Trimming the bushes to make the tree look taller
Consider most pictures of the Seattle skyline that feature the Space needle. It always looks like it towers over the city, doesn't it?
To the outside observer, this landmark appears to dwarf skyscrapers in a feat of phallic architecture that makes the Eiffel Tower look like a pygmy in comparison.
And it's yet another facade in this Potemkin village of a fish town.
First, the Space needle, as observation decks (yeah, specifically observation decks, not all towers) go, it ranks something like 42nd tallest in the world and 13th tallest in the United States. Even in Seattle, it's only the 6th tallest edifice.
But, every picture of the Seattle skyline has to be a close up of the Needle, sitting on the hill, with the skyscrapers miles in the background in order to make it look impressive.
Why is this? Maybe because it personifies Seattle's inferiority complex, perhaps? Kind of like Karl Jung's collective subconscious manifest in a steel frame tower that's awarded its little patch in Seattle center far away from anything that might be taller than it is on order to generate more impressive postcards.