Farmers' Market

Despite a heavy mist, all the vendors were in place this morning at the farmers' market in Newport. And, as usual, everything looked great! I ended up buying a big bunch of purple/orange carrots that the woman next to me said taste great. A big beefsteak tomato, a couple of artichoke heart and parmesan "pockets" and a big loaf of sweet Finnish cardamom bread for breakfast tomorrow also made their way into my bag. Yum! ©Carol Leigh

Lone Horse

Eucalyptus bark, paint smeared on glass, a wooden horse found and photographed in Santa Fe, and more come together here. ©Carol Leigh

Eclipse

©Carol Leigh

I don't know ...

The letter "Y" from the fishing vessel Kylie Lynn appears in three different photomontages. ©Carol Leigh

Fountain Pens

Sometimes you're working along, trying this, trying that, and then something just snaps into place. Which is what happened here, when I began messing around with a photograph of an old fountain pen. ©Carol Leigh

Numbers game

I've never been a numbers person -- I'm a reader, a writer, a former English Lit major -- but the graphic aspect of numbers is quite intriguing to me. And here you see a few examples of how I use them. Much more satisfying to me than those $%&* chemistry equations or whatever it was they tried to teach me in trigonometry. ©Carol Leigh

San Diego Morning

I'm sitting in the back seat of a car early in the morning, condensation on the windows. We pass a wall. We pass palm trees on a bluff. Voila! ©Carol Leigh

Embedded Heart

Metal that I made look like stone, a lid to a small jewelry box, and a reflection of me taking the photograph. Sentimental without being sickly sweet. ©Carol Leigh

Perfect weather!

This has been the most perfect day ever on the Oregon coast. Bit of fog and overcast in the morning, breaking to blue skies and puffy white clouds most of the day, breezy but not too breezy, warm, but not too warm, cool, but not too cool. A quick stop at the docks to check out the fishing boats (not many in -- most are out fishing for tuna), some errands, and then a salad at Georgie's overlooking the ocean and northward toward Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Beautiful.

Here you see the F/V Frances, from Eureka, California, with the bright red F/V Miss Berdie (a local boat) across the way. A crow sits in the rigging of the F/V Ms. Law, sort of a "cat's cradle" look. And then you see the F/V June II in the foreground with fishing boats from Fort Bragg and Eureka in the background. There are a lot of "foreign" boats at the docks right now, mostly from San Francisco, Morro Bay, Washington, and Alaska. Here's hoping that wherever you are, your day has been just as good.©Carol Leigh

Abby in a basket

Abby loves curling up in baskets. But she never smiles for the camera. Nor any other time, for that matter. ©Carol Leigh

Nothing rhymes with orange ...

I attended a classic car show yesterday and became enamored of this orange vehicle. Great color, beautiful reflective chrome, sweet lines. Lovely. ©Carol Leigh

I don't know much about art ...

... but I know it when I see it! ©Carol Leigh

But is it art? Part 2 ...

Sam Hipkins writes: Hello Carol...Several weeks ago, or was it months (I tend to lose track of time)?  Whenever that was, you brought up the age-old question, "Is photography art?"  [Here's the link to that post: http://carolleigh.blogspot.com/2010/05/yeah-but-is-it-art.html] That rang my bell.  I've had many long winded discussions/debates/arguments about photography as art with a whole host of participants. I wasn't always sure where I stood, but after all that work this is where I am now...

All photographs begin with a "spark of interest," something that captures the heart and mind of the photographer. At that moment we either take a picture or we make a picture. That distinction is very important. When we make a picture, we employ a process that makes the lights and darks and colors do precisely what we want them to do and we deliberately place the camera in a spot that shows the objects within the frame in the most powerful way. It's an attempt to somehow make visible the equivalent of what we see and feel, just like Alfred  Stieglitz said. The image is captured and stored on either film or onto a memory card.  From there the process moves into the darkroom, where another set of steps can be employed that enhances what the camera was able to capture. Or it moves to the computer where the photographer employs software to enhance the image or to create something very different.  And all of this is ... photographic craft.

“You can have craft without art, but you cannot have art without craft,” said Ansel Adams.

THE PROCESS DEFINES ART.

Don't get me wrong, I’m not saying point and shoot isn’t capable of creating something lovely to look at. No indeed! Today, any person who has some sensitivity, a bit of knowledge and a modern camera can just aim it and push the button. The chances are very good that among the many photographs there will be beautiful, powerful pictures. BUT they are not art.

Art has always been about the process, a process that first begins within the artist.

There you have it, my two cents worth. I so enjoy my daily visit to your blog, where there is always evidence of craft at work. 

Blue Drive-by

Another version of this same drive-by tree, taken right after the previous one. ©Carol Leigh

Drive-by Fly-by #2

Another attempt to photograph this same tree, and I think this one turned out well. Scratched metal creates some of the texture you see here. ©Carol Leigh

A good morning

A pair of cedar waxwings has been in the area the past few days and this morning I saw one eating berries on a bush outside my living room window. Beautiful, sleek, dramatic-looking birds. And then I went out back where I've got a lot of linaria (toadflax) growing in the yard. It's a weed, but it's a weed that I cultivate because it's just so graceful and pretty. And TALL! I used a 50mm f/1.8 lens along with an extension tube for extremely shallow depth of field. And Marianne, it was your green photos you posted in your blog that encouraged me to use a patch of lemon balm for a clean green background in the last photo. Thank you! ©Carol Leigh

Stop looking at photos? Stop looking at art altogether?

I often espouse that we stop looking so much at photographs and try to look at other forms of art. That by seeing how painters, sculptors, architects, weavers, etc. create their works, how they compose their images, can teach us so much more in a fresher, different way. We then apply what we learn to our photography.

I follow the blog of a watercolorist who divides her time between Maine and New York. In her blog she talks about being immersed in art all the time, but that maybe it's time to stop looking at what others are doing and concentrate more on her own vision and her own work. So here's someone who might be taking my concept, that photographers should stop looking at photographs, to another level, that artists should stop looking at others' art!

She wrote: "Here's the point: in order for me to find my "voice" as an artist, I must stop looking at the work of others and just concentrate on the mental images that appear in my mind. Those are the ones that reflect who I am and how I see things. I don't want to mislead you, there's a good reason to look at the works of other artists. It helps me better understand the possibilities. However, once I've gained enough knowledge from the works of others, I need to shut all that out."

You may wish to read her post as well as read the comments that follow the post. ©Carol Leigh

Roll over!

We passed a shop in Nye Beach yesterday that features gifts for pets. Just had to photograph this sign on the front door. ©Carol Leigh

Feathers

Brush paint on paper, lay a feather (or two) on top, then shoot. ©Carol Leigh

Prime Seven

"Originality exists in every individual because each of us differs from the others. We are all primary numbers divisible only by ourselves." —Jean Guitton, French Philosopher and Theologian

This one's a combination of a piece of copper metal and patina, rivets, and a number from the side of a railroad car. ©Carol Leigh

City Lights

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." —Yogi Berra

I photographed the number "1" on a sign in Florence, Oregon. While in Florence I also shot a drain cover down by the docks. Combining the two made me think of city buildings. Thinking of city buildings makes me feel happy I live in a small town. Living in a small town makes me long for instant access to a Trader Joe's, a Pottery Barn, a Barnes & Noble. But if they were here, my town would be much larger. And too crowded. ©Carol Leigh

Eight Train

Reflections of boats in the water and an "8" from a train come together here. ©Carol Leigh

Purple Reflections

I'm lovin' this tree, and look at how it appears to be reflected in a lake. Love the colors, the texture, everything! Hubba hubba! ©Carol Leigh

Catch of the day . . . no eels

Chris and I watched as a halibut catch (2500 pounds) was offloaded from a fishing boat. These guys sell fresh halibut to a number of restaurants in our area and the fish ranged from 15 pounds (known as "chicks") to 59 pounds (the "Big Berthas"). The bigger fish were in the bottom of the hold and unfortunately we had to leave before those came up.

The fish are hosed down, weighed, and then sorted into three or four different ice-filled containers. It's a family operation, and I asked mom if they were getting good prices. "We're hoping they go up 6% to make up for the 6% increase in tuition at OSU!" Their son, shown here weighing each fish, attends Oregon State University. "Education's expensive!" he says. Obviously no fool. ©Carol Leigh

Aitch

Got up early to make this piece, which is rather different from most of what I do, kind of a restrained and flat color palette. It all began with an "H" on a sign I photographed a couple of weeks ago. I added some plywood that had been painted in stripes, and then added a photo of some cement steps (who wouldn't, right?). Part of a fishing boat reflection snuck in as well.