Monday, May 21, 2018

Simple versus fussy


Simple and severe versus light and fluffy. Two different bicycle photos and two different styles.

While walking around Old Town Albuquerque, I liked the starkness of a bicycle against a plain adobe wall. Although there's not much in the picture, there's a lot of movement via diagonal lines.

The base of the picture is a diagonal line leading our eye right to left and back, echoed by the slight diagonal line of the bike.

Then there's the top of the adobe wall that angles downward.

The parallel lines on the roof bit lead our eye one way and then another via diagonal lines.

And then there's the sign/signpost, the one vertical, solid element that holds everything together.

A deceptively simple composition that has a lot going on.

But not as much going on as the busy, colorful, floral-decorated bike in front of an antique shop in Port Gamble, Washington.

Here, too, are lots of diagonal lines, but because of the busy subject matter, we don't notice much movement in this shot. Our eyes become fixated with all the flowers on the bike, and we tend to just quickly glance around the frame and then come right back to the bike.

It's National Bicycle Month. A perfect month to find, ride, and photograph bikes.

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