Tiptoeing . . .

We spent about an hour at the tulip fields on Tuesday, taking advantage of slightly overcast skies. When the sun emerged, we departed. Glorious time. Lovely flowers. Not a horrendous amount of people.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Last "3" photo of the month

The last “3” in the wretched “post one ‘3’ per day throughout March, the third month of the year” project. I thought this was going to be easy. Luckily for me, it wasn’t.

Luckily? Well, yeah. Because once I got going, I realized I didn’t want to post just old stuff; I wanted to add new images to the mix, or look at older images with new eyes, use newer skills, and just experiment and play. Nothing like a little challenge to get the photo mojo moving again.

And of the 31 photos I posted, 16 of them are either new or re-worked images. Not bad. I messed around with the cellphone camera, created a “3” made out of Scotch tape, pumped up the color on a khaki-colored building, found a “3” in a pinball machine, created a very cool “3” using polka-dotted tissue paper, made a super-colorful “3,” put a “3” behind bars, shot a scale in an antique shop, walked a boatyard to find a “3” atop a building, turned Queen Elizabeth purple, tried some Nik filters, took an out-of-focus picture of an image in a magazine and turned it into a cartoon-like shot, and hung out at an elevator on the third floor of a hotel.

Not a bad month.

What about this “3?” Well, when I work with papers and paint and glue, I put down brown kraft paper on my counter to protect it. I use the paper to remove paint from brayers, from paintbrushes, to look at ink colors, to scribble on, and to test out rubber stamps. Once the paper is pretty much covered, I photograph bits of it to keep in the computer, and then use the original paper in collages and to make envelopes.

What you’re seeing here is my brush-cleaning paper with a lot of white gesso on it, some rubber stamps, some scribbles, and a big ol’ “3.” The “3” was added digitally. It’s a photo of a rubber stamp that I just added to the mix as a focal point, more or less. The rest of the stuff was all on the paper.

There you have it. Thirty-one days of posting a picture of the number “3.” Could you do the same thing? (What? Are you INSANE? Who in their right mind would want to?) I don’t regret it. It pushed me in a variety of directions I otherwise probably wouldn’t have gone in. I made a “desperation collage” that gave me an idea for a project I’m working on, which is good.

And maybe I’ve possibly inspired one or two of you to give yourself an assignment and see if you can follow it for a month. It’ll drive you crazy, but it will definitely make you a better photographer!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Just one more day to go

Just one more day to go! Hooray! There’s nothing really special about this “3.” It’s my favorite fishing boat “3” that I’ve used in so many of this month’s photos. This time I combined it with a photo I took of the shadows in a room, where two walls and a ceiling come together. The complementary colors of blue and orange are appealing, as is the shadowing.

I’ve already done tomorrow’s final “3” picture. Did it this morning just to have the whole thing out of the way and done with.

So are you sick of “3’s?” (Now there’s a punctuation smorgasbord!) Yeah. So am I. Am I tempted to continue with “4’s” in April? Let me think . . . NO!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Third floor . . .

We were in Mt. Vernon yesterday, checking out the tulip fields, and then staying overnight so that Chris could have cataract surgery this morning. (All is well with him, other than forgetting his cellphone in the hotel room this morning.)

Since I needed a “3” for today’s blog post, I noticed when we got out of the elevator, on the THIRD floor, that there was a big silver “3” next to the elevator door frame. Aha. I used the iPhone to take a few shots, knowing they weren’t very good, but maybe I could do something with them.

I brought one into Photoshop, tried adding a texture or two, but the textures didn’t help any. So then I took a look at the Nik filters I’d just gotten. I’ve never used Nik before now, haven’t read any tutorials, don’t know anything about them other than a lot of photographers think they’re great. So I opened up the Nik filters and just started pushing buttons.

There are three photos here. The first one is the Nik “Polaroid Transfer” effect. Which doesn’t look much like a Polaroid transfer, but that’s okay. I kind of liked it. The color’s rather icky, though.

The second photo is the Nik version brought into Topaz, where I toned it down. It’s not wonderful, but it’s okay.

And the third photo is the original shot from the cellphone. Garbage, really, but desperate times call for desperate measures, so I’m showing it to you here to fulfill my ridiculous quest to post a picture of the number “3” every day in March, the third month of the year.

And if any of you have any tips — the simpler the better — for beginning to use Nik filters, please feel free to let me know! Obviously I’m pretty clueless at this point.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Monday, Monday . . .

It was kind of a down morning yesterday. Does this happen to you? You look at what other people are doing, are creating, and all of a sudden you feel like pond scum. You have no talent, no skill, no presence, you don’t know where the heck you’re going. You feel “less than.” Well, that was yesterday morning.

(I’m writing this yesterday morning. Still in my huge funk. By the time you see this, I’m sure all will be well again!)

What to do to get out of this? Keep working. So into the studio where I’m working on a collage on a wooden cradle board. But it’s not going well today. I’ve tried working on various photomontages this morning, too, trying to come up with something new. And that’s not going well, either.

The cure for this is to keep trying to make SOMEthing. I decide to make a collage on a postcard. I have a bunch of very old, blank, 1-cent postcards. I glued down a piece of paper, another, then another, added a stamp, and it’s not looking awful. But guess what? The stamp has a THREE on it! Aha!

So I bring the image into the computer, tone it a bit, add three (three!) golden “moons” up top. I put a circle around the “3” on the (1939) postage stamp. And it’s done.

What have I accomplished? Well, I’ve sort of worked through my overall feeling of “poor me” and angst, have made a physical collage, and have made a mixed-media “3” for my (cursed) daily “3” project.

Soon we’re heading over to our friends’ house, for laughter, Bloody Marys, and good food. I’m sure that will do the trick!

Happy Monday. May today be a great day for us both!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

44%

This is day #27 of my daily “3” project, which feels like it’s been dragging on for six months! But you know what’s good? Of the 27 pictures posted so far, 12 of them are either brand-new images or re-worked older images. Forty-four percent. (Thank you, C2, for making me more aware of percentages!)

Any project, no matter how tedious, that encourages you to make something new, to see something in a different way, to learn new skills, is never a waste of time.

Which brings us to this, um, gem? This morning I was in the studio looking through an art magazine. I took out my cellphone and, using an effect called “Slow Shutter,” took a photo of an image in the magazine. I don’t even remember what the image originally looked like, but I include the picture here so you can see what “Slow Shutter” came up with. It’s dull, flat, out of focus, and sort of boring.

But I wondered if there was anything I could do to pump it up and incorporate a number “3.” I brought the cellphone shot into Photoshop. I made a large “3” and then colored it red. I copied it, did something else to it, then copied it again, did something else. So now I have three vibrant “3’s.” On top of an out-of-focus pale background. Still boring.

I went to Topaz Simplify 4 and used one of their sketch effects and came up with this. Ta da! At least it’s not dull and boring. It’s colorful, strange, fun, and I will probably never ever do anything with this picture. But… But…

All I did was play and ask myself, “what if?” What if I took a cellphone shot of this magazine picture. What if I moved the phone while I did so? What if I used the resulting image as a background for my daily “3” project? What if I made it bright and colorful?

And even though I probably won’t do anything more with this picture, it’s the process that’s important. It’s the concept of play, of having no expectations, of just trying things.

Unlike some mad scientist, I didn’t set anything on fire. Nothing exploded. No pixels were harmed in the making of this photo.

I figure any day you have fun, make something colorful, and don’t explode in the process, that’s a very good day.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Something from 2009, something from 2016

Rather than relying on previously-created "3's" to post for my "daily 3" project, I'm creating new ones as well. Otherwise, what's the point, really? I'm trying to experiment, to learn.

Apparently I've not learned to put my "3" anywhere but lower right, lower center, or completely centered. Hmmmm... must work on that.

This is a "3" I photographed on my birthday back in 2009. (Some gals want to be taken to dinner but not me! It's my day and I'll spend it among fishing boats if I want!) The three was orange against a dark blue hull.

I added peeling paint and metal texture I'd shot at Fort Casey here a few weeks ago. Added a few more rivets, and it's done. And only five more days to go until this project is done!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Royal Purple "3"

I was trying to come up with something different this morning. Here on my desk is a wooden box full of postage stamps, stamps that I scan and use in my work a lot.

My thinking was, is there a prominent "3" on some stamp that I could scan and then tweak for this month's "daily 3" project?

Queen Elizabeth saved the day.

Below you see the original postage stamp (vintage 1963). When I moved in closer, I could see every engraved/etched line and dot on her profile. It was fascinating.

I needed to move the "3" up closer to her so that I could get rid of all the unnecessary elements in the stamp and just focus on her head and, of course, the number "3."

That wasn't enough, however, for me to make the stamp look truly different. I checked out a variety of effects in Topaz, and opted for this one, a sketching effect that really exaggerates the etched lines and dots.

As J.K. Rowling would write, "mischief managed." I'm good to go for another day.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Three du jour

I'm beginning to hit the dregs of my threes. This is a photomontage I made years ago, a combination of a "3," the side of a big metallic box I found at the harbor in Newport, Oregon, and some drippy paint pictures. I like the colors and the moodiness. Were I to do it again, I'd lighten and brighten the entire image. And if I can find the original sometime today, I just might do that, and will edit this post to show you what I mean.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Double three

It was a terrific day in Port Townsend yesterday. Good shooting at the boat yard. Got the copper nails I needed. Had lunch at Doc's Marina Grill. Then we had a decision to make: where to go next? The bunkers? The library? We had maybe an hour or so before our ferry reservation. So it was back to the boat yard! The lighting was different, my eye was different, but the shooting (for me) was still great.

Here's the roofline of building #3. At the corner of "3" and "3." Blue building, blue sky, bright red "3's," what's not to like?

Wishing you blue buildings, blue skies, and bright red accents.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Three on a bus

Even though this daily “3” practice is sort of a pain, I’m getting a lot out of it. This is a “3” I found on the side of an old bus in California in 2009. It was very faded, which was appropriate. This morning, with a bit more skill and a few more tools (plus a touch of desperation), I revisited that “3,” grunged it up a bit, and I like it even more now.

What I especially like are the THREE rivets up top, and how the darker, weathered area at the bottom acts as a sort of anchor. The “3” hovers between the two, contained, just bobbing up and down.

And now off for a very good day in Port Townsend. (Always a good day when a ferry ride is involved.) The purpose of the trip is to get some square copper nails for a project I’m working on. And I sure hope to be able to show it to you in the next few days or so. But then there are other possibilities: perhaps a quick visit to some military bunkers, maybe (and more likely) to a boat yard or two, and then there’s the library, which I hear is just spectacular. Boats, bunkers, books — what’s not to like?

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll find another “3” somewhere along the line . . .


©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Three squared

I almost forgot today's "3." This is an old one, but I still like it. I especially like the little tracks running across the frame from lower left to upper right. I photographed my friend Jan Nicholas's shirt years ago that had this design on it. You just never know when little things like this will come in handy.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Latest work: "Beach Barrier Abstract"

This all began with a photo I took of scratches on a fishing boat hull. To that I added photos of painted walls, antique Japanese book pages, hand-painted paper, and cardboard. Crazy fun to make! The colors, the “fence,” give me a beach vibe, hence the title.

 ©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

On a scale of 3 . . .

Friday we stopped at an antique mall in the town of Thorp, Washington. The first floor was all fresh local fruits and jams, jellies, candy, etc. (Learned about Opal apples.) The second and third floors were full of . . . stuff. Old stuff. With the number "3" on my mind, I zeroed in on this old scale, took a shot with my cellphone, job done.

Bought a packet of 10 old metal buttons, each one different. Why? I'm sure I'll find SOMEthing to do with them!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Another Pima Three

Found at the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. Love the colors. I know I'm weird, but when I saw this "3," I began hyperventilating. Just adore this sort of thing!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Trained three

This is a vent on the side of a railroad car I photographed a very long time ago, probably at the Portola Railroad Museum in California. I added a few rivets and a big "3." And so today's "3" assignment has been fulfilled.

Am I ready for all this to be over? Oh, yeah. But I have to say, it's been good for me to always have this on my mind, and it's a good exercise for thinking about how to create additional images. No self-assignment is ever wasted.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Time for Three

Today's "3" comes from a clock face I photographed. I then added photos of clock hands and part of a sign I photographed at the Getty Museum years ago.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Lillian Fowler

Lillian Fowler knows the hat looks ridiculous. But defies you to say one word about it.

(I bought this cabinet card at an antique shop last week just because I loved the hat and the woman's expression. Someone had penciled "Lillian Fowler" on the back. I looked up the photographer, Dennis B. Nye, and learned that he operated a studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota between 1884 and 1904. He then moved to South Dakota.)

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

3 Behind Bars

I have a folder in the computer called “Works in Progress,” a place where I put images that I’ve been working on but that aren’t quite finished, or I’m not quite sure about, images that I’ve worked hours on but darned if I’m going to toss them out quite yet. I should rename the folder “Optimism.”

Today’s “3” began in 2013. And it began as the letter “C.” But desperate times call for desperate measures, so I turned the “C” into a “3” and called it done!

I like it both as a full-frame image and as a square, so it’s presented here twice. Three squared.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Today's daily dose of "3"

This is a “3” montage I made six years ago and set aside to include in this March madness of “a 3 a day.” But when I looked at it this morning and was wondering what to say about it, I couldn’t remember what I used to put it all together. So I went back to the original files.

Six years ago I was apparently throwing everything into the mix. In this case, I began with a photo I took of an old trunk in the Cedros district of San Diego. The old peeling papers made a good base on which to put my numbers. The big “3” is from the side of an old fishing boat (and apparently I’ve used this same “3” in lots of my number pictures — tried and true). The “2” is also from a boat, and the “5” is an iron number you might use on the front of your house, showing your address.

There are also a lot of subtle numbers, such as a “6055” from a nautical chart, and a “25” from a burlap bag used to hold coffee beans (Old Town San Diego). I also photographed rivets on the Alsea Bay Bridge in Waldport, Oregon, and threw those into the mix.

In one version I also created a cruciform sort of object. That was my final step, and now, six years later, I see that it’s a step too far. It clutters up the whole picture. To show you what I mean, you can compare the two versions. Just because I could, I shouldn’t have.

So there you have today’s daily dose of “3.”

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Latest work: "Pastel Colors Calligraphy"

My daily routine begins around 4:30 a.m., and I use the next few hours to just play around with my images. What if I combine this with that? What if I rotate it? What if I introduce this particular color? What happens then? No plans, no rules, just experimentation. The result is often a delightful surprise, and that’s what happened here.

I had been photographing military bunkers on the Washington coast, looking for interesting patterns on weathered walls. I combined a number of those photos together and then added photos of torn Japanese papers from an antique screen.

The color palette is unusual, the design is simple, and I like the left-right feeling of movement that runs across the image. A good morning indeed!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

International Pi Day!

It's International Pi Day! Here's the link to the official website (good luck, though, it's BUSY today): http://www.piday.org

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

It's all part of the process

Based on how well I liked my previous polka-dotted “3,” I thought I’d try something similar with another one. I’m showing you the versions I went through (not ALL of them, because they’d make you as crazy as they made me) and then the final version.

I found this “3” back in 2005, probably on the side of a fishing boat, maybe on the side of a dumpster. I liked the golden colors, the rust, the texture.

Then I added a tan-colored texture to the picture and came up with a very different, very muted, yet very colorful version of the “3.” I was intrigued. But the “3” seemed to blend in too much, no real differentiation from the background.

So in the third photo, I darkened the “3.” Not bad.

But what if I add polka dots and some color? (The fourth photo.) Well, now it’s looking kind of muddy.

So finally, in desperation, I turned to Topaz Impression and brightened the colors, softened the background, but kept the texture sharp on the “3.” (Final photo.)

By now, I just didn’t care any more! I do like the final version, but in my heart I know it’s weird and rather gimmicky. And yet, and yet… I’ll revisit it in a few years and see what I think. But I’ve worked this damned “3” to death and it’s time to move on.

You’re probably thinking the same thing about now…

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Destined for the trash heap

This is a “3” I made three years ago, beginning with a macro photo of a metal tag. To that initial photo of a “3” I then added another photo of metal scratches, a photo of an ink spill, a photo of rust, and the stripes came from part of a photo I’d taken of a fishing boat reflected in water.

The sad part is that when it was all done, it’s just not sharp enough for me to do anything with other than include it here in my daily “3” project. Sometimes when you work really hard on something, it’s tough to throw it all away, isn’t it?

I do like this concept, however, and so I may go back to all the original images I used for it, find the out-of-focus culprit, and see what I can do to fix it. If it can’t be fixed to my satisfaction then ENOUGH! Out it goes! Maybe . . .

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

What's your quest?

I’m going to harp on this because I think it’s important. If you’re serious about your photography, about improving your work, about making your work your own, unique to you and nobody else, a “quest” of sorts will encourage you to experiment, to try, to fail, and to try again.

This month’s project is to post a picture of the number “3” every day. There are 31 days in March, and I have only twenty-some pictures. I need to create more. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! No pressure, right?

If I were a different sort of person, I might blow off the last week of the month, figuring enough is enough. But it’s a cool challenge, and it’s a challenge I know will help me grow. Everywhere I’ve gone this month I’ve been looking for “3s,” so it’s an exercise in seeing (always a good thing). And I’ve also been encouraged to look through my own files for pictures of “3s” I might have forgotten about. And I’ve also been encouraged to find a boring “3” and try to pump it up. If it ends up looking horrible, that’s okay.

The important thing is that at least I’m trying, and in trying I might just learn something new.

That’s what happened with this morning’s “3.” Let me give you a peek into what I did.

I found a “3” that I’d photographed on the side of a metal fishing boat in March of 2011. The photo is boring, but the “3” is cool. I took the picture knowing that I would tweak it later and create something new with it. This was my starting point.

So yesterday I wondered, what if I added some dots to it? What would that do? I scanned a piece of tissue paper, white with black dots on it, and added it to the mix. Hmmmm. Not bad. But still boring. So then I added a photo of painted paper, paper from my studio that I’d used to clean paintbrushes and rollers (last photo).

I then did a few other things, added some shadowing around the “3,” etc. and declared the picture done. I liked it so much that I uploaded it yesterday to Fine Art America. Will it sell? Probably not, because few of my number photographs do, but that’s okay. I think it’s good. I’m proud of it. And (pay attention now) NO ONE ELSE CAN CREATE A NUMBER LIKE THIS.

Can you say that about your own work? I’m not saying go make your own photomontages. I’m saying please experiment. How can you shoot a slot canyon and make it unlike all the millions of slot canyon photos out there? How can you make a photo of a California poppy that stands out from the rest? How can you make your quilt, your collage, your assemblage art, whatever, be unique to you?

You start with baby steps. Begin experimenting, whether it’s with software, composition, technique, viewpoint, fabric, papers, etc. Give yourself a quest. What will you work on this month that could take you out of your comfort zone?

If you’re a photographer, oh, man, it’s so easy! Got a cellphone? Got an app? Pick one app and work it for a month. I mean really work it. Look online for tutorials. Keep testing. Can you use that same app on pictures you’ve taken with a DSLR as well? What pictures do you already have that maybe can be transmogrified using that same app?

 You’re going to create a lot of crap. Who cares?

Keep creating. Eventually you will either discard the idea entirely, or you will suddenly be inspired. Aha! Yes! That worked great. Are there other images to which I can apply that same technique? Can I make a series of this, or that?

I’m babbling. What I’m trying to say is that throughout your creative life, it’s all just practice. You work on something, maybe you perfect it, maybe you don’t, but everything you do increases your artistic knowledge and your skills. So you continue. Building on what you learned before.

Maybe dots isn’t the right component for something, maybe it’s squares. Maybe it’s silver squares! Maybe it’s silver squares, duplicated, then flipped horizontally and toned green. Try it! Who cares if it’s garbage? Eventually you’re going to discover something that works and it will surprise the hell out of you. It’ll be an “aha” moment that will push you further into your own unique way of seeing and making.

I took a plain photograph of an ordinary “3” and made something completely different. Something that’s unique to me. Something I like well enough to offer it for sale.

All because I gave myself a quest and acted on it. That’s all. A simple little quest. What’s your quest these days? Hmmmmm?




©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

A Bandon 3

Although this looks like a photomontage, it's a very cool "3" that I found as-was in Bandon, Oregon years ago. Once again I like the complementary colors of orange and the triangle of blue in the background.

Intermittent power outages here as winds move through. Computer battery backups have been clicking on and off. Apparently high winds are hitting both the Washington and Oregon coasts right now. Wishing everybody affected warm and safe havens.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Full-tilt three

Yesterday we went off-island so I could get some square copper nails at the Wooden Boat Chandlery in Port Townsend. It’s always a fun trip, involving a ferry ride, visiting the Chandlery, some antique shops, lunch at Doc’s Grill, and salivating over the ship hulls I’m going to be shooting once it gets just a tad warmer.

in the back of my mind, however, I was thinking I really need to find some more number “3s” to shoot for this ridiculous project I created for myself of posting a picture of the number “3” every day. Right now I just have 28 pictures. Must find some more.

The fun thing about having a quest is that it gets you looking a bit closer. If I hadn’t had “3s” on my mind, I would have missed this one. There was an old pinball machine in an antique mall. Hmmmm. Could there possibly be… YES! There it was. A cute little “3” just waiting for me. I used my cellphone, leaned over the machine (undoubtedly forcing a TILT had the machine been turned on), and took this shot of the number “3.” Done!

Is it terrific? Worthy of uploading to Fine Art America? Nope. But it’s the best I could do with the “camera” I had with me. The “3” is sharp. I like the faded vintage colors. I pumped up the saturation a bit on the number itself so that it would stand out more, but it’s not overly exaggerated.

I’m all about the looking, the noticing, the making something out of seemingly nothing. To do that, however, it often helps to have a quest in your mind. It could be stripes, shadows, circular forms, high-key images, mailboxes, etc. Or maybe just the number 3. Anything to get you out there seeing.

If you can’t see it, you can’t shoot it.

You can quote me on that.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Daily dose of three

At the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Arizona, they have some buildings with stylized numbers on them. The structures are painted a rather monochromatic grey, but the numbers, the graphics, are very bold. So in my quest to post a picture of the number “3” every day, I came across this one.





The bottom photo is what I saw. The top photo is what I made.

As you can see, the sky that day was grey (echoing the overall look of the building), so I made it blue. And then I used a picture I took of a torn piece of paper, combined it with the building, enhanced the color a bit, and came up with this. I like the complementary colors of blue and orange; I also like all the straight, severe lines and the contrasting curves of the number “3.”

If you ever have the pleasure of visiting the Pima Air Museum, take a look at the buildings that are off to your left as you go outside. Very cool numbers to be had there!

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Around the island . . .

Over at Fort Casey on Whidbey Island there’s a big searchlight, and next to it is an old generator that has the most glorious peeling paint and lettering on it. I’m sure EVERY photographer visiting the area has shot that generator, or at least CONSIDERED shooting that generator. I was no exception the other day as we were doing some exploring.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Daffodils in the Skagit Valley

We drove over to the Skagit Valley yesterday to check on the daffodil/tulip blooms. It was extreeeeeemly cold and extreeeeeemly windy. But fun! The daffodils are in full flower, big fields gleaming bright yellow. Lovely to see. Huge challenge to photograph. Not even using a barn to break the wind worked well. Impossible to keep the camera steady, and the daffodils were whipping back and forth faster than I used to whip my hair back in the ‘80s . . . but I digress . . .

So, what about the tulips? Not one to be seen. We stopped at Roozengarde and asked. They expect great blooms around the end of March. We shall be back.

A number of years ago I led a photo workshop in this area and won’t forget talking to some gentlemen from Scotland, cycling through, having a wonderful time looking at the “daffodoolies.” And since that time they’ve always been daffodoolies to me. Thank you, Scotland.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!

Three on the seventh

This “post a #3 picture every day in March” exercise has proven challenging, which is good. I’ve been looking at images I created years ago, seeing them in a slightly different way, and have been encouraged to make a few changes.

Here’s an example.

I originally created the second image in 2009. At the time, I liked the sort of dark, understated look. Today, I think it’s kind of dull. So I altered it using some Topaz effects, which you see in the first picture.

To show you what the photomontage is made of, I also include here a picture of the original “3,” which was on the side of a fishing boat in Oregon. To that image, I added a picture of some painted brush strokes and dots I’d made in the studio, a scribble of sorts that I thought I could use in a montage some day. That’s it.

I find the brighter “3” photomontage more appealing than the original. Am I in love with it? Shall I offer it for sale on Fine Art America? Nah. I think it’s kind of interesting, and it works well for this “3” project, but as a standalone image? I don’t think so. Today.

I hope you’re finding my “3” postings interesting. I’m trying to give you a peek into my thought processes, my technical processes, rather than just grabbing a “3” from my files and moving on.

©Carol Leigh
All text, photographs, and other media are ©Copyright Carol Leigh (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Carol Leigh. Thank you!