Linaria

Linaria or "toadflax" blooms in the back yard right now. I'm attracted to its graceful curves. I've also incorporated these flowers into some photomontages here. ©Carol Leigh

Getting ready . . .

Preparing for my upcoming online class. ©Carol Leigh

Port of Alsea, Oregon

Early morning at the Port of Alsea in Waldport. Calm waters, tide just turning, almost drizzling, and it's so cool and calm and quiet. This is what I love about the Pacific Northwest. After walking out on the docks, I wandered around the little port, looking, looking. Because I photograph a lot of weird stuff, I'm used to getting curious stares. This is the first time I've gotten one from a cat . . . And speaking of weird, over on the photomontage blog, I created an interesting blend of a flower and a painting. A descent into the weirdness maelstrom. ©Carol Leigh

Grasses

While running errands, we stopped to look at a new community college that's being built in Newport. Trees have been removed and grasses planted to prevent soil erosion. Next to the bike path I was struck by the various layers of color and texture. ©Carol Leigh

Astoria, Oregon yet again

Life interferes sometimes with photography, even though it IS my life. Haven't felt the need to shoot the past few days since I am awash in unprocessed photos. It's never stopped me before, but now, well, there are other things to be done. Three more shots from Astoria -- an abstract image of pipes on the outside of a fish processing plant, sunlight reflecting through glass windows on a corner in downtown Astoria, and a beautiful sign above a little shop on a side street. ©Carol Leigh

Astoria, Oregon grungy stuff

What I particularly like about photographing in Astoria is how there's such a great combination of old rusty stuff (railroad paraphernalia and fishing boats), colorful newer things (it's a town that's reinvigorating itself), and there's so much interesting architecture. As we walked along the railroad tracks, I found a pile of old oil drums, an "A" on a rusty train car, and then, out on a dock, I came upon piles of rusted chains, where some of the links had a fantastic patina. Astoria offers a weird photographer such as me such a variety -- letters, numbers, rust, weathered wood, peeling paint, bright colors, doors, windows, and walls. It was a wonderful overnight getaway. And Holly and Barney, if you're reading this, thank you both! ©Carol Leigh

Astoria, Oregon abstract color

It's fun creating little bits and pieces of color. Here I photographed a railroad sign, an old bakery truck, and an arrow pointing to the door of an antique store that's no longer open. ©Carol Leigh

Astoria, Oregon architectural detail

Architectural detail in Astoria, Oregon. A mural on a wall, hotel windows, and the Liberty Theatre all caught my eye. ©Carol Leigh

Daisies again . . .

As the season progresses, the Shasta daisies just don't look quite as fresh and clean as they do right now, so even though my heart's in the weeds, I need to photograph these guys while I can. And tomorrow? A quick overnight road trip up the coast to Astoria. Hoo ha! ©Carol Leigh

Allergies?

I post this photo not because it's good, but because it's incredible. I've been photographing weeds and I noticed, after I bumped one, the substantial shower of pollen that came down. So, during a 1/25-second exposure, I shook two stems of weeds and captured the pollen fallout. No, nothing's in focus, but man, check out the pollen! Now I see how people who are allergic to this stuff are made miserable. Luckily I'm immune, because I now have a little studio that's packed with pollen. ©Carol Leigh

Out in the weeds

Down the street there's a vacant lot and growing there right now are salal, berry bushes, and lots of weeds. I don't know what kind they are, but they look really pretty -- at least they do to me -- so, yup, gotta see what I can do with them. The first photo is an overview of what they look like. And then I began working with a 100mm macro lens, various and sundry extension tubes, a two-element close-up diopter, and even a teleconverter. I've shot a couple hundred images so far and haven't begun to scratch the surface. I'm working with very shallow depth of field, using apertures between f/2.8 and f/4 primarily. More to come. Fair warning! ©Carol Leigh

Just for June . . .

Here you go, June . . . heavy sigh . . . you are SO high maintenance! :-) ©Carol Leigh

Dew on da daisies . . .

There was a lot of dew on the Shasta daisies this morning. Had to shoot 'em . . . ©Carol Leigh

Colored glass abstract

This morning I set a water glass on my kitchen counter and came up with this pretty cool abstract shot. I used a 100mm macro lens and a 1.4X teleconverter -- the first time I've tried using a teleconverter and a macro lens together. It works great! ©Carol Leigh

BLUE!

I was working on the "blue" lesson for my upcoming online class this morning and began playing around with a blue marble and a blue background. The orange? Well, that was a serendipitous thing that worked out beautifully and I'll be describing the set-up in the class. If you'd like to register for this, probably my very last online class, visit my online store here. The registration fee is $180 for full value (six different lessons, very detailed critiques of your photos) or $95 to audit the course (no critiques, just brief comments). For more information about this upcoming class, click here. ©Carol Leigh

Cuckoo for clocks

I swear sometimes it looks like a clock repair shop around here. I am entranced by the various cogs, wheels, wires, springs, faces, numbers, etc. So here I combine a cuckoo clock face with an old wooden cog and a brass cog -- I just stack them up and shoot. Great stuff! You gotta hand it to Chris, being able to put up with someone who adores (and collects) oil cans, clock faces, dials, weeds, hearts, wooden boxes, old navigation charts, rusty washers, rusty metal gaskets (oh, my gosh! these are great!), and more. ©Carol Leigh

California poppies in Oregon

A few California poppies have shown up in our back yard and they're just too wonderful to pass up. ©Carol Leigh

Dandelions yet again . . .

I think this is gonna be it for the dandelions for a while. At least, this is it for the daily photo blog. Time to show you all something else. What will it be? Darned if I know tonight . . . tomorrow's another day. ©Carol Leigh

Dandelions again . . .

The beauty (and the curse) of photography is that everything is always in flux. Your skills change, your way of seeing changes, your interests change, your equipment changes, computers and software change, your proficiency with computers and software changes. What seems to remain constant is the sheer delight in seeing or creating something incredibly beautiful and/or different. Whether I'm photographing rusty oil cans or dandelion puffs, clock faces, cats, or sunsets, the common denominator is finding the beauty in everything. Here's wishing you the ability to do the same. ©Carol Leigh

Dandelion part deux

At 6:50 this morning I figured I'd spend about 20 minutes photographing a dandelion. More than an hour later I came up for air. I'm trying to create images that reflect the light and airy nature of these beautiful weeds and so am purposely overexposing my shots and purposely using very shallow depth of field. The gear? Various combinations of a 100mm macro lens, extension tubes, and a two-element close-up diopter. ©Carol Leigh

Dandelion

A new opportunity, and they've been here year after year, and I've never REALLY taken the time to photograph them. After all, they're just weeds . . . ©Carol Leigh