Parallel Lines

A person’s black and white vertical-stripped pantaloons set against the street’s horizontal black and white parallel lines is the well-stalked shot that immediately drew my attention. Plus the addition of the grey pavement slabs fully compliments your parallel-filled composition. I’ve noticed similar road markings on Continental streets but I’ve never been able to catch a pedestrian wearing matching clothes. I’m jealous of your well-found luck.

There are many places to look for parallel lines and the ones that avoided cliche observations were, in my opinion, the most successful. Your photo, looking down on moored Cambridge punts, is one such successful composition. The combination of soft tartan fabric against a hard wooden structure was a well-spotted and conceived consideration. Well done for taking a gamble with a completely different subject matter - you took a punt and it paid off..

Without the addition of the tiny combine harvester one would never know that the earthy diagonal lines were the colours of a ploughed field. It becomes obvious as soon as you realise that the tracks are made by the farmer and his machine. It’s accomplished aerial photos such as yours that makes me wish I had a drone in my camera bag. Well done for spotting the photo potential from ground level and high flying your camera to successfully record your preconceived composition.

Of the hundreds of railway line photos entered to this challenge this one stopped me in my tracks. You’ve managed to condense your photo down to its bare minimum. The two silver parallel lines disappearing around a corner are offset by the subtle hint of horizontal sleepers. You may have been tempted to convert the photo to mono but allowing it to remain in colour has given your night composition an atmosphere of moonlit warmth.

Looking for unique subjects containing parallel lines was the hardest obstacle faced by entrants to this challenge. Having decided on an antique piano as your source of creativity, you’ve opened up every inch of the musical instrument to expose as many parallels as possible. The black and white ivory keys, the piano strings, the sound dampeners and the wooden construction are all perfectly aligned to bring sweet music to my ears and eyes.

This series a mono horizontal and diagonal parallel lines are colourfully juxtaposed by the red-shirted figure running up the stadium aisle stairs. There’s a strong visual comparison between man-made lines and man making lines. Your skilfully taken photo has made good use of two subtly contrasting elements resulting in your expeditiously taken top ten composition.

The key to the success of this parallel line image is your low key post-processing. You’ve gone out of your way to emphasise the black and white contrast of your level crossing composition to create an idiosyncratic entry. Most entries consisted of either rail or road lines but you’ve managed to capture both in a single shot. The crisscross texture of the metal plate in the foreground leads the viewer neatly up towards the white picket fence to gradually savour the mono image along the way.

Of the many lavender fields entered to this challenge your bold purple and black lines automatically went into my top ten. The undulating, disappearing and reappearing wavy lines lead the viewer slowly up from the bottom to the top of your photo. Your composition is perfectly punctuated with the parallel-roofed barn built inside the horizontal dip of one of the flowering rows. If it was my decision, I would have cropped out the blue sky for a more impactful view but that doesn’t take away from this being a superbly taken photograph. I particularly love the subtlety-shaped dried grass heart in the centre of your photo.

Vertical, horizontal and diagonal parallel lines - this panoramic composition has captured them all. They’re displayed in the shape of windows, balconies, stairs, railings and cladding painted in multicolours offset against a clean white background. What makes your unique photo standout is that you’ve worked hard to keep the architectural parallels straight throughout your very well-conceived graphic configuration.