Homebodies on Vacation

I found this statement particularily interesting, and it reminded me of the idealisation of landscape during the 18th century:

"The frame of a picture window typically objectifies "nature" into a possessable artifact. In effect, the picture window turns any exterior into a representation, collapsing depth into the surface of the glass."

Either with a photograph or a painted picture of a natural landscape, we typical seek for the picturesque. We expect vacation spots to appear as they do in the magazine. We expect built architectural designs to live up to their glamourous "the money shot" architectural renderings. As we are primarily exposed to landscapes through images; false or misleading images for that matter, we instantly anticipate for the reality of these landscapes to meet the standards set by their representation in images. Therefore, when I go to L.A., I expect to see palm trees, Hollywood stars with their miniature dogs, a crazy night life, and spotless sidewalks. For the most part, L.A.'s representation is reality. It is pretty spotless. It may be only a reality because the city must live up to these expectations to keep tourists coming back. Is L.A's representation, then, a more-than-visual reality? Is L.A's dream-like atmosphere simply a facade set up to keep the money rolling in? Was the freeway with concrete walls blocking Compton optically engineered to deviate one's eye away from those neighboorhoods?

On another note, it is a problem that we rely on images to truly represent a place. We must not be dissapointed when visiting a new place, if it is not what we imagined it as. In regards to engineers working to counteract the natural effects or erosion on Niagara Falls, I find it sad that our society cannot fathom the reality that our world is changing. We cannot accept imperfection, and for the most part, we much rather visit locations which are "as they appear on TV". If Niagara Falls aint what it used to be, isn't it's temporal aspect beautiful in itself? We are trying so hard to fight Mother Nature, when it is a battle we will never ever win.