Daily Photo 20190115 Seine fishing nets and buoys

A visit to the dentist is made more palatable when it's a) not raining and b) when there's fishing gear laying about nearby.

And that's what happened this afternoon. We had about 15 minutes, which gave me time to shoot a few bits of boats and a pile of this very fine, aqua-colored fish netting.

My daily photo: done! And now to watch a Golden State Warriors basketball game. Life is good!

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.

A good way to end the year . . .

We had house guests last week, people who were easy to be around, interesting, and interested. We had too much rain, but on this particular day we were out and about, exploring Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island.

Our first stop was this wharf, at the end of Penn Cove, home to Penn Cove Shellfish Farm. No wind, silvery water, blue light, and pretty clouds. Ahhhhhh . . .

Later in the day we explored a bit of Fidalgo Island, where I zoomed in on a very cool letter "R" on the large fishing boat "Traveler."

Outside the nearby net sheds we poked around the back sides of buildings to find and photograph piles of fishing nets and floats, including some buoys and coiled lines that looked brand-new.

And finally a drive around Washington Park where I photographed this unidentified bird hanging around with some towhees -- shot from the car window.

A fun day, a few decent photographs, and laughter with friends.

And now it's on to 2019 . . . may we have more of the same.

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.

The art of fishing

Lately there's been a bit of housecleaning at Fine Art America. I'm slowly removing some pictures that I don't feel are my best, as well as adding more to the mix.

These four were added recently. My "art of fishing" images sell well at FAA, so why not include a few more choices in the mix?

The top two came from the Oregon coast, and the lower two (actually the same photo, but one is a square, the other full-frame) came from Seattle.

Can't get enough of this stuff! Color and grunge. What's not to love?

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.

Fisherman's Terminal

Well, here's a novel concept: actually showing you an overview of what a place looks like!

I realize my photos are so tightly cropped and designed that I give no clues regarding the surroundings. Thus, even though I consider the first shot here a sort of crappy image, I understand its importance to some viewers.

Ooh, but I love the next one! The stark simplicity of the weathered ladder against bold color and texture. And I like all the straight lines.

In the third photograph, I liked how the ship's bell stood out against the grungy windows and metal of the boat's wheelhouse.

And finally, two shots of fenders, or buoys, which keep one boat from bumping into another. The blue one looked so cool against the blue background, and the strip of red at the bottom (to me) is important because it serves as a sort of anchor or grounding to the picture.

And then I noticed how two fenders reflected their colors against the deep, dark blue of the ship's hull.

These are all subjects I find extreeeeeeemly exciting when I go out to shoot, much to Chris's amusement. He's getting better, though, as an enabler, generously pointing out something I might have missed, a grungy dirty something that he knows I'd just love.

All this was such a great beginning to our Seattle trip.

©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.

Different state, same theme . . .

Now back from a few days in Seattle, celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary, and what a wonderful time we had.

First stop was at the Fisherman's Terminal to check out the boats.

Major adrenaline rush.

I've never seen such a huge facility with extremely serious fishing boats. All shapes, sizes, types. Some beautifully kept up, others beautifully grungy.

Skies were overcast, very few people around, and the colors glowed and gleamed.

I'm overwhelmed at the moment with photos to process, but these are a few that initially caught my eye.

We walked more than four miles and still didn't see everything.

Nets, floats, bumpers, buoys -- did I not get enough of this while living in Oregon? Apparently 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.

More boats . . .

I've shown and captioned these on Facebook, but thought I'd also put them here, just for the record.

Our first morning in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, and Chris and I are in just the right spot to see the "Harbour Mist" enter the harbour to offload mackerel, mackerel destined to be lobster bait.

Then toward the end of our trip, in deep fog heading toward Cape Forchu Lighthouose in Yarmouth, cool stuff loomed out of the mist -- big piles of lobster traps and, just up the road, fishing boats.

CJ spotted this "Lady Carol" buoy behind a stack of lobster traps and called me over to shoot it. Just up the road, I found the boat it belonged to. And Chris was heard muttering, "That's no lady, that's my wife!"

 ©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 yard

It was a cool, misty morning and so I wandered around the yard to see what I could find. I think we're going to have bright sunshine soon, and I always want to take advantage of morning magical overcast light.

This is my favorite tree in the yard. I don't know what it is. I don't think it will flower. But in the fall it turns a bright yellow. I have two handmade "things" hanging from it, which can only be seen in the winter. You stand underneath the tree, and you feel as if you're in a fort. Makes me feel like a kid. All those branches hanging down low and enclosing me.

Around the back are three flavors of hosta, which are flourishing. Deer and rabbits both like to nibble on them, but we've found something called "Deer Fence," which we spray on these and some other plants and (gasp!), the deer and bunnies keep their distance.

Thinking at first they were weeds, and almost yanking them out, turns out foxgloves have sprung up here and there around the yard. Lovely tall spires of flowers. The bumblebees love them, and it's fun to see them fly into an individual flower, and watch the flower vibrate with their activity.

And then finally a photo of the buoys we've attached to a post. We couldn't leave the Oregon coast without bringing a little bit of it with us.

©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.

Creating a series of pictures (2 of 3)

In a previous post I began talking about creating series of photos, especially if you sell your work. And for all of you who attended my "Shooting & Selling" classes, this is what I was emphasizing way back then -- that it's often easier to sell a series of decent photos depicting the life cycle of a monarch butterfly, say, than to sell one exquisite shot of a monarch butterfly.

It's wonderful when one brilliant photo can tell a story, isn't it? It's what we dream of. But how often does that happen? Probably not as often as we wish. So here's where creating a series (whether intentionally or not) can really work for you. As an example:

Until last month we lived on the Oregon coast, and one of my delights was to wander around the fishing boats photographing colorful buoys and piles of nets. We were there 13 years, and I never tired of it. The result is that I have a lot of photos of buoys and nets. I didn't think of creating a series of shots; I was just shooting what I loved.

I uploaded a fair number to Fine Art America, not knowing if there was anyone as weird as I who would appreciate these pictures. But yes (hooray), I've sold a lot.

Whenever FAA sells one of my photos, I get an email announcement on my cellphone letting me know. And no matter how many pictures I sell, I love hearing that little "ding" and seeing that another sale just came through.

A week or so ago I heard my cellphone ding. And then ding again. And again. And again. Seven quick dings in a row. I figured something was wrong. Checked to see. Nope, something was very right. Seven announcements in a row from Fine Art America letting me know that someone in New York had just purchased the pictures you see here.

Now how cool is that? If I had just uploaded one buoy shot to FAA, or one shot of fishing nets, maybe I would have made a sale. But because I had a lot to choose from, a series of shots, someone was encouraged to purchase more than just one.

Bottom line? If you're marketing your work, yes, go for the one brilliant shot that tells a story, but as you're doing that, be sure you create a lot of photos that, when seen together, tell another kind of story, or might look great scattered about a restaurant, or as a gallery in someone's living room. Follow your creative dream, but be smart about the marketing end as well.

©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!

ROYGBIV: YELLOW!

Next in the color spectrum is yellow, a bright, cheerful color, a color that really stands out. So the "Beware Alligators" sign is pretty tough to ignore when you're wandering around Florida.

A painting show I watch says that shadows are always purple, so paint them some tone of purple. And yellow's complementary color is purple, making yellow look particularly striking. The photo of the yellow boat was taken early in the morning when the light was a bluish-purple, and yup, the boat looks especially good next to that purple-colored dock.

And in the last photo, I noticed how the buoys looked dramatic against the dark background of a fishing boat. A symmetrical composition, with the rope dividing the photo in two, seemed to be the right way to go. Clean, bold, simple.

It's Saturday today, the day the movers will be offloading our belongings. I'm writing this on Wednesday, so here's hoping everything arrives in one piece and that a new life/lifestyle is about to begin for real. I know you wish us well.

P.S. Happy birthday, Laura! A year older. A year wiser.

©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!

ROYGBIV: RED!

The colors of the rainbow can be remembered by the acronym ROYGBIV . . . the rainbow colors of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.

The movers are here today, loading the truck, taking all of our stuff up to Whidbey Island. This means that I'm going to be computer-less until I get set up in a new office up north. Yikes! 

At least I've got a cellphone where I can stay in touch, but the creativity hub is in the desktop, and that's going to be out of commission for awhile.

Before we left, I set up some posts for the next few days, each one devoted to one of the colors of the rainbow. Hope they make you more aware of color and inspire you to perhaps search for one particular color today. 

In this case, it was easy for me to find the color red at the farmers' market, where tomatoes and radishes looked particularly tasty in diffused lighting. And the red buoys? One of my favorite subjects. Here, too, I shot in overcast lighting, which makes the red colors really gleam and pop.

So wish me luck! We travel up to Whidbey tomorrow, Chris in the pickup with the cat (oh, lucky him!) and me following closely behind.

For now, so long from the Oregon coast. Whidbey Island, here we come!

©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 crabbing season!

In many ways it's great to be back home, back into a certain rhythm -- a rhythm in the seasons and a rhythm in the photography. We had some errands to run up in Newport this afternoon and, since it wasn't rainy and skies were overcast, it was a perfect time to wander around the fishing boats and all their various and sundry paraphernalia.

It's Thanksgiving, which means we're close to crabbing season. Buoys are all painted and prepped, ready to be loaded aboard their boats. Don't you just love the colors?

The white-painted F/V Miss Yvonne heads over to have all of her crab pots loaded on board, while the F/V My Lee, beautiful in blue against a background blue mural, patiently waits for Friday, when the boats are allowed out to begin soaking their pots. When do they pull them up? They begin December 1.

What this means is that when we look out our kitchen window in the evening, we'll see all sorts of bright lights out on the horizon, sometimes as many as 15-20 of them, as the crabbers get hard at work.

To celebrate, Chris and I shared a cracked Dungeness crab for dinner last night. Ahhhh! Heavenly.

The crabbers are receiving $3.10/pound for their catch this year, which is apparently a high price for them. The crab we bought yesterday (pre-season) at Fred Meyer was $5.99/pound. Any time we can get fresh crab for less than $6/pound around here, we consider ourselves lucky. You folks, who don't live in the area, probably pay less than we do, we who live in the "Dungeness Crab Capitol of the World." Most of the crabs harvested here are shipped out immediately. Heavy sigh . . .

It's crab season. It's almost Thanksgiving. I'm thankful you're here reading this, thankful I'm here writing this, and feeling quite crabby -- in a good way!

©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!

Nautical explorations

Judy, Chris and I did a lot of exploring in Newport yesterday . . . walked, walked, walked, just looking to see what we could find. Here you see the fishing vessel Thunder heading into port, a lot of fishing nets, floats, crab detail on a gate, and a sprig of ivy valiantly making its way through a crack in a fence. A good day with good people.©Carol Leigh