More fishing boat details

A quick stop at the fishing boats yesterday morning, with bright overcast skies, calm waters, and quiet. As usual, I concentrate on details, simple lines, and design. ©Carol Leigh

Latest work: "Paint, Ink, and Torn Papers"

Last year, while walking around the historic district of Orange, California, I photographed some torn papers and graffiti on a wall. I've combined them in various ways to create what you see here. I like them very much for their abstract, almost Asian look, for their muted colors, for their textured, subdued qualities. I'm also liking the square format. I realize they won't be to everyone's tastes, but this morning I am one happy and contented photographer! ©Carol Leigh

Latest work: "Two Swimming"

This all began with a number 2 that I photographed in North Carolina. I then added bits and pieces of other photographs to end up with this. ©Carol Leigh

Latest work: "Eyes On Seven"

Original size: 10" x 30". Click to enlarge. ©Carol Leigh

This was supposed to be a photo of fishing nets

Yesterday morning it was drizzly and overcast, perfect for photographing colorful fishing nets. But wouldn't you know it? I stepped out of the car and three minutes later it was bright and sunny and no way was this conducive to the types of photos I had in mind. So I bypassed the nets, instead looking for texture and abstract patterns on metal containers, on fishing boat equipment, etc. Ten minutes later I was done.

Looking at my resulting photos, there was one in particular of paint and shadows on galvanized aluminum with a sort of subliminal "N" in the design. So I looked at my collection of letters and selected an "N" I'd photographed on the side of a truck a number of years ago. That's all I need sometimes, a background and a letter or number, and I'm off, adding colors, other photos of scratches, peeling paint, ink stains, and more until I'm finally done. It's not a quick process (most of the time). I worked on this a couple of hours yesterday and then got up at 2 this morning to finish it off. It's now 4 a.m. The photo has been uploaded to Fine Art America, is here in this blog, and it's also a part of my Flickr site, where I've got a small gallery of letters that you can see here if you wish: http://www.flickr.com/photos/80859324@N00/sets/72157629024525949/

And now, maybe I should go back to bed . . .

©Carol Leigh

Latest work: "Cerro Pedernal"

Georgia O'Keefe's "mountain," which she painted so beautifully many times over. This is my own photograph, reworked to enhance the landscape's existing texture and to create more texture in the sky. I like the overall simplicity of the scene and how the square format really puts emphasis on the mountain's form.

Prints available at Fine Art America here: http://carol-leigh.artistwebsites.com/products/cerro-pedernal-carol-leigh-art-print.html

©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

Latest work: "Egyptian Skies"

This piece, created with handpainted papers, paint, and postage stamps, makes me think of the brown tones of the Egyptian landscape combined with dusty blue skies. (Click to enlarge.)

Available as a print from Fine Art America here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/egyptian-skies-carol-leigh.html

Latest work: "Star Chart Faded"

Here I combined my photos of book covers, Japanese writing, paint marks on paper, letters, maps, and more. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . enjoy the sunshine!

It's been a very pretty spring on the Oregon coast. The rhododendrons were huge and puffy and colorful, and then they were gone. Poof! But California poppies are popping, lupine is imminent, and tall opium poppies are on the verge of showing their purple and red colors. It's summer now (which normally lasts two or three weeks around here), and it's time to enjoy the light, the colors, the warmth.

Wishing YOU light, color, and warmth.

P.S. I've got a gallery of these sorts of flower images here: http://carol-leigh.artistwebsites.com/art/all/flowers+-+outrageous+colors/all

©Carol Leigh

Latest work: "Rust Collection"

I have so many photos of rusted fishing boats that I decided to combine a few for this small series. Who knew that old fishing boats could look so vibrant? ©Carol Leigh

Prints available at Fine Art America. http://carol-leigh.artistwebsites.com/

Birthday celebration . . .

Chris asked if I'd like to go spend time at my favorite boatyard on my birthday and OF COURSE! Hoo ha! So last week, in between raindrops, we did, and here are three images I particularly like, all taken of texture on the sides of boats. No better present than to spend time with him, have lunch alongside a river, and then shoot boat scrapings! Yup, we're I'm weird. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . skydive with geckos! ©Carol Leigh

Get a grip

These three photos were taken in Hawaii, Lake Tahoe, and Oregon. Can you tell which is which? Because there's no bright light, no shadows, you can see that the top photo was taken in delightfully overcast light in Oregon. The middle photo, also lacking in shadows, but painted with a tropical flair, was taken in Hawaii, in the shade. And then finally there's one with a well-defined shadow that was shot under brutally sunny skies at Lake Tahoe.

Each image has both horizontal and diagonal movement. The handle in the first image diagonates toward the southeast; the handle in the second picture is horizontal, but the painted elements head southwest/northeast; and the bottom photo features a horizontal handle, a horizontal door frame element, but the shadow has a mind of its own.

Although I usually prefer soft light, I gotta say I'm always delighted when bold shadows created by bright sunlight add a strong compositional element.

Wishing you all good light, no matter which light you prefer. ©Carol Leigh

High-key and not so much . . .

I've been enjoying taking high-key images, and when I found this white feather, I put it in front of a white background and shot away. At the end of the shoot, I held a pale blue scarf behind the feather and, during the exposure, waved the scarf around to create a clean blue background that has a bit of shadowing in it for interest.

Why not just use blue construction paper, or fill the background with blue in Photoshop? Sure, that would work fine, too. But I find that a flat background doesn't give me the feeling of depth (and naturalness) that I want.

Of course, what often happens is that during the waving-around part, I often knock over whatever it is I happen to be photographing! No problem when shooting a feather, but when shooting my husband's favorite cordial glass, well . . . that'll just be our little secret, won't it? ©Carol Leigh

This week's forecast

Heavy sigh . . .

It's a good day to . . .

. . . chuckle a little. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . think about composition, line and design. The second issue of my eZine, "VisuaLeigh" is out and available for just $5. Seventeen short, quick articles about designing images, finding the movement in your own work, and more.

Here's the link to my online store: http://shop.carolleigh.net/main.sc and here's a link for more information: http://visualeigh.blogspot.com/2013/05/issue-2-of-visualeigh-e-zine-now.html

And, as always, thank you for stopping by. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . hang around in a softly faded aloha shirt.

Both of these were photographed in store windows. The first, photographed on the Balboa Peninsula, looked like it had been in the window since 1963. I photographed the red shirt in Lahaina, Maui. ©Carol Leigh

Circus 3

Maybe it's the little stripey things top and bottom, but when I created this photomontage (from photos of a metal "3," ink, and rust), I got a sort of circus vibe from it. And I don't even like circuses! (Too many creepy clowns.) ©Carol Leigh

Oil can collection increasing . . .

It probably comes as no surprise to you that I have an oil can collection. It's just a small collection, nothing valuable, but a collection I treasure nevertheless because I love photographing these things! The latest member of the collection is there in the top photo, middle can. He cost less than $8 and has a wonderful patina. A very cute little guy. Fair warning: more oil can photos will probably follow in the next few months as I have my way with these. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . flaunt your colors, baby!

Transmogrified photo of graffiti detail. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . wish upon a star (or three).

I have a little stash of star-shaped beads. I selected three and placed them on some paper I'd used to clean my paintbrushes. I like the warm, overall golden brown tones here. ©Carol Leigh

It's a good day to . . .

. . . wear orange shoes! ©Carol Leigh