Southport Memorial Library

Mike Leonard Artist of the Months this autumn

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 8:30am

Michael Leonard is a photographer who hails from Yarmouth but has many ties to the  Boothbay Harbor region and Southport. He started school at the Southport Central School before moving to Yarmouth, and he continues to return to a family summer place in Boothbay Harbor each summer. 

Leonard’s photos are frequently seen in the Boothbay Register and in Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce’s region guide. His photography has also been published in magazines, on websites and in brochures. He joined his first camera club in Boothbay more than 15 years ago (the Lincoln County Camera Club) and is now a lifetime member of the Portland Camera Club where he holds an office as an executive board member.

Leonard’s day job is in the field of television production with Time Warner/Charter Communications in Portland. When he isn’t “making TV,” Mike is often found either behind his camera making pictures or offering photography and Photoshop classes to the public through various venues.

He has done several photo tourism related forums in Boothbay Harbor, including the now annual Windjammer Days Photography cruise, the Sunset Photography Sessions where he has shown people how to make their best shot of a sunset. Earlier this month Leonard created a new morning Lighthouse Photography cruise to see the area lighthouses in their best light. Mike likes to share his talents to help others become better photographers.

He has led five Kelby Media Worldwide Photo walks in the area in as many years, and he leads an Adobe User Group program in Portland (now in its 10th year) where he teaches Photoshop to the public as a pay-it-forward program where attendees get to come for free. Leonard has taken the show on the road to other camera clubs and art organizations around the state and he offers private and corporate instructional lessons.

Among Mike Leonard’s favorite subjects are lighthouses, lightning and nighttime scenes as you will see in the display of his work in September and October. He is honored to have been selected the library’s Artist of the Month(s).

The Southport Memorial Library is located at 1032 Hendricks Hill Road on Southport Island. Call 633-2741 for hours, or visit https://sites.google.com/site/southportmemoriallibrary/homepage.

Mike can be reached via e-mail directly at mleonard@maine.rr.com and has a Facebook presence with multiple galleries of images to view can be accessed by directly searching his e-mail address in Facebook.