Lens-Artists Challenge #417: Where Does It Lead?

What does the title get you thinking about? Trails? Leading lines? Maybe animal tracks? There’s no single right answer, and that’s exactly the point. This week’s header image says it well: a signpost fork on a lonely stretch of highway outside Fort Davis, in the Davis Mountains of West Texas — TX-166 curving south, TX-118 curving north. Every path starts with a choice like that one. For this challenge, I’d like us to explore Where Does It Lead? in whatever direction speaks to you. To get you started, here are three ways to read the prompt, each with an example from my own files.

Literal

The most literal reading is simply a path itself — a trail you can follow with your feet or your wheels. My example is one I catch often on morning or evening rides: a dirt singletrack disappearing into a stand of trees along the Katy Crossing Trail in San Gabriel Park, Georgetown, my mountain bike leaned against a trunk while I stopped to catch the light.

By six in the evening in July, the canopy was doing most of the work, breaking the last sun into patches on the ground. Think of a hiking trail, garden path, boardwalk, railroad track, country road, or cycling trail — any surface built or worn for travel counts here.

Compositional

The compositional reading isn’t about what the path is, but how it moves the eye. This one is a winding two-lane road through the pale, eroded hills of the Big Bend region.

Nothing but road, hillside, and sky, but the double S-curve does all the work, pulling your eye from the foreground straight to the horizon. It can be a leading line, S-curve, or vanishing point, etc. — the destination barely matters next to the shape of the getting there. This is the River Road (FM 170), one of the most scenic drives in Texas.

Interpretive

The interpretive reading opens the prompt up wide — tracks and traces, or metaphor. I’m using two examples here. First, waves at sunset on Table Rock Lake, caught during a photography workshop I took last year in Kimberling City, Missouri — each one leaving a version of itself behind before the next arrives, the water’s own kind of wake.

And second, a chain of footprints crossing the gypsum dunes of White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the only mark of passage across all that white. Can you see where the hiker is going?

This could be tracks and traces such as animal footprints in mud, tire marks, a boat’s wake, etc. You could even think metaphorically: a path chosen, a road not taken, a journey.

However you read it — literally, compositionally, or metaphorically — I’d love to see where your response leads. Post your photos, link back here, and let’s see all the different ways a path can lead. Don’t forget the “lens-artists” hashtag. It helps everyone find your response in the Reader.

Thanks to everyone who responded to Ritva’s challenge last week. I love seeing how you photographed music.

Next week, Tina will feature a new challenge. It will go live at noon EST in the USA. Tune in then to learn more about the challenge. Please see this page for more information about the Lens-Artists Challenge and its history. If you don’t want to miss any future challenges, please consider subscribing to the team members’ websites. Here they are:

• Tina of Travels and Trifles.
• Patti of P.A. Moed.
• Ann-Christine of Leya.
• John of Journeys with Johnbo.
• Anne of Slow Shutter Speed.
• Sofia of Photographias.
• Egídio of Through Brazilian Eyes.
• Ritva of Ritva Sillanmäki Photography.
• Beth of Wandering Dawgs.

That is the story behind the shots. For more like this, enjoy these related stories: Big Bend Ranch SP, FM 170, Katy Crossing, Landscapes, Lens-Artists, River Road, San Gabriel Park, Texas, White Sands NP. Until the next shoot, keep chasing the light and the wonders it reveals.

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Sources

• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department — Big Bend Ranch State Park — https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/big-bend-ranch
• National Park Service — White Sands National Park — https://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm
• Texas Department of Transportation — Texas Mountain Trail Region (Davis Mountains) — https://www.txdot.gov/discover/scenic-drives/mountain-trail.html