For Challenges like this I often like to look at the photos of a recent trip (in this case France) and go through all of them (in this case ~3000) trying to select photos that match (in this case Side views). In the process I often learn new things.

I found that in many images it wasn’t always clear as to what was a side view and what wasn’t.

Initially, it seemed to me, that the only things in this batch of photos that consistently had ‘sides’ were living creatures and vehicles.

Side-view of Al knocking back a grateful beer after I’ve dragged him to ten, fifteen little art galleries in Paris.
A person walking beside a mural on a hoarding in Paris.I rarely photograph side views of cars and trucks. This was a toy model of a vintage delivery truck of Rogeron Biscuits in the Car Musée in Reims.

Almost all my car/truck shots are three quarters view, probably because the straight-on side views were often not that dynamic.

Side view of sand yacht (a vehicle) in Dunkirk, France.Dynamic not-a-side-view of the same sand yacht captures the motion more, although  he is possibly a bit small – he was going by so fast I couldn’t catch him. Also it helps that the light is more dramatic here. Light helped created interesting silhouettes in the Basilique Saint Remi in Reims.
Grape vines carved on the black railing that frames a white marble staircase in the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) in Reims.  

Buildings have sides too. But in cities buildings are often crammed in tight to the next building, and when you do see them they are often featureless and boring.

However, this side view of the exterior of the front of Cathedral in Reims shows off its rather unique creature gargoyles.
And the featureless side walls become something else if someone puts a mural on them, such as this black and white mural of arms handing out odd items to the blue bicycles stationed in front. The bikes (vehicles) are photographed from behind though.Script lettering and soccer balls swirl across the blank side wall in this slightly 3D mural on a building in Paris. Here the bicycle (vehicle) on the sign is a side view, one that is instantly recognizable, and I would say that would be true of most vehicles. Dan Sabatay is the ceramic artist who designed this art work on the side wall that frames the Jussieu Place, part of the Sorbonne University in Paris. Then I noticed that these stairs were photographed from the side. And these stairs are on one SIDE of the Seine River.Which made me think there’s the SIDE of the road. This shot was taken from the side window of the car on the way to the Opal Coast of France: a field of pale yellow wheat with the ocean and its soft blue-green water behind. And here’s a field of canola beside the road, although the closest canolas at the bottom of the image are slightly blurred. We ‘fly’ by fields of canola, bless their little genetically-modified hearts, they are like fields of sunshine on this grey day, and their pleasant floral scent invades the car. This is a screen grab from a video – an interesting experiment to try and grab side view shots with motion, another way to make sideviews more dynamic.

• More on our travels in France.
• More of Dan’s CFFC: Alongside.
• More of the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Live and Learn.