Vee Dubs Three

Maybe it's because my first car was a cute yellow VW Bug that I'm always drawn to them. Maybe it's because the older ones have a sort of whimsical personality that encourages their owners to embellish them. Or maybe it's just a fun whiff of nostalgia on my part. But I love photographing VWs. The first two I found within 30 feet of one another yesterday in Newport. The daisy-festooned car up top was from California (of course). The second photo shows the front of an old VW van with a '60s vibe to it. And the third example I found in a little town outside Cambridge, England.

©Carol Leigh, heading off to find love beads, incense, and a Steppenwolf LP...

Japanese Postage 3

Old stamps, pages from an antique Japanese book, peeling paint, and my own paintbrush strokes come together here in a photomontage. With so much blue in the background, I purposely looked for a stamp that had a complementary orange color to it. I also purposely arranged the items so that there was a somewhat diagonal (and curving) flow, leading your eye from upper left on down the picture.

Old postage stamps, old postcards, old books — all having something to do with communication — are particularly appealing to me lately. And would you believe, the only things I purchased in England a couple of weeks ago were a packet of old cancelled stamps and five sheets of illuminated manuscript pages from a 1584 German bible. No teapots, tote bags, nor trinkets, just a couple ounces of old, fusty bits of paper! Tried to bring home the naked mannequin, but he wouldn't fit in the overhead compartment... ©Carol Leigh

Before/After with Topaz Adjust 5

Rummaging around in my photos I've come upon some of my very first digital images, taken with a Canon EOS D60 camera in 2003. Looking at these pictures, I wondered what they would look like if I toned them somewhat using Topaz Adjust 5. I used the Topaz presets, selecting Black Rose as the effect. Thought you might be interested seeing the difference Topaz made. Whether you like the toned image or not doesn't matter — maybe it will spark something in your own work, or maybe it will help you make a decision about whether or not to incorporate Topaz Adjust into your workflow.

The first picture is the original image; the second is the Topaz Adjust 5 Black Rose toning effect. What do you think?

©Carol Leigh, encouraging you to look at your photos in a slightly different way, and knowing everybody loves a before/after comparison

It's Hot Air Balloon Day!

Salutation to the Dawn

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendor of beauty
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow only a vision
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day!
Such is the salutation to the dawn.
- Kalidasa, Indian Poet 

Photo taken at the Reno Balloon Festival in September of 2003. ©Carol Leigh, who is encouraging you to make this a particularly good day...

Evidence

Who knew bridge could be a deadly game? ©Carol Leigh

Yes, more from Cambridge

Everything I've posted in this blog so far from Cambridge, England was taken on day one. And there are lots more! So I shall cease and desist, posting new ones just every so often. I'll be creating individual galleries on my Flickr site, however, and will post a link to them here once I've set them up.

I concentrated a lot on bicycles, since that (and architecture) seems to be a HUGE theme in Cambridge, and here are three examples. Signs, too, were fun to shoot, including the IN/OUT signboard at St. John's College. A bit of brick and stone architectural detail (I like the contrast in texture and the diagonal triangle), and a blue porcupine gracing an arch at Sidney Sussex College finish out the mix.

For me and Chris, this was a special trip, and we're grateful to have had the chance to see and experience a different way of life. ©Carol Leigh

Spring

Spring in Cambridge looks remarkably similar to spring in Oregon: soft light, brilliant greens, and lovely clematis. ©Carol Leigh, celebrating spring here and there

Architectural detail

Everywhere you turn in Cambridge there's architectural detail to be photographed. If I were a black & white photographer, I'd be in heaven. If I weren't a black & white photographer, and I lived in Cambridge, I would BECOME a black & white photographer. Even something as humble as a downspout becomes a work of art as it undulates down the side of a building.

There's an entire portfolio of work to be done in just this one city. And one would need more than a year (or a lifetime) to accomplish it. ©Carol Leigh, longing for another lifetime

Church interior detail

Part of a weathered wall inside a church in England. And yes, it's been manipulated and is a photomontage. ©Carol Leigh, hopefully UNmanipulated ...

Minimalist attire

Getting ready for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Huzzah! ©Carol Leigh

Doorways

Doorways in Cambridge, England, day 1. Clematis and wisteria were in full bloom, light was overcast, colors glowed. No jet lag at all and I was out at 5 a.m. seeing what I could see. ©Carol Leigh

Signage on Route 66

Rummaging around in old files and I found these two, photographed on Route 66 in Arizona. I love the key sign — clever, rustic, weathered. And the complementary colors of blue and rusty orange work particularly well in the "Santa Fe" image. ©Carol Leigh

Texture Tuesday

The patina of age depicted in this photo of a mailbox found in the Palouse and on the top of a soft drink cooler found on Route 66 in Arizona. ©Carol Leigh

Peeps on the beach

Kind of gimmicky, but I like it! ©Carol Leigh

Cambridge...

Sorry for the lack of paragraph breaks. Blogger is driving me crazy... Currently in England, staying with Chris's family. Am on visual overload! Bikes, boats and buildings. Bemused, amused, bothered and bewildered. I am constantly being cautioned against rising bollards, warned to look left, and made wary of humps for the next 200 yards. My only computers are my iPad and my phone, so no photo processing until I get home. Aaaarrrgghhh! I am shooting lots of photomontage fodder as well as trying to take more "normal" shots. Am using the Lumix as well as the Canon 5D. Preferring the 5D until I run out of memory cards. Only brought two lenses for the Canon -- the 50mm f/1.8 and a 24-85mm. Haven't walked this much in a long time, but am seeing a lot and loving it all. Every morning I've gotten up at 5:15 to get out and shoot by myself while the city is empty, quiet, and serene. Had no jet lag, which is great. No rain, either, just a lovely overcast. I prepped the previous posts before I left, and can't remember if I did any more, but will see you later. Cheers, and God save the Queen! Carol Leigh, rapidly acquiring a British accent...

Venice in San Diego

Mural on a wall in San Diego. I like the monochromatic, spare backdrop that makes the mural really pop. I also like all the strong, hard, straight lines in the back that contrast with the more rounded lines in the painting. ©Carol Leigh

Gouges in metal

Are the colors just more outrageous in Florida? I saw the gouges in this bit of metal and loved the color combination. The bit, too, that looks like a setting sun is an especially nice touch. And the movement in the blue gouges leads your eye gently down the frame. Lovely. ©Carol Leigh

Migratory Bird Day

The second Saturday in May is International Migratory Bird Day. I like what the Fish & Wildlife Society says on their page: "Any day can be a day of celebration.  Celebrate whenever migratory bird arrival happens in your own community or whenever you feel like celebrating birds!"

I photographed this Harris hawk in Sacramento (on film) in the mid-1990s. Beautiful bird. Beautiful light. ©Carol Leigh

Boatyard Art

Here in Oregon we've got a lot of boats, and they weather quite beautifully, enabling me to take interesting abstract photographs. Here are two I photographed recently. I've also posted six more at my Flickr site here.

This first one gives me a feeling of a person flying kites. But then I also see ships, birds, celestial objects, and perhaps even a cat there in the sky.

And this next one? Looks sort of like an underwater scene to me. Fun stuff!

©Carol Leigh, who flunks every Rorschach test she takes...

Lapin du Jour

©Carol Leigh