Point of view -- Lookout below!

As I mentioned in my resolutions post, January is Point of View month. This week's photo shoot once again involves my cats. This is in part because I was too lazy to go out into the cold and look for something to shoot, and in part because I had and idea for what I thought was an original point of view to photograph a cat from. Namely, I was going to shoot them from below my glass tabletop, to catch them from a new angle and to show off their paw pads (which, when clean, are quite adorable).

It turned out my idea wasn't nearly as original as I thought. One day this week, while I was still formulating the idea for this shoot in my head, I saw that a co-worker's calendar (a daily calendar that has a different cat photo each day) displayed just such an image. Still, that didn't dissuade me -- after all, if I were to only take photos of things no one else had ever thought of, there'd be precious little to shoot! So today I got to work on this, set up my table, rallied the cats, and started shooting.

The process itself turned out to be quite a bit more difficult than I thought, for a few reasons:

1. my table isn't very big and has a metal stand in the middle, so my usable shooting area was quite small
2. glass is annoyingly hard to light without reflections (the word "duh" comes to mind)
3. my cats will not sit still, especially on a relatively small part of the table, without a very good reason. And when by some rare chance they do sit still, they literally sit. And their rear ends against glass do not make good photo subjects. I have photographic evidence of this.
4. glass is also hard to keep perfectly clean for very long when you have two cats leaving paw prints all over it.

After a frustrating hour or so, here are the two best results -- one per cat.

Lady was the more willing subject, being both calmer and more cooperative. It also helps that she actually responds to her name and would stare right into my lens whenever I called her. I just love her big olive-green eyes!


CB, on the other hand,was very hard to work with, since he's more likely to recite the alphabet than either sit still when asked or recognize his name. Even getting him in focus was hard work. Still, those cute pink paw pads make it worth it. (And yes, I know it looks like he's missing an ear, but rest assured, he was only bending it back for some reason.)


Now if you'll excuse me, I must go play with my cats.

Speaking of viewpoints...

My "point of view" photo shoot this week didn't turn out anything great, sadly. However! While browsing through my older photos I found one that makes up in humour what it lacks in photographic quality.

This was during some road work on MacKenzie King bridge, and a stone's throw from uOttawa, which may explain this a bit further:



I do apologize for the quality of this shot, though. It was taken in the dark, with pop-up flash, and in a hurry because I was just about to miss a bus. Still... arts majors and sharp objects need to be guarded against! Teehee.

Cat update

Lady and CB, i.e. my two awesome cats, have had quite an eventful month or so. Since the last post on the subject, they have recovered from their flu-related ailments, have moved back to my apartment, have received a few more toys to play with, and most recently have been spayed and neutered respectively.

In spite of my fears and misgivings, they have handled all of the changes and recent trauma with an impressive amount of grace, patience and even good humour, and are back to being the lovely and lovable kittens that have and will continue to grace this blog occasionally.

Lady is growing into quite the fine young cat with a "I'm not taking any crap from you" attitude that could rival the epitome of Eastern European mothers:




CB, on the other hand, is still very much a kitten with energy and affection to spare and the most disarming face:




Most often than not, they take turns playing predator and prey; on their downtime, though, they look after each other in the most endearing ways. Lady often takes on the role of CB's groomer, holding him down until he's good and clean, while he's lapping up the attention:

Belated New Year's resolutions. And ice.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2010 brings all of your resolutions a lot closer to reality. On my side, I'm hoping this year will be a photography-filled one, one a few fronts:

1. Project 52: Photo Idea Index
A few months ago, I decided to take on one mini photo project a week. That failed to last very long. So this year, one of my photography resolutions is a Project 52. And, to give me more direction and inspiration, I am using Jim Krause's Photo Idea Index. The idea is that each month will have a theme inspired by one chapter of the book, and within each month, every weekly project will explore a different aspect of each theme. Since there are only 9 chapters in the book, some will take me more than month, as follows:

• January: Point of view
• February: Establishing environment
• March: Capturing composition
• April: Capturing composition
• May: Attracting attention
• June: Picturing people
• July: Thinking creatively
• August: Thinking creatively
• September: Light
• October: Light
• November: Camera variables
• December: Digital effects

2. Photo of the Month project
Between bouts of bronchitis, Christmas, New Year's Eve, work and pet related drama, Jeff and I have been in a photography rut over the past 1-2 months. So, to hopefully jump-start our creativity, I've proposed a photo of the month project; the idea is that we go on at least one photo walk together every month, and we will each choose our best photo each month; this photo will be both posted on our respective blogs, and printed and framed on our respective coffee tables for the following month.

3. The Cat Chronicles
Even during a photographic dry spell, my two kitties are the subjects I can never get tired of shooting. I don't anticipate this will ever slow down, so expect cat updates to become a regular part of this blog. Consider this your fair warning.

4. Portfolio building
Another one of my resolutions is to have a portfolio put together by the summer. For this, I will need to not only take new photos, but also go through my old ones, categorize them, and pick out the portfolio-worthy ones. Some of these might go up on here as well.

And speaking of older photos, Christmas in Ottawa brought with it an odd mix of temperatures that led to everything being coated in a thick layer of ice for about one night. Jeff and I jumped -- or, rather, wobbled and slipped -- at the opportunity to nip out to Confederation Park and document the event. The results are below: