From time-to-time I will be introducing you to some of the people who’ve influenced my photography. Carol Leigh is the talent behind Photo Explorations and Calphoto, two sites I’ve frequented over the years. She’s been an instructor and cheerleader for photographers in California for a long time. We’ve been friends in an online sort of way for a number of years. I consider her an example of the kind of person I’d like to be. Cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, irreverent … well, not exactly up to the scouting creed, but my kind of person nonetheless.

Carol runs a series of online photo classes that are first rate. Each one has about 6 two week segments where each segment is focused on a particular photographic idea. The range is all over the charts and serves to move you out of the ruts we all find ourselves in, photographically and possibly otherwise. A couple of favorites for me were Twilight and Primary Colors.

She publishes an excellent newsletter: Carol Leigh’s Photo Explorations, What, Where, When & How to photograph across the United States. It’s very smartly edited and all the information is presented in the same way a good friend would tell you about the fabulous places she’s been to. I’m especially fond of the maps she includes. They are simple and to the point – no extraneous stuff.

Carol and I have met a couple of times in person. Once, on a scheduled hike on Mt. Diablo and another time just by serendipity at Mono Lake. She had a workshop going on during fall color season in the Eastern Sierras. My friend Gene Anderson and I stumbled into the Tufa area at O Dark Thirty to hunker down in the 35 degree Pre-Dawn when we saw a group led by an enthusiastic woman. We exchanged greetings and she went back to manage her brood of photographers. Gene and I didn’t get any great shots but Carol tipped us off to a wonderful spot in Lundy Lake Canyon. Gene and I spent the rest of the morning up there and I ended up with a shot that is still a favorite of mine.

A generous and giving spirit, Carol has made an impact on my life and I thank her for that.