April 2023

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another installment of Meet the Artist inside of the Tucson Gallery here at the proper shops in downtown Tucson. We’re located at 300 East Congress. We’re right across the street from the very venerable Hotel Congress and just a couple of doors down from the Sister Rialto Theater. Come join us. Every week we’ve got a different artists talking about their history, their art, and just answering questions and having fun. Grab a glass of wine, cup of coffee and enjoy. And then of course, we record these podcasts at the beginning before it gets a little too rowdy. And you can listen to all of this and check out our live event schedule on our website which is thetussangallery.com and today we are joined by the extremely famous and legendary. I use that word not lightly. Leslie Leathers. Welcome.

Leslie Leathers

Thank you, Tom.

Tom Heath

So as of today, as of the recording, you are currently on the cover. Well, your work is on the cover of Tucson Lifestyle magazine. Is that pretty cool?

Leslie Leathers

It’s pretty cool.

Tom Heath

Is this pretty exciting? Is this your first magazine cover? I was like, yeah, I had a.

Leslie Leathers

Back cover, but this is my first front cover. Okay. And local like the other one was from back east or something.

Tom Heath

Oh, so you’re not just famous in Tucson, you’re famous all over the United States.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Are you from Tucson?

Leslie Leathers

No.

Tom Heath

How did you end up here?

Leslie Leathers

I grew up in New York and I lived in this city till I was about 13. And then I moved upstate where I lived for till I was about almost 19. And then I moved to Tucson because I had family here and my friends were going to ASU and I wanted to be out here in the nice sunny weather. So that’s how I got here.

Tom Heath

So Arizona is sunnier than New York is what I’m understanding.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Okay. But there’s all kinds of art in New York. Don’t you miss that a little bit?

Leslie Leathers

I miss it, but I miss the cold.

Tom Heath

It’s a good trade off.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah. I love Tucson. I love the mountains. I love everything about it.

Tom Heath

So when you were in New York, were you a photographer then?

Leslie Leathers

Well, I did a lot of photography. I started in more like high school because, well, my first person that I dated when I was in high school, he was a photographer, and we did a lot of photography together. And I took photography in high school, and it was film, so it was cool because we got to develop our own film, and I loved that. And then once I had kids and everything, I kind of had to stop whatever I was doing and raise them.

Tom Heath

Those kids, I understand they have to eat every day and everything else, so you got to take care of them. Mom puts the camera away for a while.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, I put it away and then when I picked it back up, I got wholeheartedly back into it. And I always loved animals. And so it was easy. It was easy.

Tom Heath

The nature of your photography then, is it all wildlife? Because that’s all that I’ve seen.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, pretty much. I did some weddings at the beginning to start, and it was easy to get my equipment because for weddings I did, it was pretty good money. But then I realized it was not me. So I started hiking a lot and I went out into the desert a lot. And when my mom wasn’t feeling good, it was really good for me, therapeutic, and it was like my salvation. And I just got addicted to it. And I started out with hummingbirds and I had a friend that had nests at her house, and so that got me started. And then the rest is it just kept rolling.

Tom Heath

Well, you do all kinds of different wildlife that’s out there, but the COVID of Tucson Lifestyle is talking about your feathered collection and the birding here in Arizona. So putting some of your art into our website, I learned a lot about birds. Were you a birder before a photographer, or did being a photographer make you a birder?

Leslie Leathers

Photography made me a birder because I loved birds, but I didn’t love birds the way I love birds now. It definitely opened up a whole new world for me. And my backyard is like a bird haven. And so I can say I’m a bird lover, but I love all animals, even little teeny insects. And anything that has eyes and moves, I’ll shoot.

Tom Heath

You go hunting, it’s not like you just sort of happen upon a bird. You’re like, oh, I’m going to go to Madeira Canyon, because this particular bird has been spotted, right?

Leslie Leathers

Like the elegant trogan on the COVID That’s one of the top sought after birds in the country, and even sometimes the world, because people come from all over to see that bird. A lot of people will go down there and they never see it, but I’ve seen it many times. And you learn the calls for the birds and you can hear them and then you can track them as you it is it’s like a hunt, but you’re not shooting them with a gun.

Tom Heath

You’re shooting them with a camera.

Leslie Leathers

Shooting them with a camera.

Tom Heath

And the detail of your photos is just intense. In the gallery, we’ve got some of your pieces and people think it’s a painting. They can’t imagine that you could get that close to a creature like that. Are you that close, or is it the equipment that’s getting you in there?

Leslie Leathers

I have pretty good zoom lenses. The equipment is nice. I can also crop in. It’s a good camera, so it’s professional. And I kept upgrading, too, as I went.

Tom Heath

Equipment is a little bit nicer now than when you’re doing weddings.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, and it’s cool because, like a lot of photographers, as they sell, they can upgrade their equipment. And so I had a really good year last year and the year before, I think I sold a lot of images to Hacienda as well, and so that was really good.

Tom Heath

So your artwork is hanging throughout Hacienda? Yeah, the resort, they have bought like 85 pieces or something for me, didn’t they?

Leslie Leathers

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Hopefully it’ll pay for a few camera lenses.

Leslie Leathers

That was very helpful for my current camera.

Tom Heath

Well, in addition to birds, I’ve seen coyotes and horses. Do you ever get yourself in a situation that’s sort of like, oh, this could be dangerous? I did. What happened?

Leslie Leathers

I actually got hurt. It’s probably about seven or eight years ago, I was going out to this lake that’s not it’s on the east side of town, and I was shooting these geese because they were there. Somebody probably just dropped them off. And one day I was out there and they trapped four of them and left one, and I felt bad. So I would go to this lake and

Leslie Leathers

I named it Lonely. So I’d go out and see it. I’d walk around the lake. Well, one day I went and I wasn’t really too familiar with how geese functions. And I was walking around the lake and this Lonely was following me and all of a sudden and I wasn’t wearing really proper shoes to be hiking around a lake. There were no tread and I actually had borrowed family members lens, so I was being really careful. All of a sudden I see this goose. He turns around and he gets out of the water and all of a sudden he starts flapping his wings at me and squawking and coming towards me. And I saw his teeth, which are not teeth, but they’re like teeth, and they were scary. And I thought he was going to attack my throat. So I pivoted. And when I pivoted, I started to run and I fell flat on my face and I fractured this bone here and I fractured on this side, I think. Oh my gosh, it was bad. And so I was alone and there was nobody around. So I called paul was working, so I called a very close cousin of mine

Leslie Leathers

and I said, you have to meet me because I can’t see. And he met me in the Safeway parking lot and took me right to the urgent care because he said, you are messed up.

Tom Heath

So once you hit to the ground, lonely left you alone.

Leslie Leathers

Yes. All of a sudden I turn around and I took off my jacket and put it over my eye because I had was bleeding. And all of a sudden I turn around and he’s going back in the water, like just what? I imitate birds sometimes.

Tom Heath

I can tell. Maybe he was just like, I’m ready for my close up, and smiling and trying to get your attention. Maybe that’s what it was.

Leslie Leathers

I think he was a bully. And it worked.

Tom Heath

I could see that. I think the very first work you had in the gallery was the Coyote Condo.

Leslie Leathers

Right.

Tom Heath

And that one is interesting because you were stalking, so to speak, this Coyote family for a while.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah.

Tom Heath

But they were watching back, too.

Leslie Leathers

There were 13 pups, and I actually originally saw it on the news, and so I went down there, and it was on the golf course at Randolph golf Course, right. Yeah. And so I went and I saw where they were and then went back the next night and just talked to some of the groundskeepers. They said they saw me with my camera, and they’re like, Go ahead, you’re fine. Just be careful. And so I went the second time, and I was alone, and I think it was the dad, because the mom was up on a hill with a couple of the pups, and the dad kind of growled at me, and I got a little nervous, so I just kind of backed up and left. So then the next night, I went back with a friend of mine, her son, big guy, and I felt like.

Tom Heath

I was tossing a bodyguard.

Leslie Leathers

So it was really cool. And I knew that they would come out. They lived in the drain holes, and I knew they would come out when the sun was starting to set. So I laid down on my belly, and I just kind of laid there and waited. And as the sun went down, they started coming out, and that’s how I got that picture. I took a lot of pictures that day, but that was a cool photo. I’ll never get that. I got something like it, but not like that.

Tom Heath

Yeah, and that’s something we have that you can check it out on our website, the Tucsongallery.com. You can see a version of the photo. It’s been cropped a little bit, so the one we have in the gallery is a little bit more full. However, the one online I think is really good as well. And it’s just amazing that you have six of the pups just sitting there in these drain holes, staring at you, and you aptly named it the Coyote Condo. So beautiful. So you’re out there putting your life at risk to bring these photos to us. This must be a passion of yours, then. This must be beyond just making a few bucks.

Leslie Leathers

I think it’s an addiction.

Tom Heath

An addiction? Okay. That sounds more appropriate.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah. It’s a passion, though. I do love it. And actually, I could wake up, I feel yucky. We all have a yucky day here and there. And I go out and I’ve got my camera, and then if I find something, it’s like, mentally and physically, I can’t think about anything but what I’m doing, and I feel good. It happened to me today.

Tom Heath

How much of the work is done with the camera itself? And how much do you do after the fact with editing the photos. Is that a time consuming process?

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, it is. It is. Just loading them and then just going through. Because in the digital world, you can take a zillion pictures. And I’ve tried and I kind of succeeded to not take a lot of pictures. I try to get the one I want within three to five shots because otherwise you could just snap all day and have tons of photos. And then you have to do the horrible work where you have to delete, delete, delete, which is a photographer’s nightmare.

Tom Heath

It’s just so much storage, too, that.

Leslie Leathers

You would need for I’ve upped my computer several times since I started this.

Tom Heath

So someone that is a wildlife photographer, someone that has this sort of inkling that they’re a wildlife photographer, but they’re doing weddings or they’re not even maybe into photography professionally yet. What’s kind of that bridge? How can they get to where they want to be? What are some of the things that you would advise them?

Leslie Leathers

Well, learn your camera, which I did. At the beginning, I was self teaching, and then I actually took a couple of classes with a local guy that I know that has helped me a lot. And then after that, the more I went out, the more I learned and the more I was able to navigate around my camera. It’s time. It’s just putting time in.

Tom Heath

Do you find yourself looking for things that people will want to see, or do you sort of photograph what you want and hope people want to see it?

Leslie Leathers

I think it’s what I want, and if I like it, it’s more important that I’m doing what I like and I love. And I don’t do it for others, really. I kind of do it because I get such a joy out of it. So it’s really for me. And then when people like it, it’s just a validation of, wow, sometimes it’s like you really like that. It’s hard to imagine, but it’s cool. And things keep happening, like covers of magazines and such.

Tom Heath

I guess someone likes it.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, so that was cool. And I guess I feel kind of lucky that I’ve had that experience and just like, different things through the years, I’ve been kind of lucky.

Tom Heath

Is it seasonal? Because right now, if you’re watching the video feed of this, I’m like trying not to sneeze because these allergies are killing me. But do you have different focuses? Do you like to do things in the winter, or are you always spring? When are you out shooting?

Leslie Leathers

Pretty much almost year round. Even in the summer when it’s super hot, I’ll try to find something because it’s hard for me to not do that. But right now it’s migration time. Birds are migrating, and so it’s a great time to be out.

Tom Heath

So we’re recording. It’s April, so spring is a really good time, I assume, then, for birds.

Leslie Leathers

Oh, yeah, it’s excellent. And the winter is fun, too, because the further north you go, the better it’s going to be. So, like in Phoenix, even though it’s Phoenix and it’s warm, but in the winter, they get a lot more birds than we do here. So sometimes I’ll go up there and shoot up there and it’s great.

Tom Heath

Do you offer any type of workshops or lessons at this point?

Leslie Leathers

I have done lessons with people for Basic, like if they have a Canon camera, which is what I shoot. Through the years, I’ve had a couple, two, probably three people that I gave actually private lessons to, like, wear the.

Tom Heath

Right shoes if you’re chasing geese and that type of thing.

Leslie Leathers

That’s good story. She talked to him about it because I actually didn’t tell him the truth. I didn’t tell anybody.

Tom Heath

You’re talking about your husband?

Leslie Leathers

Yeah. And my cousin’s.

Tom Heath

Like you’re talking about the goose. Like, you should talk to the goose about his side of the store.

Leslie Leathers

No, I literally did not tell people the truth because I was so embarrassed that that happened. I told Paul that I fell and I was at Udall running because I used to run the track a lot.

Tom Heath

Paul, if you’re listening, spoiler alert. It was a goose. It was a goose. Where do people find more about you? Website. Are you on Instagram? Where can people see your work?

Leslie Leathers

Facebook under Leslie Elkinsleathers, instagram. Leslieswildlife and I have a website, Lesliesphotography.com, but I haven’t added to that so much. I feel like Instagram is such a great place for me to post and share.

Tom Heath

And if people are looking for any of the products, we do carry some work inside the gallery. We’ve got a handful of pieces. And we also on the website have a lot of your work. Translates really well. Not just to the art, but it’s also on fun things like tote bags and puzzles. Yeah, that’s kind of cool. And you just got some new mugs in, so your stuff is getting out there.

Leslie Leathers

Yeah, I want a tote bag. I think they’re really cool.

Tom Heath

We’ll have to work on that. We probably work at a discount. I think we get to the artist discount. Well, thanks for joining us. Thanks for what you’re doing in our community, and thanks for bringing these wild creatures into our gallery. It’s beautiful.

Leslie Leathers

Thank you, Tom. I appreciate this. I love being here.

Tom Heath

We love you being here. And if you’re out there listening, you can check out more of these artist events on our website, thetucsongallery.com there’s an event page, and every week we’re going to have a different artist talking. Sometimes they’re photographers, painters, sculptors, even possibly some musicians and others coming in. So if they’re an artist and they want to meet their fans, we’re going to do a Meet the Artist event. They’re always five to seven. Right now. They’re on Friday. Sometimes on Thursday. So check out the website in a real casual environment. Cup of coffee, glass of wine and we just get a chance to talk. Maybe sign some work if you’ve had it, or get a few tips on how to use your canon. Maybe that will happen. But all of this happens at the Tucson Gallery, 300 East Congress. We’re in downtown Tucson, inside of the proper shops and corner of Fifth and Congress. Love to see you and keep tuning into all of these Meet the Artist podcast as we’re collecting just a really

Tom Heath

good story of local artists. It’s fun to see this build out, so thanks for your time and putting up with all these silly questions that I’ve got.

Leslie Leathers

Thanks, Tom. Wonderful.

Tom Heath

Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Conga Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to Meettusongallery.com for more information about our live events, listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art, gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought provoking and forward thinking artists.