The shortest distance between two points may be a straight line – or a line segment if you’re a mathematician – but curves are often more interesting. We did a recent travel theme on Leading Lines, and I’ve been staring at the leading lines of Interstate Highways for the last three weeks on my road trip across America, so here are a few curves to shake things up.
Croton Dam in New York state was an unexpected surprise which I happened upon last June. I had only seen it from the base of the structure, but when I paid a second visit to it just before leaving New York, I walked along the bridge at the top of the dam. The reservoir was smooth as glass and filled to the brim with water, which was tipping over the spillway and tumbling down the stone tiers in a blaze of white.
During a visit to Washington DC I visited the US Botanic Gardens. Tucked away in the corner of the conservatory lay a little terrarium, bursting with greenery and reflecting the towering conservatory windows.
Driving through the Badlands, surrounded by huge outcrops of shaggy, ragged, tattered rocks, I spied a solitary hill along the highway, flaunting its perfect curves.
Are you ready to show off your curves? If you would like to join in this week’s travel theme, create your own post titled Travel Theme: Curves and put a link to this page in your post so others can find it. Check back in next Friday for a new weekly travel theme.
Throw me a curve ball!
xxx Ailsa
Where's my backpack? 
Another superb theme with images to match Ailsa! That terrarium is gorgeous, and that shot of the overflowing waters is outstanding! I am off again to Bangalore today, shall see if I can find time. If I don’t, my Moray post should qualify 🙂
Hurray, have fun in Bangalore, Madhu! xxx Ailsa
Brilliant curvy shots, Ailsa. Love that terrarium pic. Thanks for setting me thinking again with the new theme. Have a great weekend.
Thanks ad, hope you have a wonderful weekend too! xxx Ailsa
Loved the photos Ailsa, particularly the one of the dam wall – amazing!
In response to your challenge, I have posted an article on the curved ‘potholes’ made by the water in the Blyde River Canyon of South Africa:
http://madoqua.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/curves-of-sandstone/
Spectacular, Madoqua, those Giant’s Cauldrons are a stunning example of the power of nature and your writing is wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing this fascinating part of South Africa with us; it must be something special to see in person. xxx Ailsa
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Another great theme, Ailsa. I´ll dig deep and see what I can contribute.
Lovely photos.
Thanks Marianne, looking forward to your post! xxx Ailsa
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Cool challenge, Ailsa. Your photo of the dam is the best!
Thanks, Trish, I love the dam photo too, the spillway is really beautiful. Looking forward to your post. xxx Ailsa
Hi Ailsa, I posted a curvy photo at about the same time as the comment. It must be there as a pingback but it’s also here: http://soundslikewish.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/ailsas-travel-photography-curves/
Fantastic curves, Trish, what an unusual mix of architectural styles. Your dad saw some amazing places!
Another awesome theme this week Ailsa, thank you! I’ll be checking out my archives this afternoon for some shots. Happy Friday.
Hurray, hope you’re having a wonderful weekend, Jennifer! xxx Ailsa
This is a long exposure of a spring making a curve.
It’s lovely, mostlymonochrome, a really fun interpretation of the theme, what exposure did you use? xx Ailsa
Hi everyone
These are my shots for this theme !
Max
These are brilliant, Max, all so different. The caterpillar is gorgeous, and I adore the aerial display, fabulous captures! xxx Ailsa
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Hey Ailsa, another great theme…looking forward to seeing the range of interpretations from your followers. I could not keep away from curvaceous coastlines for my contribution (no surprises there), taken in four different locations. http://cinova.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves/
Wonderful shots, Cinova. Fraser Island looks glorious, and I just love rainbows. Where was the rainbow photo taken? xxx Ailsa
Thanks, Ailsa! The untouched beauty of Fraser Island is indeed stunning. The rainbow photo was taken at Anglesea, in my state of Victoria I have plenty more where that came from, just waiting for your rainbow theme 😉
Yes! 🙂
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Here are our curves: http://windagainstcurrent.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves/
Wow, those arches of water from fire boat three forty three are incredible, Vlad. The one with the rainbow is breathtaking. I’ve never seen a fire boat in action – were they doing a training exercise? xxx
No, they come out on any festive occasion—they don’t need much of an excuse. That particular time, I seem to remember, there was some race downtown (I took these photos just off Battery Park City) in which firefighters were participating. Another time we saw the Three Forty Three (and other fireboats) under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at the start of the New York Marathon. That time they were spraying colored water—green, yellow, blue…
Ooh, so sad I never saw them in action, Vlad. You get to see some wonderful things out on the water, it’s a whole different way of viewing New York, I love it! xxx
Another great theme Ailsa! http://annarashbrook.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/travel-themecurves/
Lovely shots, Anna, that first one is really eye-catching, with the layers of archways. xxx
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Hi Ailsa! Nice curves, I’ll be coming up with mine soon. Thanks.
Thanks strawberry, looking forward to seeing what you come up with! xxx Ailsa
ooohh…I like this theme! And I particularly like the shot of the hill, and the terrarium too. I missed the last weekly theme, and what a bummer, because once again we were on the road with all those leading lines, leading us right into Canada and home again. Maybe I could share one of the posts about that trip for the leading lines theme. I’m looking right now for some shots that show this theme.
You should definitely do a leading lines post, LubbyGirl, I’d love to see your take on it! xxx Ailsa
I’m a fixin’ to right now – and maybe combine the curves and the lines into one post. Got a bazillion photos to choose from, most with roads right down the middle of ’em. 🙂
got ‘er dun! It’s not a really good one (we had company over and i didn’t want to ignore them for very long) – but it was fun anyway! Here it is: http://lovinthetrip.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/down-the-road-and-around-the-bend/
Yes, great combination of curves and leading lines, LubbyGirl. My favourites are the truck with the follow me sign and that wonderful red wheel in the museum junk pile. Oh, and I need to own a coffee sign just like that! So much fun.
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Yaay, thanks for joining in this week’s curvy theme, Tri Road. Have fun on your cruise. Where are you going? xxx Ailsa
Croton Dam – is such powerful photo … and my personal pick – then I love the greenery it’s so delicate and soft. The last photo I see as a shape of a woman’s breast … a perfect one, in my eye. I love the colors in that photo – the rusty and that deep green. All wonderful photos.
I thought the same about the last photo too, Viveka, and I loved the mix of green and rust against the blue sky. 🙂 So glad you enjoyed them. xxx
Yes, I really enjoyed your photos – they were so different and with so different in softness …. For softness is really what curves are about.
Throwing us a curve, hmmm? Great shots – reminds us that nature never has straight lines.
Nice one, phil, it’s true, nature is the queen of curves. 🙂
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Lots of fun this week, thanks.
Here is my entry: https://ohmsweetohmdotme.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves/
Gorgeous shot, Allan, the layers of colour and shadow are stunning. So glad you had fun with this week’s theme. xxx Ailsa
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Great challenge, I like the huge dam and the colour of that hill is fab. Here is my contribution.
http://thegingerbreadcafe.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves/
Thanks Trudi, I love your post – especially the Eden Project shot. I’m fascinated by it – never had the chance to visit when I was last in England. Did you enjoy it? From the outside it looks like bubble wrap! xxx Ailsa
It is worth visiting, the Domes are huge, in the tropical dome there is a massive waterfall!
Awesome curves:-)
Hee hee, thanks cocoa 🙂
Great Challenge!
here is my entry 🙂
http://vulgaranddelicious.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-photo-challenge-curves/
Hi Laura, the link above didn’t work, it may not have published correctly. xx
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Challenge done and dusted. 🙂 http://adinparadise.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves/
Wow, ad, what a curvalicious post. The Li river photo is my favourite, so exotic, and I adore the painting too. 🙂
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Hi everybody! Hey Ailsa … trying to throw a curve ball, are ya? hehe … get it?
Anywho, here’s my take: http://stephenkellycreative.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/ailsas-travel-theme-curves/
And you caught my curve ball perfectly, Stephen, love the unusual angle of Sydney Opera House. Well played, sir! 😉
And this is where you will find my take on the this theme;
http://thisthatandwhateverelseicanthinkof.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves/
Beautiful shot and lovely narrative, sayvan, really enjoyed your post! xxx Ailsa
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Gorgeous shot of the bridge in Tasmania, Elissa, the colours are so vibrant. xxx Ailsa
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An enticingly curvy road, nice one, mothergrogan! xxx
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I think I may ahve several entries this week…curves are everywhere. Love the Croton Dam shot.
http://quotidianhudsonriver.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves-8-28-12-morningside-heights/
Delicious curves, Robert – I adore that one underneath the elevated tracks. Oh, and going a couple of blocks north and east in Manhattan totally counts as travel. 🙂
This is another lovely theme, Ailsa, with lovely photographs to show off the theme too. 🙂
Thanks Imelda, glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
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Love Ailsa’s theme and the beautiful pictures posted for the challenge.
Oooh Shaanthz, wonderful curves – the anchor shot is fantastic and the umbrellas just make me smile. So lovely! xxx Ailsa
Ailsa, your photos are exquisite, as always! Congratulations on the great theme for this week’s travel… Here is my contribution: feeling the curves of land, from way up in the air…
Thanks for the compliment, 3rd Culture Children, and I love your post too, the curve of that inlet over to the right and the sliver of beach is just gorgeous. xxx Ailsa
BEAUTIFUL picture of that hill….the dam I’m not fond of–not because it’s not a lovely picture, but because of how horrible dams are for the environment, for fish, and for people overall. I’ll have to see if I can’t come up with something for this travel theme…I’m thinking of curves in the bark of redwoods and in mushroom caps, for starters…. =)
–Love and Liberation–
Jan @ TheRewildWest
Ooh, redwood bark and mushroom caps, sounds like some serious curves, looking forward to your post, Jan. xxx
See below, I linked! =)
A curv-a-ceous theme
Haha, thanks travtrails! xxx
Welcome…Indra (Travtrails)
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Ailsa, I was immediately attracted by the curve of the dam … so here’s my contribution. Within my portfolio, the first of the two pictures represents one of my favourite curves at the moment. I hope You like it too: http://empireoflights.com/2012/09/01/le-citta-e-il-gioco-3/
Really beautiful photos, Tobias, that top one is particularly lovely! xxx Ailsa
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Love the top shot Ailsa. Here’s mine for this week. http://ayearinmyshoes.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/travel-theme-curves/
Gorgeous, Livvy, a taste of the East in British Columbia. Curvalicious. xxx
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Here is my ‘Curve’.
Lovely shot of Kimigahama beach curving out to sea, summerfield84. xxx Ailsa
Thank you for your reply , very much.
And thank you for joining in the travel theme 🙂
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