Leading lines

Every Wednesday evening this part March I participated in a photography class led by Jon Holloway, owner of the Sundance Gallery in Greenwood SC.  The four sessions were interesting and I enjoyed a distinct take-away each week.  The best part of the experience, however, came during the following month.  Jon asked us to complete a project to share with the class at the end of April:  at least 10 images, printed 5X7, matted and titled, and an artist's statement to introduce ourselves and our work.  I have been meaning to post the images and statement, "meaning to" being the operative term.  So, here on the first day of July, I am at long last making my move.

Lines: leading and otherwise

Janet E Tarbox

 This series of photographs is a concluding assignment for a class I participated in at the Sundance Gallery in Greenwood SC during March of 2012.  The title, “Lines: leading and otherwise,” is intended to provide the viewer a vantage point from which to observe the images.

As children we are taught to color inside the lines.  And, we spend a lifetime trying to learn when not to.  If we’re lucky we reach old age knowing – at least sometimes – when we’re being fed a line.  In the intervening years, verbally or not, consciously or not, we draw lines in the sand, as it were, and then dare anyone – even ourselves – to step over them.

For me, more than anything, lines are connectors.  Sometimes they are difficult to see – like the bonds of love among people.  Oftentimes, though, they are like those lines connecting towns on maps – the better the map the easier it is to plot one’s course.  It is lines such as these – connecting lines – that run through a photograph.  Like maps and relationships, too, some photographs are easier to read than others.

My interest in photography began almost before conscious memory.  My dad always had a camera with him; there was nothing better than being his assistant.  In the decades since I blissfully held the camera cover or fetched filters, photography has become a daily contemplative activity through which I explore the landscape of my life, a lens which helps define the path I tread.

I hope you enjoy identifying lines in these photographs.  It is my wish that they inspire you to consider the lines running through your days.

"Signs at Key Bridge"

"Along the Edge"

"Live Oak Allee"

"Ridgeline"

"Bottomland"

"Funnel Web and Resident"

"Paper Wasp Curl"

"Rose in Profile"

"Solomon's Seal"

"Dragonfly"

"Clouds and Contrails"

"Window View"

"Deer Fence"

"Words on the Page"

"Three Arrows"