Experimenting: Color or Black and White? Full-frame or Square Format?

Original photo, full-frame.

Last month we took the ferry to Port Townsend. It felt weird not getting out of the car and not being on deck during the ride, but it still felt good just to be out, you know?


I took a couple of photos of buildings at the boat yard. Why? I found the way they intersected stark and interesting. 

[Currently I'm having trouble with Blogger putting photographs where I want them to be. The other three photos are at the bottom of this post. Grrrrr.]

Back home, I began a bit of post-processing and wondered how they'd look in black and white. If what I liked about the scene was its starkness and simplicity, maybe the color is too much. And the shapes are so strong, perhaps black and white would emphasize those shapes.

And then, I turned each one into a square. Why? To simplify the composition and to emphasize the shapes and how they overlap even more.

Although I love color, I found it distracting. And square versus full-frame? The wide horizontal look emphasizes movement as your eye follows one building over to another. The square format is rather static because your eye hits the picture and then just stays there, but to me it makes the subject matter seem more important.

My final decision? The simplified square B&W version, followed closely by the B&W full-frame format.

But most of all, it felt good getting outside, going somewhere different, and using my digital SLR camera rather than resorting to the iPhone. Ahhhhh . . .

All images copyright ©2020 Carol Leigh

Square version of original photo.

Full-frame, black and white.

Square, black and white.

 

Unidentified animal lurking in the shingles ...

Is he an alpaca? A floppy-eared giraffe? A long-necked bunny?

Whatever he is, I was startled when he suddenly emerged from his camouflaged location in Port Townsend, Washington.

Fun to see, fun to photograph. So I took two shots -- one full-frame for the overall effect, and one close-up for the details.

Clever art. Surprising art. Made my day.

Images copyright ©2019 Carol Leigh

Boat bits . . .

A couple more "boat bits," strange images but they make me happy in their simplicity.

The top picture is an intake tube of some sort I spotted on the ferryboat "Kennewick" as we left the dock, heading to Port Townsend. The creamy white color stood out well against the blue sky, and I liked the contrast between the curved pipe and the straight line at the bottom.

And then, someone's having a bad hair day! Found on a boat being being re-painted in the boat yard. Always fun to find these "faces in unlikely places."

More snow will be moving in Friday night. And then next week another storm will allegedly pass through. If so, we will have gotten more snow than people here have seen within the past 25 years. Oh, lucky us!

And we've bought our first snow shovel!

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 for your understanding and kindness.

Yesterday's trip to Port Townsend

A few pictures from yesterday's trip over to Port Townsend to photograph whatever happened to catch my eye.

This gull was incredibly happy about taking a ferry ride! Well, who wouldn't be? Who doesn't love a harbor cruise?

A bright blue boat was quite dark in the shade, but the sun hitting the brass propeller was perfectly placed to make it show up beautifully. Two minutes later and part of the propeller was in shadow.

The next shot shows the sunny side of the boat, zeroing in on the peeling paint.

And then a brief respite at Nifty Fifties Diner on the main street. Alas, the juke box on the table wasn't working...

A good day, walked a lot, saw a lot, and then back home to collapse. Wonder if this gull goes cruising every day?!

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 for your understanding and kindness.

Latest work: "Port Townsend Pilings"

One of the cool things about living here is that in seven minutes we can be at the Keystone Landing, then walk aboard the ferry, travel across the Passage (perhaps spotting some orcas in the distance), and walk off in Port Townsend.

We stopped to watch a couple men beach their kayaks as a third set off in a lovely wooden rowboat. But it was a line-up of pilings, calm blue water, a sailboat in the distance, and a couple gulls that appealed to me most.

I did photograph the boaters, but ended up tossing those pictures. It was this scene that made me feel calm and relaxed and quiet.

©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 work

As I'm constantly throwing out photos that are taking up too much room in my computer and external drives, I'm also adding more to the mix!

Today I created the first image, a photomontage of the tall ship "Adventuress." She was way offshore, the island in the distance just a smudge. I photographed this ship last weekend during the Port Townsend, Washington's 41st Wooden Boat Show. We had a good time -- walked aboard the ferry, walked over to the show, walked, walked, walked, sat and listened to a man playing guitar, walked some more, walked back to the ferry, and then drove home. Walked more than four miles, and it felt great.

This morning Chris noticed a junco nest on the ground outside the garage door. Must have blown off in the night. The nest was empty. Luckily, I happen to have four empty junco eggs, in case of emergency. Figured just one would be plenty for this small nest.

©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.

What I like about living here . . .

It was 10:30 yesterday morning. We've had breakfast, read the news (oh, boy), and what should we do today?

"Well, there's a wooden boat festival coming up this weekend in Port Townsend, maybe we could go over and see what they're doing in preparation for that."

When's the next ferry? 11:00. "I can be ready to go in five minutes." "Me, too."

Mad dash around the house and we're out the door. I forget my DSLR, but that's okay, at least I have the iPhone.

The ferry is just arriving, we get in line, wait for everybody to disembark. We don't know if we're going to make this boat. And then yes! We and the car ahead of us are next.

And that's when they load what looks like a 50-foot motorhome. A motorhome with a footprint that's about seven cars long. We've missed the boat.

Luckily we've lived here long enough to know to bring our Kindles for moments such as this. We have plenty to read. But we don't. We watch people, eavesdrop, talk, and before we know it the next boat (the Kennewick) has arrived and we're on our way.

Mid-channel, the ferry slows down because there's a pod of orcas off the port bow. How cool is that?

In Port Townsend we share a salad and tempura shrimp at Doc's, meander the marina, checking out the wooden boats, then to the boat chandlery, down a dock to the 1913 tall ship Adventuress. Beautiful.

Wandered around downtown, visited an art gallery, chatted with a couple who live in University Place (they called it "U.P."), then talked with an artist who makes beautiful wooden coat/hat racks. Time to head home. The ferry is just departing as we get in line. No worries. We sit and talk, relax, make the next boat and we're home.

This is just one tiny thing I love about living here. Jump up, miss the boat, make the boat, watch whales, look at boats, talk to people, look at art, walk, walk, walk, miss the boat, make the boat, home again.

Do we know how incredibly lucky we are? Yes. There are thousands of people trying to put their lives back together in Houston. There are thousands in Florida worrying about what the approaching hurricane is going to do to them. There are wildfires burning millions of acres of trees, historic buildings, impacting the loveliest areas of our country. And ash is falling seemingly everywhere, over everything.

This post is about sheer frivolity and sounds shallow in comparison. Luckily, I realize that. And give thanks to whoever is in charge that we had that wonderful day yesterday.

©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.

Walking to Port Townsend

It was a fine, fine day on Sunday, so we got in the car, drove a few minutes over to the ferry landing, parked, then walked aboard the Kennewick to Port Townsend, a cute town where there’s always something to see, to photograph, to admire.

There’s a very large, very old building on the waterfront that’s being completely redone and outside they’re selling old, grungy bottles they’ve found while excavating. Two bucks and one’s yours. Very cool to see, but as much as I like old, grungy bottles, not this time . . .

Farther down at the marina, a little sailboat caught my eye, looking clean and crisp with the Olympic Range way in the distance.

And then over to a small boatyard where, of course, I photographed all sorts of textures and patterns and then, feeling I was being watched, I turned to see this little cutie on the side of a boat.

Yet another example of “faces in unlikely places,” an assignment I give my students. And for the rest of their lives they’re going to notice little things like this. Heh, heh . . .

While in the boatyard, I talked with a guy who was refurbishing a 1936 Berthon Gauntlet 41 named Syrinx. It’s been sitting in the boatyard for years, uncovered.

He’s got a lot of work ahead of him, especially since the masts have been ruined by woodpeckers. Told him next time I’m over I’ll check out his progress. He hopes to have it in the water by August.

Back aboard the ferry for the trip home, the tall ships Pacific Grace and Pacific Swift were not about to give way to the ferry, no matter how often and long the captain blew the warning horn. This is the Pacific Grace; the Pacific Swift (slower, despite the name) was still blocking the captain’s departure.

The tall ships are from Canada. Sigh. You just don’t expect those friendly Canadians to be so rude and pushy . . .

Great day spent with a great guy. I’m so lucky.

©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.©Carol Leigh

Point Wilson Lighthouse

Early morning clouds at the Point Wilson Lighthouse, Fort Worden State Park, in Port Townsend, Washington. Nice bit of sunlight coming in from the right.

©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.

Around the island . . .

The Washington State Ferry "Salish" heads for the Keystone ferry landing on Whidbey Island, a 35-minute ride from Port Townsend.

©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. 

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!

A short photo hike yesterday . . .

Well, for you it might be a short hike! For us, of the non-hiking persuasion, 3.5 miles up and down a hill was a trek! My camera gear was in my backpack; Chris carried the tripod.

My goal was to shoot the military bunkers at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington. I've visited some there in the past, but this was a new bunch. Alas, it was a sunny day, which can make photography a challenge.

I took 71 photographs. Usually I don't count, but in this case I was surprised; I thought I'd taken a lot more. Most of the images I'm going to use in subsequent photomontages, but I found a recurring theme in the big metal rings embedded in cement walls and on rusted doors, so that's what I'm showing here.

Chris read information signs while I shot, discovering that the rings were used for "maintenance and maneuvers," where the big guns could be hooked up to chains and pulleys and were moved about by mules.

What I was drawn to were the textures and the weathering and the peeling paint -- lots of grunge contrasted with a nice clean circular form.

We heard, and then Chris spotted, a pileated woodpecker on a distant tree. So I pulled out the cellphone, looked up pileated woodpecker calls, and played one as loudly as I could. The bird immediately flew right toward us, passed overhead, and landed I don't know where.

But the cool things about this were (a) hearing his call so clearly and loudly on a quiet morning, (b) spotting him way off in the distance, and then (c) hearing the rhythmic whuff-whuff-whuff of his wings as he flew overhead. Big bird, kind of a combination pterodactyl/Woody Woodpecker with a big red pointy head.

Lunch was tempura prawns, caesar salad at Doc's Marina Grill, then a quick visit to the Wooden Boat Chandlery (where they have the coolest copper and brass fittings -- things that I have no idea what to do with, but yearn for them anyway just because they're classy and different).

We took the ferry over and back -- always a fun venture. Saw a seal. That was about it.

What a great day. Fun to be out walking, exploring, photographing, having lunch, admiring marine fittings, and who doesn't love a harbor cruise?!

Wishing you quiet mornings, wondrous bird encounters, and maybe even a boat ride or two.

©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!