Architectural Angles

Geometry guides my eye when focusing on the perfect photograph. I look for an image that highlights the intersection of points, lines and angles, surfaces and solids. In each of this series of three photographs I emphasize the line that draws the viewer into the scene. I’m also intrigued with the interaction of color and black and white. Although I usually take color photos, I often eliminate or manipulate the colors to strengthen my photos. . I took these photos for a class in digital and film photography at the Main Line Art Center using my Sony SLT A37 camera with a 55-200 zoom lens.

In my first photo, Intersecting Rails, I emphasized the horizontal fence post to draw the viewer into the image, sharply focusing on the intersection of the line with the two bisecting rods. I was also drawn to the more abstract image behind the fence wire—white spots and specks of light filtered by a multitude of trees. I took this image in color but converted it to black and white to make it stronger.

The intersection of abstract and concrete also drew me to the second photo in the series, Window Lines. As in the previous photo, one dominant line, a railing, draws the viewer’s eye across the image. I took this photo by stopping at the railing and looking up to include both the railing and a glass door with windows in the image. I was intrigued that I could blend two separate elements and make them one. This photo also introduced a subtle green color into the series and served to emphasize the railing.

This final photo, Railway To Green, brings all of the series’ elements into focus—a dominant focal line, abstract and concrete, and the use of color. The dominant railing draws the viewer into the image with its sharp initial focus. Perspective is introduced with two parallel lines becoming one and blurring as the eye goes to the back of the photo. I manipulated this photo to enrich the green color background, which replicates the B&W abstracted light captured in the first photo.