Horizontal lines

 Horizontal lines tend to ground an image, we are used to seeing the horizon as our reference, if the horizon as straight we must be upright, all is well. I found strong horizontal elements more difficult to find than vertical lines and having just horizontal lines made for very static images.

  This is one of the buildings that make up Anglia Polytechnic and in place with the buildings around it is quite an exciting design, but when the horizontal elements are isolated it becomes very flat and two dimensional.

   This image has some depth with layers of horizontal lines, but I found that if I increased the angle that took the photograph from and included more of the field it became less dynamic. I think that landscape pictures generally need some diagonal lines to lead your eye into the image.

   This is an image of the shadows made by some railings, I quite like it as an abstract, but it has no reference, I could lay the frame horizontally and it would still look right.

  I would normally take a picture of this graffiti from closer probably with a wide lens at an angle to give it an edgy feel but having to keep the horizontal has made me change my perspective and include the whole scene. This has left with a non subjective, dispassionate image i.e a Deadpan style image ( Cotton, 2009 ).
  With the right subject a totally horizontal image could be very restful and relaxing, sea, beach and sky for example, but from the above examples the only one I am happy with is the last one, which is the one I was the least happy with at the time of capture.

 Ref : Cotton, C.2009. the photograph as contemporary art.Thames & Hudson.London