Daily Dose of Fall #31

Now this is scary! ©Carol Leigh

Happy Halloween!

©Carol Leigh

Spooky pre-Halloween cat . . .

Cats, especially black cats, can look pretty ferocious sometimes! This one was yawning, however, not menacing. Somehow I don't feel reassured. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #30

Shooting from the window of a moving car. Fall color on a very grey Oregon day. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #29

A panoply of cherry leaves! ©Carol Leigh

No Coasters

Photomontage made with painted papers. Available at Fine Art America here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-no-coasters-carol-leigh.html

©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #28

Seen around Half Moon Bay, California, at the peak of "pumpkin season." ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #27

Aspens and sky.
Ahhhhh . . .
©Carol Leigh

Whispers

Acrylic on paper. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #26

Creek in California's eastern Sierra. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #25

This photo was taken through the car window as we drove past a tree farm in Oregon one fall day. The yellow leaves stand out nicely against a darker background. ©Carol Leigh

Time Shadows

This is a photomontage I created using primarily old Japanese paper. I like how the two thin triangular elements make me think of the hands of a clock as well as chopsticks. Available from Fine Art America here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/time-shadows-carol-leigh.html
©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #24

Half Moon Bay, California is delightful year-round, but particularly in autumn, when pumpkins, squashes, and scarecrows abound. I found this vignette in one of the area's many pumpkin patches. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #23

Red paper gives me a bold background for the leaf.

Same leaf, four different looks. This is a leaf from a flowering red currant, one of three bushes in our back yard that the deer seem to adore. I salvaged this leaf, pressed it, and then photographed it sitting on top of four different backgrounds.

This fall, if you have a pretty leaf handy, try setting it on various backgrounds. Shoot it straight-on and see what you think. Instant autumn! ©Carol Leigh

A piece of paper that was painted with blue and light brown watercolors creates a light and somewhat ethereal look.

Chris found a piece of rust for me to use, and I think I like this one the best.

And finally, yet another (old and discolored) paper creates the background here.

Daily Dose of Fall #22

This is a favorite photo of mine, taken maybe 10 years ago. I like the simplicity, the composition (with a high horizon line), and the texture. Just one more way of saying "autumn." ©Carol Leigh

Bunny in Blue

This began with a photo I took of a rabbit that was painted on a vintage toy box. Available at Fine Art America (without the matting you see here). http://fineartamerica.com/featured/bunny-in-blue-carol-leigh.html

©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #21

As I was walking across a meadow near Hope Valley, California last week, I was struck by how the semi-backlit willows really stood out, so I created a layered sort of composition, with the lighter-colored weeds in front, then the willows, and then the yellow aspens that stand out nicely against the dark pine trees in the very back. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #20

Aspens reflected in stream, photographed this past week near Sorensen's Resort, California. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #19

Photographed at Jordan Basin in California's eastern Sierra. The water in the stream reflected blue sky, making the colorful pair of aspen leaves look really good. I love this picture. ©Carol Leigh

All play and some work...

It's been a magical week, relaxing, laughing, photographing, no computer work to be done other than occasional iPadding, feeling a delicious remoteness. (I prepped the "Daily Dose of Fall" postings before I left town.)

Chris and I have been staying with friends in Lake Tahoe, thoroughly enjoying exploring and shooting fall color, ranging from extraordinary panoramic vistas to a single aspen leaf. (A hiker on the trail said, "Yup, those 'quakies' are looking pretty good!")

I've been taking the photos, keeping them on the memory cards, unreviewed, to be processed when we return home in a few days.

Photography is my job and my love. How wonderful to be able to photograph in an aspen grove and then use the experience to write an article about seeing and preconceptions. So right now I'm mostly playing and plan on returning to "work" next week. 

Wishing you many days of play with good friends as well as satisfaction in your work.

Daily Dose of Fall #18

Taken from the window of a moving car. I used a 70-200mm lens at 87mm, ISO 100, 1/8 second at f/7.1. The key is to look for trees where there's a lot of contrast, such as these dark trunks that stand out well against a lighter background. Everything depends on the speed of the car, the smoothness of the road, the light, your focusing, and when you decide to click the shutter. It's a crapshoot. But it's a fun crapshoot! ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #17

Aspens in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The light wasn't great and the background behind the aspens was sort of messy. What's a photographer to do? I set my ISO to 100 and my aperture to f/29. With an exposure of 1/3 second, I moved my camera upward (or downward) during the exposure, causing the colors to streak together. The result is an impressionistic look at fall aspens. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #16

This photomontage was made using my photos of string, a couple of cherry leaves, handwriting, paint, and texture, all blended together. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #15

At the same garage sale where I got the oak leaves (see yesterday's post, #14), I purchased a bag full of oak leaves that had some oak galls attached. Yup, still kind of creepy, but I thought they were really fascinating. Here's a link to how they're formed, which is basically by a cynipid wasp laying her eggs in the oak tissue: http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Wildflower/plant-Gall-Oak.html ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #14

 At a garage sale a few years ago I bought a plastic bag full of oak leaves. (Who would even think to sell these things? And who would actually buy them?) I also had some acorns I'd collected somewhere. (Note: If you collect acorns off the ground, put them in your pockets, and then reach in a day or so later to pluck them out, beware! Little maggoty things will have come out of the acorns, making your plucking experience totally gross!) Once I got over this life-altering experience and having washed my hands numerous times, I set up the acorns on the oak leaves and took some photos. ©Carol Leigh, still shuddering from the experience...

Daily Dose of Fall #13

This gorgeous tree lives in Silverton, Oregon. If you walk along the main street, next to the river, you can see it on the other side. Sublime. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #12

A beautiful sight in California's eastern Sierra, taken a number of years ago. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #11

I painted a piece of paper and set a weathered rhododendron leaf on top. I like how the leaf stands out from, yet seems a part of, my hand-painted background. ©Carol Leigh

Desert Windows

I like the sun-washed look of this image, created using my photos of walls and a palm tree. The colors, the softness, the concept of light through windows — they make me think of my time spent living for four years in Palm Springs. Brutal summers, gorgeous winters, a time I'll never forget. This image is available at Fine Art America here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/desert-windows-carol-leigh.html
©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #10

Walking around the block I found this sprig of cedar. I liked the warm, golden colors and so took the sprig home, put it on top of a leather-covered book, and that's it! Instant fall. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #9

A quintet of cherry leaves with purple fabric behind them. This is an old photo, but a favorite of mine. The colors just scream, don't they? I used a needle and black thread to sew the stems together and then dangled them in front of the lens. During the exposure, I moved the purple fabric around behind the leaves to create a soft background. Then, in Photoshop, I cloned away the black thread between each stem. Done on the kitchen counter, using window light. Got leaves? Got thread? You're in business! ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #8

It's little "intimate landscapes" such as this that I miss about not being in California's eastern Sierra right now. The starkness of the aspen trunks stand out nicely against a golden yellow leafy backdrop. ©Carol Leigh, pining for aspens...

Daily Dose of Fall #7

I found these leaves in Asheville, North Carolina. They were in deep shade, which has a bluish tinge; the leaves also were sort of a bluish-green, so the whole thing worked out well. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #6

These are the last of the summer flowers that remain into early fall. Photographed at Half Moon Bay, California. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #5

Lone aspen tree in the eastern Sierra. I miss not making my yearly trips to California's eastern Sierra, which is one of my favorite areas in the world. From big vistas to intimate vignettes such as this, the place is a photographer's dream. Wishing you fine photo dreams this fall. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #4

Sometimes all it takes is one leaf in a parking lot to make a pretty image. I found this one here in Waldport, Oregon at the Alsea Bay Overlook. ©Carol Leigh

Reflect on these . . .

Lately, reflections of fishing boats have caught my eye and captured my heart. Depending upon the wind, the light, and the current, they move, morph, and mystify. My job is to give them some sort of structure (ha!), color, depth, and design. Here you see seven examples, photographed in Astoria, Oregon during the past few weeks. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #3

Waterfall at Silver Falls State Park, Silverton, Oregon. One of the prettiest parks I've visited here in Oregon, and fall color makes it even more special. October's a particularly good time to visit, and I highly recommend it. ©Carol Leigh

Daily Dose of Fall #2

Pumpkin in blue. I like the complementary colors of this orange pumpkin set against a blue background and how the surrounding darker area of the photo makes the pumpkin sort of gleam. ©Carol Leigh