"Cleaning" the studio

I collect leaves. And as I was straightening things up, putting various leaves into a cigar box, I began looking at them and then, of course, wanted to photograph them. I moved in close with a macro lens to create these shots.

The final photo shows you the cigar box. Also in the picture is the cover of what looks like a fourth-grader's report on leaves, created by a boy named Peter Barton. Inside the booklet are pages with dried leaves on them, as well as information about what kind of leaf each page features and where the boy found each leaf (Alamo, California).

I purchased the report in an antique store on the Oregon coast for a few dollars simply because I found it charming and thought I'd photograph it some day. Well, I looked up Peter Barton on Google and discovered that he now lives in Ione, California. I was hoping to find an e-mail address for him, thinking he'd be interested in where his childhood project ended up, but haven't been able to do so.

And I wonder where my time goes ... ©Carol Leigh

Beginning photomontage online class begins 3/21

My beginning photomontage online class starts on March 21 and I'd love to have you as part of the mix. Registration fee for the two-month class is $180. Throughout I'll show you, step by step, how I put together my photomontages. Lessons in the form of PDF files as well as more than 40 short videos show you exactly what I do and how you can begin creating your own works of art using your photographs.

Have you already taken this class? If so, you're welcome to audit it, run through the lessons again to keep your skills honed, and to remind you how the montages are made. The auditing fee, for previous students only, is $49.

To register, visit my online store at http://www.shop.carolleigh.net. Looking forward to working with you, whether for the first time or yet again! ©Carol Leigh

Southwestern pears watching the sun set

What a terrific combination of colors and forms and a feeling of three friends watching the sun set over a southwestern landscape. ©Carol Leigh

Quietude

Life has been crazy noisy with wind, rain, water, and earthquakes. A little pocket of quietness, simplicity, and order seems appropriate, especially for the people of Japan. ©Carol Leigh

Another drive-by photo

Another taken through the car window while driving through snow on our way home. ©Carol Leigh

The final leg home

Coming over the last passes in Oregon we hit snow, a lot of snow. It was kind of scary, but the trees were beautiful. I photographed these through the window as we drove past. They were a sort of dull blue color, which didn't reflect my impression of the scene at all, so I desaturated and overexposed the images, creating a black and white high-key effect, more in line with my memories of the snowy beauty outside the car (as opposed to the tension and terror inside my head!). ©Carol Leigh

Pear Orchard

It's good to be back home, working on a "real" computer rather than a laptop, enjoying the speed, and being able to use a Wacom tablet rather than a mouse. So, naturally, I'm back to the pears! Pages from an old Japanese book, walls of an agricultural building, trees, and more went into this one. ©Carol Leigh

A bit of Route 66

Route 66 is my kind of place — lots of color, texture, grunge, weird stuff, old stuff. I can see that Chris and I are going to have to return, and not in a cross-country mad dash kind of way. Here you see various signs, murals, and billboards I found here and there. It's kitsch. It's retro. It's fun. ©Carol Leigh

Home again ...

Three thousand four hundred and five miles later, we have finally brought this baby home! It was a long haul, with heavy winds, tornado warnings, mechanical adventures, dust storms, rain, rainbows, snow, 78-degree temperatures and below-freezing temps. We saw mesas, mesitas, canyons, arroyos, gulches, prairies (no prairie dogs), grasslands, mountains, molehills, tumbleweeds, red rocks, gorges, rivers, streams, ponds, pondlets, and lakes.

We passed all sorts of cool auto salvage yards that I could have spent weeks photographing. No worries though -- I marked them on our maps!

In Kingston Springs, Tennessee, an alarm sounded, yelling "earthquake! earthquake! earthquake" I learned that kudzu is apparently deciduous. I saw that Tennessee has the most beautifully shaped bare trees I've ever seen.

We saw brown and dry desert vistas in Texas and lush green desert vistas in southern California. There were snow-covered peaks in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the best hamburger I've had in years outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Chris and I were most impressed with the Firestone folks at the Memphis/Bartlett city line, who were caring and competent. If we had to run into mechanical problems, this was the very best place for them to have happened. Thank-you Jeff and Trey. And thank-you to the local Best Western people, who, knowing of our predicament, gave us a discount on our motel room for the three nights we were there.

We enjoyed seeing signs for Peckerwood Lake, Toad Suck Park (Arkansas) and Bucksnort, North Carolina. Roman Nose State Park was another colorful name in Oklahoma. In Tennessee we heard shopping carts referred to as "buggies." "This yer buggy?"

We noticed that in Tennessee and Arkansas people don't tend to use their turn signals much. We were thankful for all the truckers who drove so courteously, who moved aside so that they wouldn't buffet us much as they passed. We were dismayed at the lack of courtesy of California drivers, their impatience, stupidity, and recklessness. We saw people texting, using their phones, reading books and magazines as they drove, oblivious to the fact that in a heartbeat something can happen and someone's life may end because of a moment's inattention.

Wish I'd gotten the name of the wonderfully friendly guy in Seagrove, North Carolina who owns five different pottery stores. He was intrigued with our Roadtrek and had to come outside and take a look inside. I swear, North Carolinians are the nicest, friendliest, most gracious people I've ever met. Thank you to Jill Margeson and her dad Chris Christiansen who made this Roadtrek purchase possible. Thank you to June White, who give us great snacks to take on our travels. And thank you to Gisela Danielson, who let us stay at her lovely home even though she wasn't there.

We're amazed that there are any skunks left in this world based on the number we saw flattened on the road. But the pronghorn antelopes we saw in Texas were alive and kicking and beautiful. And did you know that the Holiday Inn Express in Barstow is right next to one of the largest train facilities in the world? Believe it! The front desk provided ear plugs free of charge.

When we started out, we paid $3.19 per gallon of gas. It went as high as $3.99, with some stations charging $4.39 per gallon.

Time was of the essence on this trip, trying to get home as quickly as possible. Tension was high, learning to drive the vehicle, dealing with strange roads, strange weather, sharing the road with huge trucks, and living in such close quarters for two weeks. We both were exhausted and sometimes snippy with one another, but luckily the snippiness didn't last long. Our GPS navigator, Brenda the Bitch, whose exasperated "reCALculating" comments, with a barely repressed heavy sigh, kind of got on our nerves.

What's next? Acclimating Abby the Psycho Cat from Hell to the Roadtrek. Now THAT will be a story!

©Carol Leigh

Truck stop photography

The almond orchards along I-99 and I-5 in California's central valley are in bloom, and, though past their prime, they still look great. At a truck stop in Bakersfield I took a couple of photographs, one from the parking lot and the other from the edge of the orchard. "No Trespassing" signs required me to keep my distance, but with a longer lens I was able to make it look as though I was right in among the trees. And the scent? Subtle and sweet. ©Carol Leigh

Route 66

This cross-country trip is a non-photographing trip, which is just killing me. But in Tucumcari, New Mexico the other day (was it yesterday? the day before? it's becoming a blur) I had to shoot this old motel sign. We're currently in Barstow, California, having left Gallup, New Mexico just this morning. The Roadtrek is running great. Looking forward to getting home, getting caught up with my business and with my life. P.S. Elena, I waved as we passed through the top part (the narrow) part of Texas, but you probably were too busy on your computer to see me. Wish we'd been able to go through Dallas so I could meet you! ©Carol Leigh

The goal is to get home ASAP

If our vehicle had to break down, it couldn't have done so at a better place and time. The tow truck didn't have far to tow it; the guys fixing it were competent; a motel was a block away; we were within walking distance of stores and restaurants; and we each had Kindles full of books to read. But it was three extra days added to our trip and now we are zooming home as quickly as possible with hardly any time available for photography. And New Mexico is coming up next! Heavy sigh. ©Carol Leigh

Stuck between Little Rock and a hard place. Rest area photography. ©Carol Leigh

I liked the red/white/blue combo at the base of a bunch of silos in El Reno, Texas. ©Carol Leigh

A quick stop at a grain silo in El Reno, Texas. ©Carol Leigh

One of my last photos of the day today as the setting sun created long shadows of trees on an old building in Vega, Texas. ©Carol Leigh

Rest area photography ...

Stuck outside of Memphis right now waiting for vehicle repairs to be made. But before our vehicle broke down, we stopped at a rest area alongside the freeway where I worked on tree "sweeps." Love the muted winter brown colors. ©Carol Leigh

When there's nothing else to do ...

It's a pitiful group of photos ... am on the road where, in the first photo, you can see I'm bored in a hotel room playing with lights on the hills across the way. Then there's a shot of another Southwest Airlines plane shot through a scratched and hazy window on my own plane, and then a view of a railroad yard just outside Midway Airport in Chicago, taken through the plane window. Things can only get better, one hopes! ©Carol Leigh

Snared Pear

The mania continues ... I photographed a pear, a piece of wood, some twine, put 'em in a blender and here's the result. I must say I love the blue colors, the way the twine changes color when it overlaps, and (naturally) the cool shape of the pear. ©Carol Leigh

Over in my gallery section I've created a gallery of the letters I've been creating so far this year, one letter a week. Here's the link to the gallery page: http://www.carolleigh.net/galleries.htm

The Reveal ... #1 and #2

Man oh man oh man, I'm stuck on these pears lately. Here are some examples of what I'm working on. Remember the clock/time thing I was obsessed with last year? Or was it two years ago? Well, I fear this is akin to that. When I begin superimposing pears on clocks, we'll know I've really lost it ... ©Carol Leigh

Gallery of abstract photomontages added

I've added a new gallery of my more abstract photomontages for your dining and dancing pleasure. Here's the link: http://www.carolleigh.net/galleries.htm ©Carol Leigh

Seashell transmogrification

I was working on a photograph of a moon snail shell I found on Sanibel Island (top image) and then wondered what it would look like if I "orbified" it (lower photo). Both of them are, frankly, weird, but I like the way the orb has a "face" to it. ©Carol Leigh

On the wings of a wave

©Carol Leigh

Sand patterns

 When sunlight is harsh on the beach, I tend to look for shadows to incorporate into my images, and this particularly sunny day last week enabled me to do just that. It also enabled me to emphasize patterns and textures in the sand, which was fun to work with. ©Carol Leigh

Smooch!

©Carol Leigh

Sand blizzard ...

We had a LOT of rain last night and 50mph winds, making it a perfect storm for sand dunes to form around the houses down below on the spit. A quick reconnaissance this morning showed us that yes, things looked rather dramatic, as you can see here. To see even more dramatic photos (more sand, better light), I've put together a little gallery of photos I shot two years ago. Here's the link: http://www.carolleigh.net/galleries.htm  ©Carol Leigh

A quick trip inland

 Knowing a storm was on the way, we ventured out while the venturing was good along Yachats River Road, a beautiful stretch of highway that takes you past green meadows where, at the far end, stark white tree trunks contrast beautifully with the dark green conifers. And then we checked out the covered bridge, built in 1938 and looking quite good in the diffused light. Fish and chips for lunch and we're home again. ©Carol Leigh

Pera de Piedra

©Carol Leigh

Three Crows

©Carol Leigh

Be careful out there . . .

A makeshift memorial on the Yaquina Bay South Jetty in Newport, where in November a couple, celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary, were swept from the rocks and killed. Yesterday, down the road in Yachats, two teenagers were washed off the rocks and drowned. We saw the helicopter go by, heard the sirens, listened to the police on the scanner, and heard that our neighbor, a pastor, was on his way to the group to offer what consolation he could. One body is still missing.

Unfortunately, we see people doing this all the time, people walking out to the very edge of the rocks to be close to the breakers surging in. In the blink of an eye, people's lives are ended, others' lives are changed. Forever. ©Carol Leigh

Pear Through a Wet Window

Because of this online class I'm teaching, I've got pears on my brain. Love photographing them. Can't stand eating them! ©Carol Leigh