Eight Years of November

I took a look at all the photos I've posted in the month of November over the past eight years and selected one from each November for each year. (What a confusing sentence. Darned if I'm going to edit it, though.)

In 2009 snow covered a still-blooming fuchsia bush as well as a cute little birdhouse in our back yard in Waldport, Oregon.

Another year I was out on the beach in Oregon, looking for patterns in the sand. That's one of the big things I miss here on Whidbey Island -- big empty beaches. Miles to walk, and if there were four people out there, it was crowded! There are lots of beaches here, too, but many are private, others are smaller. No huge expanses of sand during minus tides. Not a complaint! Just something I miss.

Below that is a photo taken at the Seal Rock overlook in Oregon. A long exposure helped emphasize water movement and the spray from the waves.

And the fishing boats in Newport, Oregon? I miss them, too, although I've found a few extremely cool places here in Washington to photograph. Just takes a bit more driving to get to them. The fishing vessel "Finn" looks pretty good there on a foggy morning.

Below "Finn" is a photomontage I made out of paper and copper and rusty metal that I call "Northern Lights."

The weird photomontage below that is called "And the Rains Came." I would have to go back to see all the elements I used to create it. But I do remember that the vertical "raindrops" came from a photograph I took of a carved and painted wooden support pole in Santa Fe. Gotta say, the results surprised me. In a good way.

The sepia-toned image is the Coupeville Wharf, taken in 2015 when we moved here to Whidbey Island.

And this year's November shot is called "Experiment #9504." An ongoing series that is simply fun at the moment.

So there you have it. November's been a pretty good month photographically over the years.

©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.

Latest works: "And the Rains Came" plus "Desert Dunes Number 1" and "Desert Dunes Number 2"

I posted all three of these this morning to Fine Art America. As usual, they're rather strange. And, as usual, I tend to like them very much.

Will they sell? I don't know. But if I created images only because I thought they'd sell, that would be a barren, lifeless existence, don't you think? I make these images for me, and if there's one person out there who "gets it," that's great. If not, well, then, I just keep on creating. For me.

I remember, many years ago, when I was actively submitting my work to a stock agency, one of the agency's other photographers wrote that he wished he could just put objects on a conveyor belt and shoot them as they went by. His goal was to get as many pictures to the agency in as short a time as possible. And he did. And he is probably quite successful. And if he is happy with his photography and his pictures, well, what more could one ask? Who am I to question that concept and the resulting work?

The first picture I call "And the Rains Came." It makes me think of receding waters, drought conditions, and how a passing cloud, a spark of light, and a few raindrops can begin healing the Earth. All the individual photographs I used to create this one were taken in Santa Fe.

The second two are photomontages made with more pictures I took in Santa Fe. As I was playing with various images and combining them, all of a sudden I got the feeling of sand dunes, sand dunes in bright sunlight and dunes at night. Ta da!

Wishing you a few "ta da!" moments of your own today. ©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!