Leading lines…

Paula’s black and white Sunday this week is all about Diagonals. In photography there are many ways to compose an image. Line, shape, and form are three building blocks to add depth and interest to your photos. This week Paula wants us to look at the way leading lines – whether intentional or accidental or man-made or natural – draw your eye through a photograph.

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I was looking through my recent beach photos, not a subject I’d normally select for black and white photography, when I noticed how many shots use the effect of shooting on the diagonal, to draw the viewer into the picture. Have a look and see if you agree.

(Above) I used the softly curving waves to draw the eye along the beach – these are always at a natural diagonal.

(Below) Paths, boardwalks, fencing are all man-made, but position yourself in the right spot and the eye is drawn along the perimeter into the distance. In the first image the direction of the fence post shadows also lead you along the path.

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and in these two the fence takes you over the undulating dunes.

Please visit Paula to see other representations of this week’s challenge.

Thursday’s Special

Paula’s (Lost in Translation) challenge this week is slightly different than usual in that she has provided a list of words from which to pick one to illustrate.

I am going for decrepit: adjective meaning  – worn out or ruined because of age or neglect; dilapidated; rickety; run-down; broken-down; ramshackle; worn-out; derelict; falling to pieces; on its last legs

I like photographing old and decrepit things and on a trip around the Canyons a few years ago we came across this abandoned ‘village’ near Marble Canyon, AZ. During the Great Depression, a few white settlers built a small town of wooden structures with shingle roofs that still cling to gigantic boulders in a moon-like setting at the foot of Vermilion Cliffs. They were known as the Cliff Dwellers.

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How anyone survived in this desolate landscape I have no idea.

Please pop over to see Paula if you would like to join in.

Abstract II

My entry for Paula’s black and white Sunday last week resulted in quite a few guesses, mostly snakeskin or some kind of wood. It was a close-up section of the trunk of this Mexican Grass Tree – a spectacular plant from north-eastern Mexico that, when mature, sports a foot wide trunk and a large sphere of long, stiff, square-edged, bluish-green leaves.

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Dasylirion longissimum

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Abstract

Paula’s black and white Sunday this week is all about the Abstract things we see all around us in normal everyday items. Often  relating to or denoting art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures.

As someone who adores looking for patterns and textures and shapes this is right up my street.

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Thursday’s Special

Paula’s (Lost in Translation) challenge this week is Inflated

A wet sheet and a flowing sea,
A wind that  follows fast
And fills the white and rustling sail
And bends  the gallant mast;

~ Allan Cunningham

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Yachts on Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) at Montreux were struggling to catch any breeze to inflate their sails.

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and the strange low mist / cloud gave the impression that they were floating in the sky.