This week’s challenge is brought to us by Ann-Christine of Leya. She writes, “On a visit to Gothenburg last week, I was mesmerized by some intriguing curves, in nature and at a museum…so, this week, I thought we would find more examples of curves: funny, beautiful, unusual – roads, paths, art, architecture, animals, plants – anything that interests you. Because, curves are everywhere around us. In nature almost everything is – curves.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

I start with the gentle curves of the petals of a rose blossom. Even the single rose leaf in the background features a complex curve.

Architecture often features curves, from the arches above windows and below bridges to the curves of spiral staircases. I have many examples I could have chosen, but I chose this beautiful building in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Canadian Museum of Human Rights generated controversy from its inception to its opening in 2014. The design, however, is truly beautiful with those gentle curves of glass.

On a flight over Houston in a small plane, I was impressed by the stack of bridges needed to route traffic off the I-10 to what I believe is the I-610 loop around the city. The photo was taken several years ago and was not geolocated by GPS, so for this post, I pulled up Google Maps looking for a complex roadmap along the I-10. The most complicated stack is east of the city, and I think I was flying westbound if I recall correctly. Looking at Google Maps, I think that Faust Distributing Company is just left of the I-10, and on the other side of the 610 is Anheuser Busch.

In 2010, North Dakota saw some major flooding. Pilots, observers, and aerial photographers for Civil Air Patrol volunteer for flood patrol duty. Each flight crew is assigned routes that provide the state of North Dakota with imagery that helps the Department of Emergency Services with planning and resource deployment. On this day, I was an aerial photographer and I happened to capture an image that features a gentle set of curves on I-94 as it winds across the Minnesota-North Dakota border at the Red River in Fargo-Moorhead. The river itself provides its own set of curves as it meanders between the two cities. From this vantage point on that date, we could see the river was out of its banks creating minor flooding near the Interstate bridge.

Railroad tracks are, of necessity, gently curved so those long trains can safely stay upright when in high-speed transit. While crossing tracks on foot, one day, I happened to pass behind a line of oil tanker cars sitting on a siding. The cars were awaiting transit to the oil fields of western North Dakota. I couldn’t help but notice the leading lines and repetitive nature of the identical cars as they faded into the distance.

In 2013, for one of my first photo challenge responses, I spotted a freight train sitting on the tracks. The assignment was “curves” for the original WordPress Challenge, and I scouted the downtown area for examples to share.

I was struck by the sheer number of curves in this single image. The tracks, though laid straight east-west in this section, demonstrated a gentle curve upward over a slight rise in the terrain. The train itself showed a gentle curve as it followed the lay of the land. On the right, the fence also curved vertically as it followed the terrain. Even the powerlines exhibit their natural curve as the lines sag between power poles. It’s only too bad that the large yellow sign was visible only from the side in this shot. Had I been able to have a more frontal view, you would have seen the unmistakable curves of those golden arches of a nearby McDonald’s restaurant.

Several of these images were reprocessed in Luminar Neo and Adobe Lightroom to make them available in 2K HD on my Flickr site. You can click on one of them to pixel peep, or you can check out the entire album here.

Thanks to Ann-Christine for the challenge this week. Next week, it’s Amy’s turn. If you’d like to participate in these challenges each week, click here to find out how.

John Steiner