The exercise for week 17 of my 52 Week project again comes from “The Visual Toolbox” and this week it was all about creating energy with diagonal lines.
We talk a lot about lines in photography. Most commonly we talk about leading lines which help guide a viewer’s eye to the subject of the image. But in his book DuChemin specifically talks about creating energy with lines that are diagonal in real time and not diagonal strictly as the result perspective as you might see with lines leading to a vanishing point on the horizon. He argues that recognizing and using diagonal lines can create an “uphill” or “downhill” feeling and greatly effect the mood of an image.
I struggled a little bit with this, primarily because I had some trouble thinking of some strong diagonal lines that weren’t the result of perspective and easily accessible to me. Our stairs are fully encased so you can’t really see the angle of them. We live near loads hills and mountains but getting a dramatic angle that fills the frame can be tricky and would likely involve a little too much adventure for my toddler to handle without my husband along for some assistance. (Plus, the example DuChemin uses in “The Visual Toolbox” is of a mountain so I specifically wanted to use a different subject.)
I finally ended up deciding to shoot my son’s toy train set that he received for Easter. While not the most exciting subject, the uphill/downhill mood is still quite evident.
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