You may have seen these two photographs being shared around the Internet. They strike at something very profound in us, although we might not know exactly what it is. The Tuscan highway glows with lively warmth at a cool, meandering pace, while the Swedish/Norwegian border is cold and biting, but exhilarating. The images are completely different in tone and texture, yet we can all feel that they are the same—parallels of each other from flip sides of the European continent. They are both endless, stretching as far as the eye can see in either direction. They are the Yin and Yang, identical and opposite, adding up to the infinite.
Preparing to run the border between Norway & Sweden (Via Imgur)
The Power of the Leading Line
These images show just what a symbolic and telling tool a leading line can make. Lines take us places, they move us across time and space. They draw our eye around the page, from one element to the next, directing us through the composition. In these images, leading lines reach out and invite the viewer in, but if used in different ways, they can keep a viewer out, turn them around, or lose them altogether. Lines can curve, wave, bend, or stay straight as a straw, with sudden starts and stops, or tapering off, or fading.
Leading Lines in Bolgheri, Tuscany Italy (Via Imgur)
Their character is varied and expressive, and they are responsible for all depth and dimension. The leading lines, though, are strongest of all. Used with attention and care, they tell the whole story, from beginning to end, and beyond.
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