Jonna Leigh Artist & Photographer
Published Photographer Tampa Bay Magazine and Dunedin Chamber of Commerce
Bio
My Story
Originally from Texas, I have lived and worked in the Tampa Bay area since 1996. I am a proud grandmother, deeply inspired by family, resilience, and the evolving seasons of life.
For more than 30 years, I have explored the world through a camera and, more recently, through paint. Photography and abstract art are not separate practices for me—they are extensions of the same instinct: to notice, to feel, and to translate what moves me into visual form.
My photography focuses on people and place—portraits, maternity, newborns, families, and children, as well as wildlife and landscapes. I am drawn to natural light, genuine connection, and quiet moments. I love capturing the beauty that exists all around us, and the beauty that lives within people when they are seen and present.
Three years ago, during a pivotal chapter of my life, my creative language expanded. After a significant injury that left me immobile for nearly three years, art became both refuge and renewal. As I healed and regained movement, painting offered a new way to express what could not be spoken—emotion, recovery, and transformation. Each canvas carries traces of that journey.
My abstract work is intuitive and emotionally driven. I do not plan compositions in advance; instead, each piece evolves through layered color, movement, and texture, guided by instinct and response. Some works emerge from tension and chaos, others from calm and restraint, but all are honest expressions of a moment in time.
At 54, my work reflects a life fully lived—through lens and canvas alike. Both photography and painting are meditative for me, spaces where I slow down, observe, and allow the work to unfold naturally.
My work invites feeling rather than interpretation. Whether through photography or abstraction, there is no prescribed meaning—only space for reflection, balance, and emotional connection. I create with the hope that viewers find something of themselves within the work.
— Jonna Leigh
Jonna Leigh Photography
