In the studio . . . papers, pods, and barnacles

Every time I try to tidy up the studio, I see things I suddenly must photograph.

There's a pile of papers on one table, poppy pods on the light table, and a flat rock covered in barnacles on yet another surface.

Hmmm, what would the poppy pods look like on this old Japanese paper? And the barnacles? Well, they're here, aren't they? Just a quick shot before I move them somewhere else . . .

And I know that this morning, when I go out there to once again do some cleaning, I'll just have to shoot the big feathers I found along a lake yesterday . . .

What a wonderful, never-ending problem to have!

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.

High key effect

I've been playing around with purposely overexposing my photos, from one to two stops, just to see what happens. I've had this rattlesnake grass for years in a jar in the studio and thought it might look good against a white background. Next to the jar o' rattlesnake grass is a jar containing some of this year's poppy pod harvest. I selected two that had really wonky stems, put them against a white background, and overexposed by two stops. This way the curving forms are really exaggerated.

The overall look is clean and spare and, to me, quite appealing.

Poppy pod (again)

Poppy pod... Number 14,739 in a continuing series! ©Carol Leigh

Poppy pods

The opium poppies have bloomed and formed their pods. As they dry out on the plant, I clip them off, sprinkle their seeds back into the soil (not unlike shaking a salt shaker), and then bring them into the house to photograph.

Strong winds earlier this year knocked the plants over and so we tied them up. As a result, some of the stems are bent very, very strangely, and look kind of cool.  Just goes to show that if life hands you some strange twists, best thing to do is keep striving upward. ©Carol Leigh

Poppy pods

I grow these flowers every year primarily for their pods (although I must say that the flowers are pretty exquisite). I painted these white and then photographed them. Chris gave me a "chop" at Christmas with my name in Chinese, so I used it here. Love it! ©Carol Leigh