Sculpting New Images

"I know this state better than some people who have been here their whole lives. If there's a back road with an old bridge or a creek to take pictures of, I know it. I guarantee it."

After 20 years of service in the Navy, Michael Leonard retired and moved to Fort Smith, where he started pursuing photography in 1998. Completely self-taught in the technology, Leonard now produces professional works of subjects from across the country.

FAQ

Photographs: Michael Leonard

WHEN — Jan 5-29, opening reception 1-4 p.m. Jan. 10

WHERE — Center for Art and Education in Van Buren

COST — Free

INFO — art-ed.org, photovariations.com

"Of course, I've got all the standard stuff you see everyone in Arkansas doing -- the waterfalls, the barns -- if you live in Arkansas, you kind of can't get away from that," Leonard says. "But if I take pictures of the same old stuff, I try to present it in a unique way. I do everything myself: I build all the frames, and I print everything in my home."

In reaching beyond the boundaries of traditional photography, Leonard has developed a way of presenting his images known as photo sculpture. Leonard's pieces are displayed in frames and patterns that accentuate the images or themes presented in the photos.

"One of my largest pieces [in the show at the Center for Art and Education in Van Buren] is just called 'The Wall,'" Leonard says. "I really like old buildings and old architecture, and in my travels, I had seen a lot of old signs -- ghost signs -- on the sides of buildings. I collected a lot of photographs of these signs from the states in the region, and I printed each photograph I had taken onto canvas. I attached the canvases to six-by-nine-inch blocks and what I did, I made a wall."

Leonard sometimes finds inspiration from images he already has -- as with a windmill piece where he took images of windmills and fixed them to the arms of a 7 foot tall windmill structure so they might blow in the breeze to depict wind -- and other times a few photos he has will inspire an idea for which he needs to find specific images, as with "The Wall."

"It was a challenge, I'll tell you!" Leonard says. "I did a lot of research and scooting around using Google Earth trying to find these [old signs] because just driving around old towns hoping to stumble across one wouldn't have worked."

In addition to Leonard's photo sculptures, he does traditional two-dimensional photography, usually grouped in a theme, and infrared photography.

"A lot of people have infrared cameras, but I don't know anybody in the area that does infrared like I do," Leonard says. "It's the way I edit that makes it unique. You have to have a really high level of skill with Photoshop. You have to be able to do the old dodge and burn stuff like they used to do on actual film, but you're doing it on the computer. It sounds like bragging, but I'm very skilled on Photoshop, so I'm able to do it."

Leonard considers himself a "generalist," or a photographer who will take a picture of anything and is not limited to specific subject matter. He says learning new photography skills satisfied the boredom he was feeling after retiring from the Navy.

"I fell in love with it when I made that trip in 1998. I took a trip out West and snapped 13 rolls of film, which I thought was a humongous number at the time," Leonard recalls, laughing. "After that, every weekend I was out exploring back roads and looking for things to take pictures of. Learning new technology and new skills wasn't anything new to me, it's just who I am. So I taught myself how to improve my photography skills, how to use the infrared camera, took a year to teach myself Photoshop, and now I love it."

NAN What's Up on 01/01/2016

Source: Sculpting New Images