Simple Geometry

Simple Geometry

All lines, theoretically parallel, converge to a focal point outside the picture.

“These are the simplest geometric forms,” my teacher Helen told us at the school when we had our first contact with Geometry. She was talking about dots, lines, rectangles, triangles, and circles. Although primary forms, we spent long hours studying their formulas, lengths, areas, and volumes. I am wondering how complicated are fractals.

I never forget her name although I do not remember her face. Now, I realize that she was the prototype of a formal teacher after the scripts of the school but, under that rigid behavior, she also was inquisitive and tried to raise our awareness of our surroundings.

One day, towards the end of the class, she started talking about dots. Yes, dots, the most straightforward geometric form. She did not speak about dots; she asked us what a dot was. We looked confused because we learned directly from her and from the books that a dot had no precise definition as it is not defined by any other means. In theory, any geometric form could be formed by a succession of dots (a line, for instance) so close to each other that the line would be seamless. But, is it reasonable to create a dot… From a dot?

She finally asked us to take our pencils and make a dot on a piece of paper and hand it to her. She looked at the documents for some minutes and then selected three of them. “Are you guys seeing these dots? This one is tiny. This other one is thick, and the third one is so light that we can barely see a dot there. They are all dots; yet, they are so different.” Just before the bell rang, she concluded, “Do not let appearances fool you. There are different skin colors, different religions, and different opinions but we all are one same thing: human beings that deserve our space and our rights!”.

Still remembering those words, I associated Geometry and its basic forms through Photography. Like the dots on the paper, the following pictures deal with the same theme and, yet, are different.

Enjoy them without having to go back to school!

No one denies: I see a series of parallel lines, rectangles, diamonds and an ellipsoid.

Triangles and lines. At school, they never said shapes would have colors.

Two parallel lines. What else do you see here?

A bit more complex but still simple circles and a focal point.

A semi-circle and a line providing more light to our knowledge.