"B" is for "Bellingham." "B" is for "Boats."

Last week we went up to Bellingham, Washington to see author Louise Penny at the Mt. Baker Theatre. (Great talk, highly recommended if you're a fan of her Inspector Gamache/Three Pines series of books.)

So the next morning we hit the fishing boats at Squalicum Harbor. All three of these are cellphone shots, with a panoramic photo at the top, and then my usual up-close, frame-filling boat "bits."

A fun evening at the theater and then a delightful photo walk among the boats the next morning. Feeling so lucky.

©2019 Carol Leigh

A small Anacortes exploration . . .

I knew it was a long shot when I began, but I have discontinued my "Photo a Day" project. It's something that has served me well in the past, but it's not "sparking joy" for me right now, has become a small pressure, a responsibility, and is forcing me to spend even more time at the computer, which is not good.

And since I make art every day anyway, it's rather redundant. I don't need to post it all the time.

Big relief! And you know? It's kind of like the pressure I used to feel about reading books. If the book seemed to be going nowhere, and I wasn't enjoying it, I felt compelled to finish it, to honor my commitment to it. Those days are gone. Life is short and is getting shorter. Fill it with what you love, not what you feel you need to do, no matter what toll it may take on your mind and your body.

So these are some pictures I took in an Anacortes exploration the other day. Boats, boats, boats, silvery water, overcast skies, and I'm a happy photographer.

The fishing boat at the bottom is the F/V Oregon, out of Lopez Island, here in the San Juans. And above that is a view of what I believe is a fish processing plant. And the top photo? Pleasure boats moored at the Cap Sante Marina.

A good day. No pressure.

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.

Local color . . .

Fishing boats in Seattle, Washington. Love the colors, love the textures, love the bright, sunny day most of all!

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 kindness.

Eight years of December (part 1)

Blogs are sort of like scrapbooks, you know? Keep at them long enough and you have a visual record of your life.

"Remember when we went to Florida and encountered no-see-ums for the first time?" Or, "I miss Dungeness crab season on the Oregon coast and all that activity, don't you?"

So I looked at the pictures I've posted in my blogs each December, going back to 2009. I selected one photo for each year.

And in '09 there was a big freeze on the Oregon coast, where water oozing out of the bluffs next to the ocean turned into frozen waterfalls. It was magical! And COLD.

Sanibel Island in Florida was NOT cold in December of 2010. This couple was hunting for shells and I liked their silver hair, their matching jeans, new sneakers, and especially her vivid red sweater. I purposely used a slow shutter speed to blur them into unrecognizability yet capture their togetherness as they both bent forward a bit looking for beach treasures.

In 2011 I was making weird things, using photos of (in this case) ice and clock parts. The preoccupation with time remains with me, although I seem to have no concept of it in real life.

And finally, crabbing season about to begin in 2012. All the boats along the docks in Newport, packed with crab pots and colorful buoys... So much going on, so much color, so much activity, and so much at stake for these folks, where a successful haul means a good Christmas and a strong financial start for the coming year.

Four more photos coming up in the next post. Fair warning!

©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.

Compare and contrast . . .

Both of these fishing boats were photographed along the docks in Newport, Oregon. I'm liking how the black and white treatment really emphasizes lines and shapes.

I also like how different these two boats are -- the "Last Straw" obviously extreeeeeeeemly beamy, making the "Judy" boat look very thin and upright.

©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.

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.

Suspiciously familiar . . .

Nova Scotia is a nautical place. It's not considered part of "The Maritimes" for nothing. Luckily, I'm a "maritime" kinda gal. Navy brat, coastal affiliations with California, Oregon, and Washington. And I live on an island.

So Nova Scotia looks suspiciously like "home." Even our latitudes are the same. Halifax is at 48 degrees, 38 minutes. Whidbey Island is at 48 degrees, 35 minutes. You do the math.

Other than driving kilometers, temperatures read in Celsius, and that glorious red maple leaf flag, I hesitate to say, IT WAS JUST LIKE HOME.

Well, not exactly, but pretty darned close. So close I could talk about Dungeness crab season to a lobster fisherman, both of us then realizing that our crabbing/lobster seasons begin and end around the same times.

What's particularly cool about Nova Scotia is that there's so much charm packed into a relatively small space. And, as you find in coastal Maine, there are lots of little peninsulas to drive up and down and around, never knowing what sort of weather you'll encounter, what boats might be out and about, and what the light will be doing.

So you're constantly surprised. What? No boats here at all? What? It's pouring down rain! What? It's sunny? What? It's hot and humid? In September? You gotta be kidding.

We had it all. Fog, sun, heat, coolness, rain, boring light, and wonderful light. Never did wear the two sweaters I brought. Wish I'd packed shorts. Or at least a short-sleeved shirt.

So here's my first glimpse of Nova Scotia. Lots of harbor harbour exploration, lots of boats, lots of sunshine. Lots of fun.

And you know what I regret? When renting the car, filling out the forms, I wish I'd said to the agent, "And you all drive on the left side of the road, right?" Just to see his expression.

Technical stuff: For this trip I brought two Canon camera bodies, one with a cropped sensor, the other full-frame. I brought a 24-85mm lens for the full-frame body and a 70-200mm "L" lens for the cropped sensor body. Never did use the fast 50mm lens I brought, nor the 12mm extension tube.

 ©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.

Fishing boat details

This morning Chris and I went over to the fishing boats. Perfect weather! It was sunny, around 57 degrees, no wind yet, and a fair number of boats in port. I decided to use the bright sunlight to my advantage, incorporating dark, strong shadows in some of my shots. Others, taken on the shady side of the boats, are flatter, no shadows intruding into the frame.

I love finding and photographing details such as these, looking at the boats strictly for abstract compositions, noticing lines and designs, creating extremely structured images, relying on texture as well to add a bit of interest here and there. Hope you enjoy seeing these because I was absolutely trippin' doing the photography!

©Carol Leigh