Borders, barriers and boundaries

The theme for this challenge is Borders, barriers and boundaries.

Borders are geometry made real. Lines in the dirt, in the mind or on a map; physical, aesthetic, social or political. They can encapsulate and enhance beauty, define regions of safety and comfort, or hazardous no-go zones. They can unite and divide people, and lay the foundations of war.

Borders can control and guide the course of our lives, the effect may be subtle, invisibly compelling, like gravity, or may be stark like the padlocks on the door, or the medicine that isn't delivered to this post-code.

Boundaries can inspire goals and ambitions; obstacles to be overcome, challenges to be met.

This is a broad topic. Technically compositional, dark and dangerous, social commentary, political, and everything in-between. It's your playground, define your own boundaries but make them real within the context of the picture.

So what's not on topic? The most obvious is simply taking a nice picture of anything and giving it a border. The border, boundary or barrier must be real to the context of the picture. That doesn't mean the border must be visible, an athlete straining for (or passing) the finishing post would not need to show the finish line (boundary) if the expressions of the body told the story.

The Simpsons movie wild-card.

As a little twist in celebration of the launch of The Simpsons Movie, if you wish, one of your 'Lisa' entries (the type described above) may forgo the border theme in favour of a 'Homer' entry which simply has to be 'The Simpsons' related. Doh!

Push your boundaries, have fun!
-Najinsky

Challenge Starts: Friday, July 27th, 2007 0:00 UTC
Challenge Ends: Tuesday, August 7th 2007 23:59 UTC

Voting Begins: Wednesday, August 8th 2007 0:00 UTC
Voting Ends: Thursday, August 9th 2007 23:59 UTC

Link to discussion Thread is Here: Part 1
Voting will take place Here: Vote booth
Voting thread: When you've voted, please confirm your vote in the voting thread.

Challenge Information and Rules: Challenge FAQ