Recent Work: "Digging for Gold"

 I've certainly got a circle motif going, don't I? Not only do I find them appealing, but in this case the colors are just wonderful. Ahhhhh . . .

©Copyright 2020 Carol Leigh

Daily photo: 20190124 Moon Phases (1 and 2)

Because I work as a collage artist as well as a photographer, sometimes the two combine. That’s the case here, where I’ve mixed a collaged book page with a piece of textured paper and created something completely different. Because of all the stir about the recent full moon/lunar eclipse, moons have been on my mind. This is the result -- two different versions, which I began this morning, had breakfast, then finished them up, uploaded them to Fine Art America. My day can now officially begin.

Sometimes it's worth getting up early!

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: "Nautical Paint Job"

Well, it's not exactly my latest work...

I have a file called "works in progress." And this one was begun toward the end of January this year. It's been sitting there all this time, patiently waiting for me to either finish it or trash it.

I decided to finish it, and I uploaded it to Fine Art America yesterday. That brings my total offerings on FAA up to 1,697 pictures. I joined them in February of 2012.

I enjoy the sales success I'm having with them, but I also appreciate having a challenge, a daily reason to keep on creating, an incentive. Would I have done all this without having a sales outlet? Yes. But maybe I wouldn't be so driven. Maybe. I will never know. And that's okay.

©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: "Mapping the Mountains"

I have the attention span of a hummingbird. So easily distracted.

I'm creating a variety of stained, painted, bleached, inked, folded, spindled, and mutilated papers for the handmade book I'm working on, but often I'll stare down at this pile o' papers and the way one sits atop another catches my eye. Aha! A collage!

So I begin pushing papers around, adding this, adding that, then bring them into the computer, add even more elements, and the next thing you know, this picture happens.

I've now uploaded it to Fine Art America and call it "Mapping the Mountains." Here's how I describe it:

Warm-colored aged and dyed papers, ink splatters, a page from an antique Japanese ledger, a hand-drawn circle, and more come together in this piece. I detect a sense of mystery, of exploration, perhaps an old map.

Will this ever sell? As usual, I hope so, but I never know. But if it does, then hooray, right? And if it doesn't? Well, then, hooray again, because I've made something original, something no one else has made, and something that pleases me.

And now, back to the handmade book. But wait! The tulips are blooming in the Skagit Valley right now, so it's off-island this morning.

©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.

Urban simplicity...

Sometimes it pays to watch where you're walking!

©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: "Soft Blue Enso Circle"

The yellow bits, to me, make this image more interesting. They're the result of handpainted stripes added to the mix.

©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: "Left of Eight"

Sometimes it's difficult to explain what I've created. This one's a combination of photos, photos I've taken of antique Japanese papers, my own handpainted papers, an envelope I made, a sketch of a crow my sister drew, and the bottom of an oil can.

See? It makes no sense!

But in this picture I particularly like the brown/blue combination of colors, the textures, the little hidden things, and the combination of circles and rectangles.

Perfect opportunity to use one of my favorite phrases: "Makes sense if you don't think about it."

 ©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!

Looking for themes: Circles

The way I collect "fodder" for this blog is that whenever I prep a photo, if I think it's something I might use later in the blog, I put it in a folder along with all its other unpublished buddies until I see a theme or I see something worth showing or talking about.

These pictures have been languishing in the fodder file for a long time and it's time to get them out, discussed, and then put away.

You create themes in your work by 1) actively seeking out photo possibilities and/or by 2) rummaging around in your files and just seeing what you have.

I ran a photo motivation project for awhile, giving people weekly assignments. I've also conducted online photo classes where students are out there looking for complementary colors for a couple of weeks, diagonal lines for a few weeks, etc. They were actively pursuing photographic ideas.

Once you've been out there looking for subjects, you might be surprised by how many photos you've already taken of those subjects.

Like these five photos. What they have in common is that the subject matter is circles, or circular things.

The sun photo, taken in a friend's back yard, is an obvious choice to depict the concept of circles.

And a silver button, threaded and then tied around a rock I found on the beach, is another "in your face" picture of a circle.

Coiled ropes on a dock form very tidy circles, filling the frame with not only their circularity, but there's a big diagonal line that forms a dark triangle in the lower left of the frame. This makes me, a trianglephile, very happy.

Sometimes circles aren't quite so obvious. I look for letters whenever I'm out and about, so the letter "O" spray painted on the side of a railroad car caught my eye. Sure, an "O" is a circle, but I was going for a letter, and "circle" didn't enter my mind, until right now.

And finally the center of this opium poppy screams "circle," but I didn't hear that scream until I began rummaging through the blog photo file discovering circular subjects. I was seeing "flower." I didn't know at first I was also seeing "circle."

What's my point? I'm not sure. . . I think my point is that recognizing themes in our work is important. Why? Because it forces us to pay attention to what we are seeing and what we have created. The key words being PAY ATTENTION.

We are photographers. We see. We notice. Not just at the time we press the shutter, but later, maybe years later, as we examine our body of work.

What are your themes? Rust? Agave spikes? Weathered barns? Boats?

A friend of mine is working on the concept of "edges." With that in mind, she can go back through her entire portfolio and see her photos with new eyes. Maybe she's got some "edges" she never knew she had. And now she's got the motivation to shoot more, to perhaps make a cohesive package of "edge" photos. Perhaps a book.

Where's YOUR book? What are YOUR themes? Take a look. Either pick a subject and go out and photograph it. Or begin riffling through your images, seeing what you have. You may surprise yourself. And all it takes is paying just a little bit of attention . . .

©Carol Leigh