Implied Lines

Two photographs in the course work to examine.

The first showing a Spanish bullfighter confronting a bull in a ring, there is a clear "s-shaped" line starting from the corner of the right-hand flag running across the fighter's shoulders and into the left-hand flag corner and then along the ground following the tracks the bull has made.  In this case the line could flow in either direction depending on whether you follow the bull turning clockwise or the fighter turning anti-clockwise. There is also a strong line reflecting the fighter's probably intense gaze onto the bull; you can image that he does not want to take his eyes off the subject for one minute!  Finally, I have included a line showing the bull's direction of travel.  I have made this line weaker as the bull is probably changing directions constantly, so the direction shown here is likely to be temporary.

The second photograph, Threshing Corn in Sicily by Gottard Schuh, there are implied lines between the horses faces and the farmer.  I have shown here a stronger line for the nearer horse looking at the farmer, as he is bound to him by the reins, but it could work either way. In addition there are circular lines showing the direction of travel of the horses.

The next part of the exercise was to find three of my own photographs and repeat the same analysis.  I restricted myself to candidates taken between starting the course in late March 2012 and the end of the first assignment about contrasts. 

In the first image selected of some tourists in Keswick, Cumbria, there is an implied line from the camera and the gaze of the tourists towards something outside the frame of the photo (it was in fact a crazy golf course they were studying). 

My second selection is of a wind turbine in Workington, Cumbria.  There is a circular line depicted shows an implied line of direction (not sure if clockwise or anti..) of the blades turning.

My final choice is a photo of my husband at the Honister Slate Mine in Cumbria.  There are two implied lines in this image: the first showing the extension of his eye-line looking at the slates and the second one showing movement of his foot off the ground as he leans in to get a closer look.

The exercise then required the planning and taking of photos showing a) an eye-line and b) the extension of a line, or lines that point.   I did some of my planned shooting for this chapter in Brighton on a fabulously sunny day and the rest in the Lake District where I spend a lot of time.

The first of these, is of my friend Svetla (a willing photography subject and fellow enthusiast) taking a photo of a giant red poppy in the grounds of the Brighton Pavillion.

The second image of lines that point was shot in Keswick and is a scene I know well.  This is the street that my house is on and I am still excited about being able to see a mountain, Skiddaw, at the end of it.  The diagonal lines made by the cars at the parked along the road point towards the end of the street, and then the verticals in the houses and chimney pots point up to the peak of Skiddaw.