, except for the light that lights up the bulldozers and the area around them. This bright light contrasts with the rest of the photograph, therefore highlighting the area with the bulldozers in it, while the rest of the photo is gray, the area containing nature and the weather. This could argue that machines are taking the driver’s seat in this world, and nature is moving to the back of the line. The fact that the picture itself is in black and white, with grey tones, can convey the point that this argument is not just black and white, wrong or right. There are shades of grey to this issue, as there are in the photograph. The choice of using bulldozers as the focal point of the photograph plays well into the argument. Bulldozers are usually tools used to destroy, whether it is digging up earth or unearthing trees. They play no part in helping nature or preserving it. The photographer’s decision to display them in the center, where the land has already been cleared for what seems to be a construction site of some sort, argues strongly for the side of machine over nature. Perspective is important as well, with the bulldozers a little off in the distance instead of directly in front gives more to the scene, and the sight of what the machines have done in clearing that area. This photograph is beautiful, and its argument can be so ugly.